Join the Discussion: Contactless Restaurant Ordering - How are you adapting?

[Helen]

We’re working with the Square for Restaurants team to better understand your needs as a restaurant or food business owner. We’re sharing this post to start a discussion about how your customers are managing in the face of new changes.

Recently, many restaurants have had to make changes to keep in line with social distance measures outlined by their state or county. Some restaurants have completely overhauled how diners navigate dining areas and ordering, while others are making small changes every day.

Discussion questions: 

• What changes have you had to make to be able to accept orders? 

• Are you able to serve customers indoors or outdoors? 

• Did you have to create a new queuing system or put up signs? 

We’d love to hear how you and your customers are adapting to the 'new normal'. Reply to this thread to join the conversation.

[Rudbeckia]

We have implemented full online ordering and payment using Weebly online store integration with Square AND we implemented a "reservation" only strategy for seating using TOCK. We are a winery, brewery in Northern Michigan. In the summer we could have 100++ people crowded around our bar area constantly all day. Now we can even out the crowds that arrive - we turn away folks w/o reservations or if we are "in the weeds" or if we cant handle a large group. Now folks check in outside and we seat them. We have a very expansive outside area so social distancing is easy for us. We added a separate internet connection outside so we could expand our wifi. Folks order from their smartphones at the comfort of their table. We added a ceramic tile to each table (wind blows away paper) that contains table #, QR code for the menu, website for ordering (if they can't navigate the QR code) and information to access our free WiFi.

Customer orders are accessible in our bar area. We fill orders FIFO and deliver to the customer faster than ever. Less DRAMA!

Check averages have DOUBLED because customers browse the menu at their leisure and do not feel rushed. Our service has greatly improved as there are less mistakes since each order is detailed. Our sales have exceeded last years #s for June!

COVID-19 may have inspired these changes but it allowed us to reinvent the way we serve our customers. I plan to make these changes permanent.

About 20% of the over 50+ demographic have issues with the smartphone technology. We have added information to our reservation system that outlines our "Contactless Ordering and Payment" and provides a link to our system so they can test drive it.  This has helped so now we have just a few people that either refuse or can't use the system.  This number is offset by an increase in visitors that never came in because we were too crowded...

[Helen]

Thanks for sharing these tactics @Rudbeckia, I'm glad you've seen improvements and less drama - that's amazing! The ceramic tiles sound like a great investment - did it take long to organize/add those to each table?

[Rudbeckia]

we used permanent markers and printed instructions using waterproof clear tape. We bought

4" x 12" white smooth bathroom tiles from home depot. Cost = $50  Time = 2 hours. Did not include any logos and fancy stuff so customers are disinterested in "borrowing" them 😉

[Helen]

Oh I see! 😂 Great (and cost-effective) idea! 

[OCB2020]

We are looking to implement very similar to @Rudbeckia.

Question for @Rudbeckia:  Did you use weebly online store and instruct customers to leave their table number in the order notes so your staff would know where to drop off the order? 

We have a large patio area and would like to have clients order online (square site or weebly) and staff would deliver their food / beer.  This would cut down on labor, speed up our response, eliminate cash, and get us closer to contactless.  

In Square, the online store can be defined as shipping, delivery, or pickup.  This use case I'm looking for is kind of a hybrid.  We want online ordering with some of the delivery functionality.  I've looked into Google's the.ordering.app and others but it seems like pickup, delivery, or shipping are the only options, we want customers to order online and for our staff to run the order directly to their table.  Is there any app for this @Helen ?

Any guidance is greatly appreciated. 

[Rudbeckia]

@OCB2020 

Yes, we do use the notes field for the table number.  We get a 75% success rate on guests following those instructions. We are honing our instructions as well - the notes field appears way late in the order process so we explain its right at the point that they enter the CC and that has helped. We use Tock for reservations to  control the flow of guests being seated.  As folks come in we assign a table in Tock so as long as the order name matches the reservation we can still find them. If all else fails we require a phone # on the order and we just make a quick call.  Our outside is so comfortable folks stay 2+ hours and place many orders per table per visit.

I explain to may customers when they get seated that we used a template to create our system so ignore the word "pickup " we will bring order to the table. This has not been a big issue; however, a Weebly change to add a "For Here" option would be ideal.

The check out process in Weebly has some idiosyncrasies that I have not been able to pin down.  It appears to be related to customers that already existed in my Square POS.  And the "save details" is buggy.

WARNING** If you add an item in Weebly and plan to also use it in Square POS you need to also edit it the POS as well or your sales taxes default to zero! This is known bug.

Another consideration is that now all your transactions in Weebly will be charged at the higher "no swipe" fee so I am now averaging 3.5% plus fees per transaction. Most of my order are less than $75.

The Weebly integration with Square works but it is a marriage of convenience. Some Fields in Weebly and Square have same names but serves different  purposes. Weebly uses the Square POS hours of operation to calculate and project delivery times despite the face that Weebly has location hours in their system. This wreaks havoc at the end of the business day as our last few customers order and the system tells them their orders will be available at our starting time the next day 🙂

I worked as a consultant for IBM for 25 years prior to this so I have an IT background that helped me find the right solution based on ease of implementation, functionality and recurring costs. If you are a happy square POS user this appears to be the best solution on the market - its not perfect though...

[Rudbeckia]

@OCB2020 @Helen 

If you want to look at our system live you can visit www.bmb.beer

[OCB2020]

@Rudbeckia Thank you for the detailed and thoughtful reply!

[Rudbeckia]

@OCB2020 as you decide what to do - be sure to consider setting up automatic default tipping. The system allows you set the % and then the customer has the option to delete or change it prior to checkout. We found that prior to doing this we were at 4-5% tip rate and some cash tips.  Now we average 17.6%  on a 20% default plus same amount of cash tips.  Not one complaint from any customer.

