Square for Restaurants as a Cafe?

[lenjobakes]

Is anyone else a café using Square for Restaurants?

I'm interested in trying it out, but I'd love to know about other folks' experience first!

[murisseattle]

We are a fast casual restaurant. We tried Square for Restaurants but it didn't really work for us. The Square retail POS is getting better for restaurant purposes (still not perfect) so we've stuck with this. 

[mksavage]

Hey @murisseattle! I'd love to hear more specifics about why it wasn't a good fit for you. We're a fast casual cafe/restaurant as well (with a counter service model) and have been considering the change for some time. I've spoken to some folks who love it -- specifically how intuitive and conversational the ordering flow is -- but I'd love to hear more about your experience if you have time! 

@lenjobakes -- have you made a decision about whether or not to make the change?

[lenjobakes]

Hey @mksavage! Thanks for the tag - these responses were just languishing in the ether.

We have a counter service bakery/café right now that is primarily take-out. I didn't realize how image-reliant my staff were on ringing items up - the fact that you can't (at least that I could find) have images was actually quite a barrier for many of them.

We're opening a café that will be counter service as well, but with the addition of delivering food to their table when it's ready. This is where I imagine it would come in handy to have a floorplan that can map tables and have open tickets if someone wants to order something without having to come back up to the counter. As well as the kitchen-centred capabilities that come with restaurants.

...maybe there is some insight from @ryanwanner?

[ryanwanner]

Hey @lenjobakes ! Thanks for the h/t! 🙂

Your plan for your new café is exactly how my store is run: order at the counter, take a seat, we bring everything to you.

I looked in to SFR mostly because of the conversational modifiers, but I found for counter service it is a little overkill. Your idea of having the floorplan is valid but tough to implement in real time: you'll have to watch where the people sit down to tag them to a specific table. Very few people are going to pay attention to you if you direct them to specific tables. I printed off number cards that the customers place in holders at the table.

As for the open tickets in case they come back up to the register: I'd say 99% of the time it's a one-and-done thing, and if they do come back to order more, I've never had someone complain about having to whip out their credit card again. Every now and then I have someone come in that wants to order a coffee before the rest of their party: I'll ring it up, give them a number, save the Open Ticket, and tell them to bring that number back up to the register when it's time to do the main order. As long as the staff knows to check the Open Tickets queue (another headache in and of itself.....), the drink gets paid for at the time of the main order.

I'm not here to pish-posh SFR at all, but I think it's a little much for counter service. I'd love to be proved wrong on this though!!!

[mksavage]

These are really interesting insights, @ryanwanner! Our cafe is the same format -- they order at the counter, we give the customer a number, and then deliver to whatever table they end up choosing. I agree that it would be challenging to connect a customer to a table since they generally choose a table after ordering (and move around a lot, especially if a booth opens up). 

Our team doesn't really use the item images for reference (so interesting to hear that yours does, @lenjobakes!), but SFR being overkill for a cafe is what I've wondered. Our menu items have lots of options/modifiers, so I've just been curious if SFR would increase efficiency or make the flow a bit more natural for taking orders. 

I keep meaning to just try it out for a couple weeks, but am hesitant to switch back and forth if it isn't the right fit. 

[lenjobakes]

To be fair: we change our menu super often, @mksavage! As well, sometimes our offerings are *really* French (or just new in general) so we have a photo, description, etc. to try and make it easier.

We do have one staff member who relies on the photos for accessibility, though!

[lenjobakes]

Okay, @ryanwanner! This is the kind of insight that I was looking for!

As @mksavage said - it's hard to know what will work, but the risk in changing back and forth is also tough.

Great points about people choosing wherever they want to sit so the floor plan not really coming in handy for a counter service model. (I really want to do little animals on blocks instead of numbers! It would be so cute even if impractical 😅.)

I think the feature I loved the most was the ability to set up the "menu" and how the display looked ahead of time. Without having to be in the shop on the actual device to do it. We have a lot of items and change things frequently and sometimes staff will use ANY other item because they haven't searched it up. It's annoying, and I was hoping I could avoid it as I'll now have to traverse between two locations.

[lenjobakes]

Thanks for that insight, @murisseattle!

There are definitely things to love about the improvement the traditional Square POS has made. Are you using Square for Retail, though? What's that like?!

[jcho0829]

If your restaurant is table top service, I would say yes. If your restaurant is couter top service restaurant, original square would be perfect. 

[lenjobakes]

Thanks for that feedback, @jcho0829!

[Lovewell]

@lenjobakes @mksavage @ryanwanner 

I have loved reading this back and forth! I have loved seeing everyone's opinions! 

@lenjobakes If you had an ipad at home you should be able to edit the menu home screen from your home! I also understand if you don't because I don't either. I also don't have multiple locations to run to so I see that makes things easier for me!

[lenjobakes]

Heard, @Lovewell! But like you, I don't have an iPad at home.

But imagine if we could change the layout screen from our Square Dashboard as well, hey? Wouldn't that be a nifty bit of technology!

It's possible with Restaurants, so it'd be nice if it was possible with all of the other POS types as well.

[Lovewell]

@lenjobakes @Yes!! That would be super cool!! I didn’t realize that was a feature for Restaurants!