Split a single item

[HowToSplititems]

Allow us to split an item on a check. This used to be annoying, now my staff are using it as a way to steal from me. I will be switching to Toast if there is not a fix soon. This SIMPLE feature that is basic on every other restaurant POS has been requested for years. 

[#2]

Hi @AlexMPH - you're absolutely right! @makedonas, same to you. I had too many tabs open and was trying to update too many things at once and made a mistake. This feature is in beta. I'll go back and edit my previous post too. Thanks for tagging me!

Beta Test Group can be found here: https://www.sellercommunity.com/t5/Restaurants-Item-Splits/gh-p/RSTItemSplits

️ Kristen
Square Community Manager
Product Engagement

[#3]

Thanks for the loop in, @AndySQ.

Hey @Jtay, I want to thank you for your honestly. The item splitting feature has been a long-standing feature request from sellers such as yourself, and I empathise with the frustration of its absence while being commonplace on other platforms. I can also see why not being able to organise seats within a bill would disrupt your day-to-day operations and your staff. 

Item splitting is firmly on our roadmap, and our team is actively working towards implementing it. Unfortunately, we don't have a specific timeline for its release at the moment, but we will be sure to be in touch whenever this feature can be tested or released on the Square for Restaurants platform. 

I have shared your feedback with our product teams in the meantime. Feedback like yours above helps us determine how we can prioritise new features for Square's payment platform. 

Let me know if there is anything else I can help with. 

[#4]

Looping in @AdrianaSQ and @k_atie, who are working on our Split by Seat Beta and may be able to give a better idea of when you'll have access to more options for splitting tickets by seat and handling larger groups with more complex needs.

While I don't think that split by seat on its own will hit all of the requests that have come up in this thread, it is a step in the right direction.

It may not always feel like it but threads like this do make a difference, and we recognize that it puts you and your staff in a difficult position when our software doesn't meet their expectations.

I'm sorry that it's taken this long to make progress, and that there's still more work to be done to tick all of these boxes, but thank you for your patience and for reiterating how important these features are for you and so many other businesses that use Square for Restaurants.

[#5]

@Jtay Thanks for pointing out these gaps in Square for Restaurants that you'd like to see filled, and for being so unequivocal.  These are relatively small changes that would make a big difference, especially for businesses like yours!

All of these updates are being worked on by our product team, and unvarnished points of view like these from real folks do inform how and when we release new options.  Part of my job here is to amplify and share input like this to the right ears. 👂

I don't blame you for being cynical, especially in a thread that's been open for this long - But I hope we'll have good news for yourself and the other folks that need more options for handling items and seat-linked tickets in the future.

[Pubdownunder]

Very disappointed. To find out this after the fact when it is misleading by saying you can split the bill. Which sure, could be on us for not researching this very specific unthought of issue, as it is industry standard. Only to find out when your customers come in they can't split a pitcher of beer and we can't even split the item on our side? Come on, then our customers have to problem solve for us by e-transferring to the guy that had to foot the bill for the pitcher. Ridiculous. This needs attention or your customer base is going to leave and move on. I understand if you were online function only and one person was always paying. But that's not the way in the life of our customers (The way your customers make money to pay you). Please keep this in mind and this should be a top issue to fix. It's hard on our staff and we now need to find a work around.   

[elponce]

We switched to square for restaurants at the start of Covid and overall have been happy with functionality and ease of use for our staff and management team. 

The ability to split items evenly (without requiring math or weird workarounds) along with the ability to store card info on an open tab are 2 features that are basic and necessary to our businesses. 

You released square for restaurants and promoted how much you listened to our needs, but it has been disheartening to see that 2 basic feature requests have been asked for for several years with no movement, only replies with overcomplicated and unpractical workarounds, or calls for patience. 

I understand things take time to develop, but I see lots of new features being launched and they all seem to be revenue drivers, i.e. additional costs to the business owners.  Would be helpful for us to see what is in the pipeline and what their priority levels are for development of features- no timeline required, but if we know it's being worked on as a high priority, it may be easier to wait for the feature to launch. 