[Goodystom]

We are using square's online ordering platform to facilitate 'in-person socially distanced" and 'to-go' dining. Check us out at www.goodysmountaincreperie.com to take a look at how our business works.

We have found that people who order online spend more, tip more, and repeat business more. It currently accounts for 30% of our business vs. ordering in person.

It has helped us to not have a line out the door, which we are no longer allowed to have.

Things that I would like to be improved:

Items having time limits - we serve breakfast till 11:30 and then switch to a lunch menu. I have made a workaround it now involves multiple ipads, is clunky for customers to understand, and messes with reporting.

Pre-orders delaying ticket printing to the prep time - if a customer schedules a pick up hours later, the ticket prints immediately, this is one step of ticket management that I feel like the app could handle rather than burdening the busy kitchen with tickets that need to be perpetually put to the back of the line. (We are at a ski area and it would be amazing if guests could schedule a pick up time from the chairlift)

Check out process - we receive complaints from customers about having to enter information that they don't find relevant to ordering food. To the point where the group will go through the ordering process, become frustrated and come inside to order anyway. Decreasing the friction would be great.

A way to delineate in-person and to-go orders through the online store - we are encouraging people to order on-line even if they are dining in person to increase social distancing. We are reboxing a lot of food as we make it 'for-here' and then rebox if they tell us they wanted it to-go. (we do it this way round so that in-person diners don't have to eat out of paper boxes)

Overall, this is a change that we have been wanting for a few years and if it continues to trend in the right direction as everything with square seems to do it will be great. 

[Rudbeckia]

@Goodystom are you using the Weebly integration with square?

Moving to Weebly ordering will fix most of your needs now...  I set up a for here or to go option by creating a variation for each sku that handles this options.  You could also handle this as a modifier which would be less changes but it still requires you to edit is sku. I have customers that want o by a glass of wine now and bring a bottle home - both requests can be handled in one order.

"future orders" are identified as "upcoming" in the system and not in the active order filter so you can identify them. I think they become active once the time is within the window.

[jmb123]

Hiya -

We use Square Restaurant for our small wine bistro.  Customers sit at tables/bar, order food and drinks, at end of meal they get their check and pay, normal restaurant as opposed to QSR.

Trying to reduce contact/touch things that multiple guests/employees touch regularly.

Few thoughts, most important first:

1.  Contact-less payment.  First thing to go after covid started were those horrible black pleather credit card presenter folders, where we present check in it and customer puts credit card into for processing, etc.  We've moved payment to Square Terminal, which is better and faster and an improvement...BUT what would really be great is to be able to give customer a printed check/bill with a check-specific individual QR code on it or send by sms, with which customer can pay the whole bill directly from phone.  Customer scans QR code, opens link to view the bill, add tip, enter credit card or pay with apple/google.  

2.  One-time use QR code linked to specific Square Restaurant table/guest/party.  Idea is, guest is seated at table, and the hostess gives each party their own 1-time use QR code (maybe printed on a ticket/receipt/something or even sms to customer phone) that is associated with that customer/credit card.  Guests scan the 1-time use QR code, it opens link to menu.  Guests can order thru phone or can place order thru server, tickets route and auto-print where they're supposed to, food / drinks come out, guests can add additional courses or more drinks on as meal progresses, etc.  When guest wants to leave, instead of waiting for server to bring check, process card, sign, etc., guest can just settle check on phone.  Since the QR is 1 time use and specific to each customer/party, and given only to that party, low security risk.  Essentially, you're creating a web interface to the SqRestaurant app, limited to just 1 specific table.

3.  Update the Square retail iphone app Tickets function to allow me (assuming I have the proper permissions) to view all open tickets, and not just the tickets created on that specific iphone.  E.G. make it like the square terminal Tickets function, which has a View All Tickets button.

4.  Fix the quirk that doesn't allow fractional item Unit Type in the Restaurant app.  E.G. in the restaurant app, I can't set a per pound price for charcuterie and sell it by the ounce or 1/10th of pound.  Or wine by the glass - I have to a SKU for a glass of wine, another for a bottle of wine, but the glasses of wine won't decrease the inventory of bottles...  Works fine in the retail app!

5.  Integrate aspects of SqAppointments and SqRestaurants to allow dinner reservations through square or online without having to use OpenTable or similar 3rd party.

[Helen]

Thank you so much @jmb123 for this detailed feedback and for these requests for ways to accept contactless payments and to manage your orders. I really appreciate you taking the time to share! As soon as we have any new features or updates to share we'll let you know. 

[jmb123]

Hiya -

So the past couple restaurants I've been out to eat at, when it comes time to pay the check, the actual check has a QR code on it.  When I take a pic of the qr code with my phone, it opens up a webpage that shows my specific check, let's me select a tip, and gives me the option to pay with applepay or another credit card.

IT'S AWESOME!

One of the POS systems was Clover, the other was a large chain's custom-programmed POS.  But if clover can deploy...square should be able to, too!

This would be a massive time saver, and it's so user friendly!

PLEASE add this to square restaurants!

Right now the pay with qr code option (a) isn't available on square restaurants; and (b) it only works for a single item at a time (useless).

Thx!

[jmb123]

Hi @Helen - just want to make sure this is still an active discussion and that my prior post re: contactless payment was seen and hopefully a product request created for it.  Thx!

[Helen]

Thanks @jmb123! I see you're already part of the Beta Community where you can help us test new features - but you can also subscribe to our Product Updates blog to be automatically notified of new releases. Thanks for your patience in the meantime!