Square for Restaurants POS Review

Square is a popular POS and payment transaction platform. Today, in this review, I’ll be taking a look at its POS system designed specifically for restaurants. In my comprehensive Square for Restaurants review, I’ll dig in to determine if it’s the right POS system to bring your restaurant into the 21st century.

If you manage a restaurant or café, your place of work can get jam-packed with customers. Managing orders, accepting payments, splitting checks, preparing food, and keeping customers happy can all get overwhelming. If you’re currently using an outdated POS platform, you may be lagging behind the competition and hurting your profits.

There are various types of POS systems on the market, but modern restaurant management platforms have emerged to help restaurant owners improve their operations. If you haven’t been using one of these newcomers, or worse, if you’re still using a cash register vs a POS, you may be missing out on features to increase your productivity and your bottom line. Let’s get started with the Square for Restaurants review!

Overview of Square for Restaurants

Square for Restaurants is one of the significant new entrants to the restaurant POS market. The company acts both as a POS provider and a payment processor. As a point-of-sale system, Square offers a few different software applications that help specific business niches, like retail and hospitality, benefit from tailor-made POS platforms.

Square for Restaurants is a restaurant-specific iPad App for the Square POS system platform (see our in-depth Square POS review). It has an Android version as well, but it is a bit more limited on that system.  It is specifically designed to help restaurant owners manage their businesses and process transactions effectively. The product incorporates a range of different menu-building and transaction tools that help you streamline your business processes. The new software also integrates into Square’s ecosystem so you can tap into services like Payroll, Loyalty, Marketing, and Capital.

Square is famous for its small ‘square’ magstripes that attach to portable devices. This payment processing company changed the way that many small business owners approached transactions. Square is well-suited for those with flexible needs — the software can be installed on a range of different devices, both purchasable through Square and independently. You can even use Square on your cell phone!

While Square also offers retail and general POS services, my review today will focus solely on the variant made for restaurants. If you’d like to take a look at their other POS systems, you’ll find additional POS reviews here on our site!

Pros vs Cons

Square for Restaurants’ Pricing

Depending on your restaurant’s current size, the price of your POS system may have a major impact on its viability. Before you can decide if a POS system is right for your restaurant, you need to decide if you can afford it. Below, I’ve created a bullet chart that takes an in-depth look at the different Square for Restaurants pricing options available to US, UK, and AU-based customers.

How much does Square for Restaurants cost? Here is the exact pricing:

*These prices are subject to change at any time.

Check Prices

As you can see, Square charges its customers a monthly fee and a range of different transaction costs. These are the transaction costs you would typically have to pay to a separate payment processing company — Square takes care of this for you. When you consider the features it offers its customers, the Square for Restaurants pricing structure is undoubtedly a good bargain.

Another few costs to pay attention to in the table are the payroll management costs and the deposit costs. If you want Square to manage your payroll and your employee’s hours, you’ll have to pay $5 per month. 

Fortunately, if you want a next-day deposit of your restaurant’s earnings, you won’t have to pay anything at all. You can even get your earnings instantly deposited into your account for a 1% fee — you won’t find this feature with many other POS platforms.

Still, some new entrants to the restaurant industry may find that Square is an expensive option – this is especially true when you consider that you have to invest in your hardware. We’ll explore Square for Restaurants hardware costs in more detail in a dedicated section of this review!

Keep in mind: Square for Restaurants is happy to work with companies on an individual basis. If you have a large volume of transactions, you may get a cheaper payment processing rate.

If you process high ticket items or do a lot of processing volume, then you’ll want to explore this avenue – that’s because Square’s flat processing fee can end up costing you more in the long run compared to an Interchange-Plus pricing model you can get with most merchant providers.

