POS software for restaurants
4.7/5 (1013 reviews)Square for Restaurants is a cloud-based point of sale (POS) system with support for dine-in, pickup and delivery restaurant operations. The system provides tools for front and back of house management, online ordering, credit card processing, mobile payments, employee management, reporting, and more.
Square for Restaurants gives users full control over their floor plans, with the ability to customize table maps and assign checks to seats or tables. Multiple menus can be created and managed, for different locations, dayparts, or seasonal specials. Coursing functionality allows servers to drag-and-drop items between courses, and hold or fire courses with a single tap. A range of discounts can be offered, including Happy Hour discounts, buy-one-get-one-free offers, and Friends & Family deals. Bills can be split in half, thirds, quarters, or other fractions with a single tap, and payments can be processed even when connection is lost.
Square for Restaurants also offers tools for managing employees, including timecards enabling clock-in and clock-out from the register, customizable access permissions, personal passcodes, and check assignment for sales attribution. A variety of reports can be generated, such as cover reports, shift reports, revenue center reports, discount reports, taxable sales, labor costing, employee sales, and more. Users can also create custom reports to match their business’ workflow or needs.
Pros
Square POS was very easy to set up. The first card reader you receive (a simple plug in to an iPad or iPhone) was free. We created an account online, attached a bank account, and created a menu of items/services we provide. Then we simply chose photos for each service or product category so that it looks nicer in the app for our employees. The result was a very simple set up and a very clean looking POS.
What's also nice is that Square POS is good at being able to refund patients if something was charged incorrectly. They also get receipts if they choose to via text message or email.
Changing the prices and adding or deleting items on the service/products you sell is quite easy. You simply log in to the website and make changes. Also, you can turn in options such as giving customers a choice to tip or not.
For being an office that used to take cash only, choosing Square POS was the way to go in entering the world of credit cards. We have no regrets and have no had problems. The correct amount of $$ we received (minus 2.75% of every transaction) gets deposited into our account every week. And we no longer have to hire a collections agency to go after those who don't have cash or mail in checks because they will simply pay through credit card now.
Cons
Square does take 2.75% of your transaction each time. You can find cheaper alternatives, but not with the ease of set up and use that comes with Square. The bigger con about Square POS is that if you have take a payment over the phone and manually type in their credit card information instead of typing it, they charge extra at 3.5% of the transaction.
Also, the first card reader they send you is a simple swiper, but we found that it didn't always work well. Most cards these days have chips, and if you want a good and safer reading you'll want to purchase the Chip reader at $49. We don't regret the purchase though.
Lastly, if you are a restaurant and choose to include the option to allow customers to tip, know that square takes 2.75% of your ENTIRE transaction (including the tip your customers add).
If you're a business owner and you sell products or services, especially if you have multiple sites and/or have a mobile sales force, this product is a must. The access is easy, the interface is friendly, and the payment system is quick.
Pros
EASY to set up and use! In short time, we were able to set up our entire library online and make it simple to purchase and sell products. Once set up, everything is available to every member of team, so that one of our book sellers in California has access to the same products as a book seller in Michigan the moment the product is placed online. I also love that we can easily create multiple price points for products and can easily access them from the apps on various mobile devices, desktops etc...
The percentages paid to Square are as small as any other you will find, and they deposit funds into your bank account within 24-hours, with same-day options available for an extra, nominal fee. The no hassle, ease-of-deposit, process is a MUST for our small business.
Customer service has been off the charts good, and every small issue has been resolved quickly. I also love that so many web sites integrate with Square so that we can maintain one payment portal for 99% of what we do.
The technology (swipe devices, Point of Sale stands, card tappers/reader...work flawlessly with each and every device we've thrown at them (iPhones, iPads, Android, laptop...) and they look good, too.
Cons
Honestly, there is little to NOT like about this system. I've tried several others and since switching to Square 5 years ago, I've never looked back.
We take all of our credit/debit card payments through Square, as well as Apple Pay, Android Pay & Samsung Pay. The ability for a customer to pay, sign, and get a receipt e-mailed to their phone while they are still standing in front of me brings a nice sense of trust and completion to each sale.