Also we may consider investing in using your reservation system or loyalty programs if we know we will be using Square for Restaurants for the long term.  As of now I'm looking at other options for POS, and will not add additional services to my account until the ones I pay for meet my very basic needs.  Even Squirrel & Aloha, which are the worst we've used in the last decade, had these 2 features.  Otherwise maybe there should be a consideration to rename the Square for Restaurants POS to Square for Counter Service

[Ash3]

We are about to cancel our square for restaurants because of this very issue. We have two restaurants with ten pos in each so we pay a lot per month. I guess Square doesn’t care about our little business leaving. This ability had been asked for for years now and they refuse?!?

[Ria]

Hi @Ash3 - Welcome back to The Seller Community, we appreciate you stopping by 😊

Great Question.

I can totally see the need for a feature like this and how beneficial it could be for customers and sellers. At this time Square does not offer a feature that will allow item splitting only splitting the entire ticket. I'll be happy to move this over to a feature request board so that our engineers have visibility of your suggestion. We appreciate you sharing your request. While there is no time frame for when it will be implemented, i'm happy to make sure our engineers have eyes on your request. 

As always, feel free to stop by The Community with question, concerns and even feature requests. We are more than happy to assist. ✨

[Double507]

I have the restaurant software. I think EVERY server/bartender/manager/owner would like to have this feature. There is a thread from 2018 (4 YEARS AGO) that is asking for this feature. You ARE restaurant software right? Where are you at with it? 

[makedonas]

Servers need a button for splitting checks by seat number. Proper serving etiquette, especially for larger tables, is to place each guest on a seat number and place each guests order under that number.
When the server finds out that the whole table isn't all on one check, they can then press Split by Seat number and they will be taken to the split check screen and all the items would be grouped under each Seat Numbered Check. 
At this point, there would be 2 options: 

1. All the checks are ready to be printed by seat number. Here we would use the Print All Checks. 
2. The server would group items from certain seats together and then Print All Checks. 

here is an example:

1. A group of 6 guests. Each guest is numbered Seat 1 through 6. The server enters each guests drinks and food, under each designated seat through out their visit. 
Lets say that this table has 3 couples. The couples are not sitting next to each other. Girls grouped together. Guys grouped together. 
Each couple wants to pay their tab separately.
At this point, the server would then click on the Split by Seat number button and would be presented with 6 separate checks on the Restaurant Pos, with all the items ordered from each guest. 
the server would be able to easily group each couples ordered items and then Print All Checks. Done. 

Imagine if each person wanted a separate check. Or if it was a group of 10 or more. 
This would be a life saver for servers that are properly taking orders based of seat numbers. 
Servers that take orders by seat numbers also help contribute to better reports for guest counts. Average Sales per guest etc

[mnarewal]

Agreed. I will probably be moving over to a better POS because of this feature not being added. 

[eniemeier72]

I would love to have this option available.  My servers have a work around but it throws off our inventory.  Please figure this issue out.  We too are looking at other POS systems because of this issue.  We love square but we and Square look like dum dum stoopid dums when we tell guests we can,t split a btl of wine that a couple has shared.  Every other restaurant POS system that we have looked at has this function.  PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE fix this for us.

[DSander]

This one is the biggest pain point for us after switching to SQ.  Since the seat numbers are just modifiers there’s no way to easily do this. (We know how to use then split check feature which is fine) a split check by seat option would be faster for sure.

the bigger pain point is when guests move around, or change tables and you have to keep track of who’s where based off their original item modifier seat number. Many  systems do this with ease. 

Another feature that would be nice would be to be able to adjust seat numbers after a guest moves and have that live update on the KDS   Currently we have to leave notes for the food runners of changes. 

[_Violet]

Hi there @Double507  Thank you for submitting your request to the Square for Restaurants Ideate Board 💡

As of right now, Square Restaurants users have the ability to split off items into separate checks or split the total bill amount into separate checks. Our Product Team has let me know that splitting items is a feature that is on their radar and they are hoping to implement this in the near future but we do not have an exact ETA at this time as product implementation is dependent on many other factors.

To learn more about how feature requests work, please see this post from one of our Seller Community Moderators.

I understand that it can be frustrating to wait for a needed feature but we do certainly appreciate your patience with us in the meantime 🙏 Please keep an eye out for any future updates 👀

cc: @mnarewal @eniemeier72