Demo Video

Getting Started With Square for Restaurants

Square for Restaurants Features

If you want to choose the right POS platform for your restaurant, you need to make sure that you look at the features it has to offer. Below, I’ll take a look at the different benefits you can find packed inside Square for Restaurants:

Real-Life Examples of Square for Restaurants’ Benefits

I’ve encountered many positive reviews from clients of Square for Restaurant that mention excellent benefits and highly useful features. Here are some real-life examples:

“That’s why I really like to go through Square and look for all of these different ways of presenting the data because I’m trying to find that little needle in a haystack, and they’re always there.” – Matt Longwell, Beverage and Equipment Manager, Blue Bottle Coffee Company.

“We used to subscribe to multiple operating systems that do the same thing. They were expensive and took up staff time. In 13 years of business, Square is the most complete ecosystem we’ve used.” – Frankie DiCarlantonio, CEO of Scaffidi Restaurant Group.

“With all these features from [Square], it helped a lot, because we were able to reach a lot of people through the website, the orders, and [more],” – Andrea Aguirre, the owner and co-founder of The Art of Donut.

“Having our sales, payments, and financing all integrated into one Square ecosystem has significantly simplified managing Mirror Tea and Sake House. Rather than juggle multiple systems, the Square Dashboard neatly centralizes data and tools in one place. Being able to seamlessly accept payments, apply for financing, and monitor accounting in one login has reduced the time and headache of administrative tasks.”  – Fumio Tashiro, the owner of Mirror Tea and Sake House. Source

Plans Available in Square for Restaurants

To see which Square for Restaurants features are available in a particular subscription plan, take a look at this table:

Deployment Type

Unlike many POS systems of the past, Square has a cloud-based component that allows you to upload reporting data and store vital information. While the software is locally installed via an App on your hardware device, like the components of most POS systems, you can access your sales data and staff information via the cloud. This is an excellent feature if you’re managing multiple restaurants from an outside location.

This hybrid design also ensures you don’t lose track of valuable reporting data and information. If your hardware system is stolen or damaged, you’ll still be able to get up and running on a new device without any hiccups.

Industries Served

Square for Restaurants is exclusively for hospitality businesses that need a point-of-sale solution for counter and table service. It’s excellent for a restaurant, café, coffee shop, food truck, or small bar.

While this system can handle large order volumes, it’s not quite as powerful as some of the high-end options on the market. For this reason, Square for Restaurants is best suited to small and mid-sized restaurants.

Ease of Use

One of Square for Restaurant’s major selling points is how easy it is to use. Many older POS systems have clunky and confusing interfaces that increase the chances of a mistake. Using an intuitive platform is your best option if you want to process transactions quickly.

Square for Restaurants makes it easy to take orders, seat patrons, accept payments, split tickets, and view reporting data. If you’ve been using an outdated system, you’ll be blown away by how quickly you can learn Square. It’s a great POS option if you want a platform that allows you to onboard new staff members without hours of training time.

Hardware

Another reason Square is an easy option for restaurant owners is the availability of complete POS kits to help you get up and running quickly. It takes the guesswork out of your hardware needs. With Square for Restaurants, you can use your iPad (if it’s a compatible generation) or purchase one from Square. You can also purchase a Square Stand restaurant station if you want to fix your payment portal in a specific location. With the Square Terminal device, you can even take payments table-side, which is an advanced feature of restaurant management systems.

Square offers implementation services to assist with onboarding. Here are details from their website – partner with an onboarding expert for one-on-one help with menus, floor plans, team training, onsite technical support, and more. Starting at $600.

For the Square hardware setup, we recommend purchasing all your hardware from the POS vendor to get everything that’s compatible, making it easier to support issues that may arise.

Here are some of Square’s hardware prices to give you an idea of cost:

Square Stand Restaurant Station (iPad Not Included) – $1,074

What’s included:

• USB Receipt Printer
• Receipt Printer Paper (25 Rolls)
• Ethernet Kitchen Printer
• Kitchen printer paper (25 Rolls)
• 16 in. Printer-Driven Cash Drawer
• Square Stand for Contactless and Chip

Stand Restaurant Station with Square Terminal (iPad Not Included) – $1,473

What’s included:

• Square Stand for Contactless and Chip
• Square Terminal
• USB Receipt Printer
• Ethernet Kitchen Printer
• Receipt Printer Paper (25 Rolls)
• Kitchen Printer Paper (25 Rolls)
• 16 in. Printer-Driven Cash Drawer

Square Terminal – $299

• Square Terminal has changed its price from $399 to $299 with the option of $27/mo for 12 months of financing.

