Starting a food truck with Square

[DerbyUnion]

Hi,

I have been looking at Square for the EPOS and Kitchen Management system for our new food trailer. I was just wondering if anybody else uses Square for a food trailer outlet and how they advise on operating such an outlet with Square.

We would likely only need to use a square reader or terminal for our POS for at counter sales, whilst also making use of the QR online ordering system. We would also like to have orders appear on a kitchen display screen, so would also look at getting the Restaurants plus in order to access the Kitchen management system.

I was unable to find any email address for the sales team, so if anybody has any advice on using square or the hardware in which we should purchase that would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks,

Jonah

[#2]

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@DerbyUnion wrote:

I'm assuming you can now access all your orders through order management on the terminal, are you then completing the order on the terminal once food has been sent? Are you slotting new orders into your queue based on the already received pre-orders, and are you using the square online site for your online orders?

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Yup - the order manager is (finally) available on the terminals. I tend not to complete the order, just mark it as in progress when the ticket is printed so I can see what’s new & what I’ve already got a ticket for. 

I slot in walk ups to the line, but most of mine comes as an online order (especially with Covid/time of year too). 

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@DerbyUnion wrote:

I was just looking on your Instagram page, which looks great by the way, definite aspirations there and would definitely order a pizza if I was closer! I did notice a display terminal in the top corner in the van, what purpose does this serve? 

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I’ve got quite a lot of kit, not all of it is in use at the same time so I kind of adapt what I’ve got to how the pop up is for that day.

The display in the kitchen is just used to manage/print online orders. This was before the order manager was on the terminal too.

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@DerbyUnion wrote:

Have their been any limitations that you've found that we should watch out for? Have you been tethering the terminal to your mobile data when Wi-Fi isn't available?

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If you’re running a business, don’t rely on using other people stuff (such as Wi-fi). So if you’re always with the van then you could connect a terminal to your phone hotspot..... 

I’ve got a 4g network in the van (costs less than £20 a month for unlimited internet & then supplies the CCTV & other tech in there all the time). I’d not turn up anywhere & hope to connect to the their internet.

[MJD]

@Sam_400º is your best bet for mobile restaurant information when using square 🙂

[Sam_400º]

@DerbyUnion

get a terminal - personally in a food truck I’ve given a KDS a miss. 

what food are you doing? 

[DerbyUnion]

@Sam_400º Thanks for that quick response.

We would look at cycling our menu, but starting out doing burgers and sides. With us hopefully opening in the next few months, it is likely Covid restrictions are still in place so would look at utilising the online ordering. Is this something that you do too?

The Terminal prints off receipts too, so I'm assuming this is what you use for the ticketing system?

[Sam_400º · Accepted solution]

So if you're doing burgers etc. then the kitchen display will be visible at what point for you? 

I love the idea of a kitchen display in a service situation, but with fast or truck food I think the information ends up in the wrong place. 

So, they order online to collect at 6pm, so the cook & prep all gets done but how is that customers order identified once it's complete & moves though your system? 

I use order tickets & they 'follow the food'. Print off all pre orders when I'm setting up then all new orders print as they come in. Lined up on the grabber I can see just what I've got coming up, & when an order is prepped the ticket moves with it to the next stage. If 3 orders are due to be collected at the same time then they'll all be identified with that same ticket. No writing or anything. 

Same for any walk up orders. 

The Resturant app is awesome, but there are so many features you'd be paying extra for in the pro version that you'd not be able to use. 

[DerbyUnion]

They're all really good points, we had had the idea of a KDS early on, so I've moved forward with that in my research. Completely agree now with the ticket system and ease of moving with the food for even just identifiers, hadn't realised that the terminal was able to print tickets as well as receipts.

I'm assuming you can now access all your orders through order management on the terminal, are you then completing the order on the terminal once food has been sent? Are you slotting new orders into your queue based on the already received pre-orders, and are you using the square online site for your online orders?

I was just looking on your Instagram page, which looks great by the way, definite aspirations there and would definitely order a pizza if I was closer! I did notice a display terminal in the top corner in the van, what purpose does this serve? 

Have their been any limitations that you've found that we should watch out for? Have you been tethering the terminal to your mobile data when Wi-Fi isn't available?

Thanks again, this is a massive help

[Sam_400º]

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@DerbyUnion wrote:

I'm assuming you can now access all your orders through order management on the terminal, are you then completing the order on the terminal once food has been sent? Are you slotting new orders into your queue based on the already received pre-orders, and are you using the square online site for your online orders?

---

Yup - the order manager is (finally) available on the terminals. I tend not to complete the order, just mark it as in progress when the ticket is printed so I can see what’s new & what I’ve already got a ticket for. 

I slot in walk ups to the line, but most of mine comes as an online order (especially with Covid/time of year too). 

---

@DerbyUnion wrote:

I was just looking on your Instagram page, which looks great by the way, definite aspirations there and would definitely order a pizza if I was closer! I did notice a display terminal in the top corner in the van, what purpose does this serve? 

---

I’ve got quite a lot of kit, not all of it is in use at the same time so I kind of adapt what I’ve got to how the pop up is for that day.

The display in the kitchen is just used to manage/print online orders. This was before the order manager was on the terminal too.

---

@DerbyUnion wrote:

Have their been any limitations that you've found that we should watch out for? Have you been tethering the terminal to your mobile data when Wi-Fi isn't available?

---

If you’re running a business, don’t rely on using other people stuff (such as Wi-fi). So if you’re always with the van then you could connect a terminal to your phone hotspot..... 

I’ve got a 4g network in the van (costs less than £20 a month for unlimited internet & then supplies the CCTV & other tech in there all the time). I’d not turn up anywhere & hope to connect to the their internet.