thread Re: [Early Access] Open Tabs for Online Ordering Profiles: try it out and share your feedback in Feedback Discussions

[Early Access] Open Tabs for Online Ordering Profiles: try it out and share your feedback

RazakM — Mon, 10 Aug 2026 17:44:48 GMT

Hi F&B folks! 👋

We’re excited to share that Open Tabs for Online Ordering Profiles is now available in Early Feature Access!

What it is

Open Tabs lets customers start a tab from their Online Ordering Profile, continue adding items throughout their visit, and pay when they're ready to close out. Staff can view and manage the same tab from Square Point of Sale, making it easier to serve dine-in guests without interrupting the ordering experience.

We’re looking for restaurants, bars, coffee shops, bakeries, and other F&B sellers to try it out and share feedback with our team.

To get started:

Head to Early Feature Access in your Square Dashboard and install Open Tabs for Ordering Profiles
Go to Online Ordering → QR Code Ordering and enable “Allow dine-in customers to open a tab.”

You'll need to be on a Square Plus or Premium plan and have Online Ordering Profiles enabled.

Since this is an early feature, your input directly shapes where it goes next. Share your feedback here throughout the beta — what's working, what isn't, and what you'd like to see improved 🙌.

Re: [Early Access] Open Tabs for Online Ordering Profiles: try it out and share your feedback

tranguyen — Tue, 11 Aug 2026 06:06:25 GMT

Thanks so much for sharing @RazakM ! Tagging in a few folks that might be interested in this @SVLFever @MAXSDELI @tulanejeff @TheRealChipA @Getonthebus @Lovewell @makedonas @Donnie-M @JG_Brewing @indianathomas @GFC25th @Callee1945 @schaefferjosh @sugarlab @emilyz123 @perkits !

Re: [Early Access] Open Tabs for Online Ordering Profiles: try it out and share your feedback

SVLFever — Tue, 11 Aug 2026 13:02:45 GMT

Hello @RazakM . I activated the beta in early access, but when I try to go to the settings, I am seeing this request to upgarde. I have Square Plus currently, although if you could update me to Square Premium @tranguyen , I would appreciate it. (I'll send you a DM about this).

Is this an error since I'm on Plus currently?

Re: [Early Access] Open Tabs for Online Ordering Profiles: try it out and share your feedback

RazakM — Tue, 11 Aug 2026 15:52:56 GMT

Hi @SVLFever It looks like you’re currently on our legacy Plus plan (i.e Square for Restaurant/Retail Plus and Square Online Plus) rather than the new plan listed here: https://squareup.com/us/en/pricing.

You’ll need to migrate to the new plan if you’d like to switch over. I believe your account rep should be able to help you with the migration.

Re: [Early Access] Open Tabs for Online Ordering Profiles: try it out and share your feedback

emilyz123 — Wed, 12 Aug 2026 15:03:37 GMT

Hi there, thanks for sharing! We are a coffee and gift shop, is there any use case for us for this new feature? Trying to figure out what an example use case would be for us.

Re: [Early Access] Open Tabs for Online Ordering Profiles: try it out and share your feedback

MAXSDELI — Wed, 12 Aug 2026 21:21:36 GMT

Hi Tran, thank you for tagging me however, this isn’t a feature I’d be currently interested in for our location but I like the feature and perhaps, this something we can utilize in the future.

Re: [Early Access] Open Tabs for Online Ordering Profiles: try it out and share your feedback

CinderBistro — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 04:06:45 GMT

@RazakM Sounds interesting but how do our servers get notified when a customer has added something to their order? I also assume items ordered would also be automatically routed to the correct KDS?

Re: [Early Access] Open Tabs for Online Ordering Profiles: try it out and share your feedback

backyard — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 04:17:21 GMT

Quick question, I assume that if they set up a tab that way it's the online ordering processing rate vs the dip/tap rate?

Re: [Early Access] Open Tabs for Online Ordering Profiles: try it out and share your feedback

tranguyen — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 04:20:08 GMT

Thanks for raising this @backyard ! From what I've found, the tab is charged online ordering processing rate.

However, because multiple items/orders are consolidated into a single transaction, so you will pay the fixed fee (30¢) only once instead of on each separate order.

Will let @RazakM confirm as well!

Re: [Early Access] Open Tabs for Online Ordering Profiles: try it out and share your feedback

LTDBrewing — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 04:33:36 GMT

@RazakM My biggest problem with this is that it requires pre-auth and the way square does pre-authorizations does not work for us. When square does a pre-auth it puts a freeze on the funds on a debit card and our customers did not appreciate that. If square can come up with a better way to do a pre-auth, this feature would be more appealing to us. For example when I get gas and pre authorize it with a card it doesn't put a hold in the maximum amount on my bank card, so there must be a way. Thank you!

Re: [Early Access] Open Tabs for Online Ordering Profiles: try it out and share your feedback

RazakM — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 15:02:24 GMT

Absolutely! One example could be a customer who comes in, orders a coffee, and wants to keep browsing while they’re at the café. Instead of paying right away, you could open a tab for them, and they can add a pastry, another drink, or even a gift item as they go, then pay for everything at once when they’re ready to leave.

Re: [Early Access] Open Tabs for Online Ordering Profiles: try it out and share your feedback

RazakM — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 15:05:19 GMT

Yes! Any items added will automatically route to the appropriate KDS, and the order will also pop up on your POS just like a regular order. From the POS, you’ll be able to assign a server to it as well.

Re: [Early Access] Open Tabs for Online Ordering Profiles: try it out and share your feedback

RazakM — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 15:11:07 GMT

Thanks @tranguyen. That is correct

Re: [Early Access] Open Tabs for Online Ordering Profiles: try it out and share your feedback

RazakM — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 15:13:15 GMT

Thanks for the feedback @LTDBrewing. That’s a good callout. I’ll flag this and share it with the rest of the team.

Re: [Early Access] Open Tabs for Online Ordering Profiles: try it out and share your feedback

noworyz123 — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 15:40:18 GMT

Does the customer have to start the tab using the QR code in order to add things to their tab or can a staff member start their tab (how we currently do it) and the customer add things via the QR code later on?

Re: [Early Access] Open Tabs for Online Ordering Profiles: try it out and share your feedback

RazakM — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 16:00:19 GMT

The customer needs to start the tab using the QR code, as this feature is designed to be a self-service experience.

Re: [Early Access] Open Tabs for Online Ordering Profiles: try it out and share your feedback

backyard — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 16:06:38 GMT

Makes sense, thanks for clarification. When the customers order/tab shows on the POS, are staff members able to also add items on the customer created tab?

Re: [Early Access] Open Tabs for Online Ordering Profiles: try it out and share your feedback

RazakM — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 16:13:50 GMT

Yes, staff can add items from the POS once the tab has been created. Though to do that you would need to have Open Ticket enabled.

Re: [Early Access] Open Tabs for Online Ordering Profiles: try it out and share your feedback

SVLFever — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 16:14:52 GMT

HI @RazakM .

We upgraded to Square Premium yesterday and I tried to activate the "allow dine in customers to open a tab" setting and it created an error. Thinking that it might be related to the beta being on when the subscription changed, I shut it off and turned it back on, but the result was the same.

Any ideas???

Re: [Early Access] Open Tabs for Online Ordering Profiles: try it out and share your feedback

RazakM — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 16:43:41 GMT

@SVLFever First time coming across this issue. Will look into it immediately