*These prices are subject to change at any time.

Check Prices

Integrations

Accounting and Tax

In terms of integrations, most of Square’s current partnerships are with accounting software platforms. You can integrate your Square for Restaurants’ data with the following apps:

• QuickBooks
• Commerce Sync
• DAVO
• Bench
• Shogo
• Xero

Some of the benefits of integrating Square for Restaurants with accounting and tax apps include:

Automatic Data Flow: Sales data from Square automatically flows into your accounting app, eliminating the need for manual data entry.

Simplified Bank Reconciliation: Daily sales are grouped into a single invoice, simplifying the bank reconciliation process.

Up-to-Date Financial Records: Keep your financial records current with automatic data transfer.

Comprehensive Reporting: Generate more detailed reports for valuable insights.

Clear Financial Overview: Gain a clearer picture of your restaurant’s financial situation

Restaurant Management

Square for Restaurant can also be integrated with popular restaurant managing software, such as:

• Homebase
• OpenTable
• TapMango
• 7shifts
• BentoBox
• Deputy

As a result, you can get the following benefits and more:

Payroll Management: You can get Square to add payroll management services for a small monthly fee.

Loyalty Programs: Create loyalty points or bonuses and track your most loyal visitors’ spending habits.

Labor Cost Insights: Combine sales data with scheduling information to gain valuable insights into labor costs.

Team Communication: Managers and employees can communicate easily through features like team messaging.

Centralized Reservations: Manage all your reservations from one place.

Personalized Dining Experience: The detailed guest data allows you to personalize the dining experience and offer more targeted promotions.

Delivery and Order Management

As many customers order takeouts and delivery, it will be amazingly helpful to integrate apps dedicated to this purpose with Square for Restaurants. You can do it with:

• Uber Eats
• Ritual
• Chowly
• Cuboh
• Deliverect
• Otter
• Slice
• Odeko (fka Cloosiv)
• GoParrot
• PoppinPay
• Craveer
• Pepper

Thanks to such integration, you can get many benefits:

Unified Platform: View and manage all delivery and takeout orders from a single platform.

Cost Savings: Save money compared to managing individual delivery service partnerships.

Data and Analytics: Access valuable data and analytics, allowing you to optimize your menu offerings.

Efficient Communication: Smoothly communicate with delivery drivers.

Items and Inventory

To make more informed purchasing decisions, you can integrate Square for Restaurants with such inventory apps as:

• MarketMan
• PeachWorks
• Yellow Dog Software
• DigitalPour

Here are some of the benefits you can gain by doing so:

Direct Purchase Orders: Send purchase orders directly from your POS system.

Accurate Cost Tracking: Accurately track the cost of each dish based on real-time ingredient costs.

Real-Time Stock Insights: Get real-time insights into your ingredient stock and prevent stockouts more effectively.

Automatic Reordering: Set up automatic reorder points, eliminating the need for manual ordering.

Also, you can sell gift cards for a small fee per card. As you can tell, plenty of great add-ons are available to help you affordably improve the benefits you can offer your staff and customers.

Payment Processing

As I mentioned previously, Square also acts as a payment processor. Unlike many POS systems, which allow you to choose your payment processor, Square requires you to use its platform. 

With Square, you can process all major credit cards, including Visa, Discover, MasterCard, and American Express. You can also process contactless transactions. You can also accept payments tableside with the Square Terminal.

• Square has updated its standard processing rate for tapped, dipped, and swiped payments accepted with the Square Point of Sale app to 2.6% + 10¢.

While this is convenient, it’s also a disadvantage. If you’re someone who wants to keep your current processing partner or shop around for the best deal, you don’t have that benefit with Square.

