Board Game Cafe: Memberships & Open Tabs for Self-Order and Pay?

[chrismorlang]

Hi everyone,
I'm working on opening a board game cafe and had a couple of questions regarding Square's and what it can and can't do

Self-Serve Cover Fee with Memberships:
The cafe will be self-serve and self-pay from the table. I plan to charge a per-person cover fee. However, I also want to offer monthly and yearly memberships that would waive this cover fee when it is added for those members. Is this possible to set up in Square—either through discount rules or customer profiles?

Open Tabs for Self-Ordering:
I'd like guests to be able to place multiple orders throughout their visit and pay once at the end. I know Square removed the open tab feature for QR ordering—so is there another way to implement something similar, maybe through open tickets or another workaround that still allows guests to order from their table?

If Square isn’t the best fit for this, are there integrations or third-party systems that can help and would still work with the membership and cover fee?

Thanks in advance for your help!

[Pintuna]

Hello @chrismorlang, this is Ashwin from Pintuna. We are a Square partner and offer a comprehensive membership solution. All our apps are tightly integrated with the Square POS system. You can reach out to us at [email protected]. Happy to demo the app. 

[MayaP]

Hello @chrismorlang, thanks for reaching out! Congratulations and opening your cafe, that sounds so fun! 👏😊

I am going to tag some super sellers who can share their insights: @ChickenRacer @dimo10  @JTPets @SSB_YVR. I appreciate all your help!

[Subport]

Hey @chrismorlang I just came across your thread and wanted to see if I can help. 

I created a short video that might help answer your question. I'll also write it down below.

https://youtu.be/JcsgXa5ZBno

Self-serve and Self-pay at table: Not a problem. Square can easily handle this.

Subscriptions: Square can do this with some limitations on what you want to achieve.

Subscriptions to Waive Cover Fees: Square will not waive cover fees if someone purchases a subscription. I played around the subscription section on Square and couldn't find a way to waive cover fees.

Open Tabs for Ordering: I am not sure if Square has this feature yet. I can look into it and see if we can create it for you.

Subport can handle unlimited subscription tiers that are fully custom to what you want. You can even add food/beverage to the order section so your customers can order while at their table.

Overall, Square is a very powerful POS that can handle your store.

Subport Square Marketplace

https://app.squareup.com/us/en/app-marketplace/app/subport-subscription-management

I hope that helped. Don't hesitate to ask me more questions if you have them.

[MayaP]

Hello @chrismorlang - I greatly appreciate your patience! I was hoping to get some replies from sellers, but since we haven't I can share my insights:

Self-Serve Cover Fee with Memberships: For this, we do have subscriptions available, but there isn't a way to waive the fee for those members. 

Open Tabs for Self-Ordering: The only options I can think of are to use open tickets, but there isn't a self-ordering option for open tickets. 

I hope with my reply and some of the others on in thread will point you in the right direction. If you need anything else feel free to tag me 😊

[carolineharper]

Square can handle parts of this, but there are some real limitations to be aware of.

Memberships/cover fee:
Square doesn’t natively support waiving a cover fee automatically based on an active membership. The usual workaround is to:

• Create a cover fee item

• Create a member-only discount or comped item

• Apply it manually at checkout after selecting the customer profile

Square can manage recurring memberships for billing, but tying that status to automatic item-level rules at POS is still limited.

Open tabs for self-ordering:
You’re correct that Square removed true open tabs for QR ordering. At the moment, guests must close and pay for each order. There isn’t a native way to keep a running tab for self-order from the table.

Workarounds some operators use:

• Staff-created open checks and adding items manually as guests order

• Using table numbers and holding tickets internally, then finalizing payment at the end

• Third-party ordering tools that integrate with Square and support running tabs

Third-party options:
If memberships and open tabs are core to your concept, many cafes use external ordering or membership systems and push payments into Square only at checkout. Square works well as the payment processor, but not as the full workflow engine for this use case.

If you want something simple and staff-managed, Square can work. If you want a fully self-serve, tab-based experience tied to memberships, you’ll likely need an integration or a different platform.

[stonearcher56]

Love the idea—memberships plus open tabs can really smooth out busy nights. One extra touch could be giving guests something quick to play while waiting on food or settling tabs. We’ve seen cafes boost engagement with short brain teasasers like Daily Letter Boxed placed on table cards or menus. It keeps tables entertained, encourages repeat visits, and fits perfectly with a self-order flow.

[Joe_Hartzel]

This is a really interesting setup for a board game café, and your use case actually makes a lot of sense for Square-style systems.

For the membership + cover fee idea, in most cases this can be handled using a combination of customer profiles + automatic discounts or comp rules. You can tag members in the system and apply either a 100% discount on the cover fee item or create a “membership pricing” rule. Some businesses also handle this through a separate “membership product” that flags eligible customers, though it usually requires a bit of manual setup or light workaround logic depending on how strict your flow needs to be.

For the open tab / self-ordering issue, since classic open tabs for QR ordering are limited, many cafés instead use:

• “Open check” style tickets at the POS (kept open per table)
• Table-based orders linked to a customer or device session
• Or third-party ordering systems that sync back to Square

If your goal is a smooth self-serve experience, a hybrid setup (QR ordering + table tabs + end-of-visit payment) usually works best, but it may require some experimentation depending on your workflow.

Also, your idea reminds me a bit of multiplayer strategy games and tabletop RPG-style systems—where players keep building their “session” over time instead of restarting each round. It’s similar to how games like Cuphead Mobile Version Dungeons & Dragons, Overcooked, or even progression-based co-op games work: people keep adding actions, items, and decisions until the final “checkout moment” (or end of the session). A board game café basically turns that real-world flow into a physical version of game mechanics, which is actually pretty cool.

If you ever refine the system, thinking in “game mechanics” (sessions, tokens, membership buffs, open quests = tabs) can really help design a smoother customer experience.