Square Debuts Restaurant Kiosk for Self-Serve Ordering

Square has introduced a tool to allow self-service ordering at fast food restaurants.

Square Kiosk, announced Tuesday (May 7), is a combined software, hardware and payment solution designed to work in tandem with the company’s Square for Restaurants offering and larger broader ecosystem of banking, customer engagement and business insights tools.

“For diners, using Square Kiosk is a sleek and simple experience that lets them bypass lines and easily customize their orders,” the company said in a news release.

“Guests are able to select exactly what they want, with customization options being sent directly to the kitchen, and restaurants can grow their check sizes by offering upgrades and add-ons on every order without any awkward exchanges.”

With labor costs rising, the release added, Square Kiosk lets operators reduce wait times and increase staffing in other parts of their businesses while still taking orders.

PYMNTS explored the demand for self-service among consumers in a recent interview with Brandon Barton, CEO of self-service kiosk provider Bite, which recently raised $9 million in its Series A funding round.

He said that his company, which has been focused on restaurants, was getting “more inquiries today from retail brands” than ever before.

Retailers, Barton told PYMNTS, are seeing the opportunity to use the ordering solution to address customer demand for omnichannel experiences in a way that maintains their focus on the shopping journey.

“What you want people to do is go to the internet and check [product information], because then it’s scalable and updated with the most recent info, with the most recent sale and everything, but the minute somebody takes out their phone, they have 70 notifications from Slack, Instagram email and texts that distract them,” he said.

“So, if you have a self-service kiosk that sits beside and is complementary to a retail experience, you blend online and offline in what I think is an elegant way for the consumer purchase journey,” Barton added.

Meanwhile, research by PYMNTS intelligence has shown that customers are more enthusiastic about self-service at quick-service and fast-casual restaurants than at full-service dining establishments.

The PYMNTS Intelligence study “The Digital Divide: Technology, the Metaverse and the Future of Dining Out” showed that a little more than half of grab-and-go customers said ordering using a self-service kiosk have a positively impact on their satisfaction, while just 20% of dine-in customers said the same.