Customer Service

There are plenty of POS systems that talk a big game — unfortunately, many of these providers have horrible reputations when looking at different consumer watchdog groups. To get a better idea of Square’s customer support reputation, it’s essential to look at common complaints.

One of the most common complaints that you see about Square is actually from processing customers, not restaurant owners. Many people complain they were double-charged using the Square payment platform. While this isn’t your fault, it can reflect poorly on your business if a customer believes they’re being scammed.

The other complaints primarily revolve around frozen funds and suspended accounts. Some business owners complain their funds were frozen or their accounts were suspended without warning – this can be a significant pain if you have a lot of money tied up in the platform.

While this is certainly annoying, it’s the result of Square’s strict anti-crime measures. All indications point toward a company that values the legal use of its services. If anything, I consider this an overall positive attribute.

In terms of real customer support, you’ll find that Square has recently begun to offer 24/7 customer support to its Square for Restaurants clients.

Square for Restaurants vs. Competitors

Send us a request to get more detailed comparisons and a personalized POS offer for your restaurants.

COMPARE POS SYSTEMS & SAVE

Square for Restaurants’ Performance in Various Business Types

As my research has shown, Square for Restaurants works excellently for various kinds of food and beverage services. Here are some of the most important features often appreciated in Square for Restaurants POS reviews:

Full-Service Restaurants

• Table Management: A full-service restaurant can be more effectively managed with easy table reservations, seating arrangements, and order routing for specific tables.
• Course Management: By clearly distinguishing appetizers, main courses, and desserts, you can improve order tracking and kitchen workflow.
• Advanced Reporting: You can get detailed reports on sales by menu item, server performance, and customer trends to make more informed decisions.
• Splitting Checks:  You can meet customers’ expectations when they ask the staff to split their checks.

Quick-Service Restaurants (QSRs)

• Mobile POS: As your staff can process orders directly on tablets or other mobile devices, they can speed up service, which is particularly crucial during peak hours.
• Fast Order Entry: With pre-programmed menus and modifiers, the ordering process can be faster and simpler.
• Kitchen Display System (KDS) Integration: Thanks to improved order communication between the front and back of the house, you can ensure fast food preparation and accurate order modifications.
• Delivery Service Integration: By easily integrating Square for Restaurants with popular delivery apps, you can significantly facilitate the service.

Cafés

• Inventory Management: You can easily track the availability of pastries, coffee beans, and other items to maintain stock levels and avoid waste.
• Loyalty Programs: With well-prepared loyalty programs and reward options, you can improve customer retention.
• User-Friendly Interface: With an easy and intuitive interface, you can quickly train your baristas to use it.

Food Trucks

• Cloud-Based System: You can access your POS system from any device with an internet connection, which is perfect for mobile food trucks.
• Offline Mode: It’s possible to process orders even without an internet connection (data may be saved for later synchronization).
• Receipt Printing: You can easily connect a portable printer to generate receipts for food truck customers.

My Verdict

At the end of the day, other than it being a newer product, it’s hard to find much wrong with Square for Restaurants for a reasonably inexpensive software and hardware combo. However, I mainly like the product for smaller environments, and I think it’s a simple solution for restaurateurs opening a new restaurant. 

If you process a lot of credit card volume, especially if your average ticket price is high, Square for Restaurants will not be your best option due to the flat credit card rate and the potential of money being held.

The app itself is practical, restaurant-specific POS software built by one of the industry’s most trusted names. If you want a mobile POS for restaurants on the iPad platform that is flexible and easy to use, this is undoubtedly one option to consider for smaller restaurant or bar environments. My tests have shown that Square App’s familiar touchscreen nature makes it extremely easy to learn and use on the iPad.

As most of the Square Restaurant POS reviews they get from their clients are positive, it is a trusted and efficient platform you can introduce in your small or mid-sized business (a full-service or quick-service restaurant, a café, a food truck, etc.)

If you need more than just Square for Restaurant reviews and want a more detailed comparison of different POS systems, reach out to us!

COMPARE POS SYSTEMS & SAVE

You can also try out Square for Restaurants for free!

Get Free Trial

FAQ