Pros
It is free to set up and implement initially. Square will even send free card processors (they're the cheap ones that let you take a card payment from your phone/tablet, but it will let you start swiping cards immediately). They help keep track of your sales/accounting for non-card payments, too, as long as you enter in the sales data for them. Additionally, the ability to edit & customize withdrawal options is very helpful. I can get funds deposited on a schedule or whenever I choose to (even instantly, although this incurs an additional 1% fee). It is much cheaper and more convenient than a standard CC payment processor, so anyone with a small or mobile business would be wise to check this out.
Cons
The customer service is a bit lacking. I've never had a real issue with them that didn't resolve itself pretty quickly, but there's been one or two times where I have an issue and get what appears to be an automated response about it. Not a big deal, but when you Google it, on the Square help forums, this kind of response seems to be the norm for most questions/concerns. Fortunately, their system is pretty self-explanatory, that additional personalized help isn't usually needed.
At the ice cream parlor I work at, the register is programmed with all of the items we sell. You can program buttons to create discounts either by a percentage of the sale or with a flat dollar amount. This program tracks sales by day and by product sold. We have used this for probably 2 years now and it allows us to track sales from the years past to see what the trends are. For example, how busy were we last Mother's Day or when to our sales start dropping as we head into/winter fall. This allows us to make informed decisions on how much staffing we need and what hours to keep our business open for. We can also see how well certain items are selling. So when we introduce new items it allows us to see if they are selling well and gives us insight as to how we need to market for our business. This replaced a simple cash register that we used to have, but it is so much more than a cash register with all of the information you can track and use to make decisions for your business.
Pros
This is an easily programmable software that can be used to create a point of sale register. I work at a coffee/ice cream parlor and we use the software for our register, and it stores our sales information and has been very helpful in marketing and determining what products have been selling well or poorly
Cons
I don't know if there's anything I don't like about this program. It's user friendly and I haven't really found any limitations or holdbacks to our business because of this
Overall, as an independent artist, I'd recommend Square in a blink to anyone in that position. Free reader, easy to use, mobile...It's perfect. For small businesses, I'd also suggest Square - I've worked with the alternative, Clover, and it's so very slow and not as user friendly - but I think Square needs to continue evolving to keep up with those demands. And I'm sure they will given they've already created the flippable platform.
Pros
Square is simple to use and that's what makes it so popular. The card readers are simple, organizing your inventory is simple. It works really well for me as an independent artist at art fairs and such. I've never run into any trouble using it in that context.
The new flip screen platform is also super wonderful for retail stores and cafes as it takes the pressure off of the employee and the awkwardness of asking for tips etc... disappates. It also seems to run smoother by virtue of the platform not running other apps. Definitely love that Square is expanding their market to meet the needs of larger companies.
Cons
It gets overloaded and laggy pretty quickly when used in a more dense environment. When I've used Square at small businesses as a sales employee, I've experienced lag between pressing on an item and having it go to the item menu or add to the cart. Also, the free square readers that go into your audio jack are awfully temperamental with continued use and you either have to keep re-ordering them, or just buckle down and buy a reader. The only time the latter hasn't worked was when I had to be mobile while taking orders.
An ISBN scanner would also be super cool integration and would allow Square to be used in more places.
$60 per location, per month, plus $40/month per additional POS.
Processing fees: 2.6% + 10¢ per tap, dip, or swipe
Below are some frequently asked questions for Square for Restaurants.
Square for Restaurants offers the following pricing plans:
Starting from: $60
Pricing model: Free, Subscription
Free Trial: Available
$60 per location, per month, plus $40/month per additional POS.
Processing fees: 2.6% + 10¢ per tap, dip, or swipe
Square for Restaurants offers the following features:
Square for Restaurants has the following typical customers:
Large Enterprises, Mid Size Business, Small Business
Square for Restaurants supports the following languages:
English, Spanish
Square for Restaurants has the following pricing plans:
Free, Subscription
Square for Restaurants supports the following devices:
iPad
Square for Restaurants integrates with the following applications:
7Shifts, Koomi POS, Plate IQ, QuickBooks Online, SimpleTix
Square for Restaurants offers the following support options:
FAQs, Forum, Knowledge Base, Online Support, Phone Support, Video Tutorials
Great. Simple and easy to use. People have said that their customer service is extremely hard to get hold of, but we have used it for 3 years and have had no reason to contact customer service.