Just a couple weeks after launching Square Terminal, its new all-in-one payment device, Square today announced via press release an update that integrates that hardware with its restaurant POS system, Square for Restaurants. By combining the two, Square hopes to speed up the process for guests when it’s time to pay the bill and save restaurants time and money.
Square Terminal — which any retailer can use by itself — allows businesses to process multiple payment methods with the same terminal. A single device can accept chip cards, those with a magnetic stripe, and payment from mobile devices via Apple Pay, Google Pay, and other NFC-enabled methods. Businesses are at an advantage because they pay one flat rate for each payment. They also avoid certain fees that come with other terminals, like a security fee.
Square Restaurants, meanwhile, centralizes restaurant operations into a single platform, so that tasks like table reservations, order taking, and menu updates can be managed from the same interface. The platform launched in May.
Beginning today, any restaurant using Square for Restaurants, whether sit-down, quick-service, or a mix, will be able to use a Terminal device to access all of its checks and let the guests pay tableside. The server only has to walk the device over to the table, where guests will swipe, insert, or tap, then enter a tip digitally into the machine.
“In a restaurant, one of the few times a diner looks at their watch is when they’re ready to pay and leave. Taking payments tableside with Square Terminal helps speed up that process,” Naama Tamir, owner of Lighthouse restaurant in Brooklyn, said in the press release.
It also helps cut down on potential confusion that can happen when credit cards travel from table to server station, or when guests ask for multiple checks on a single table and all those cards have to be kept track of. I remember one time, back in the pre-iPhone days, being asked to split the check on a fifteen-person table. Square’s new platform would have come in handy, as the process took upwards of 20 minutes and made everyone involved mad.
Square also handles PCI compliance, fraud prevention, check disputes, and multiple other payment issues restaurants have to contend with. Square terminal costs $399 per device, while Square for Restaurants is $60/month for a single restaurant location.