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Is there a way to text a customer that their order is ready for pick up?

Is there a way to text a customer that their order is ready for pick up?

We expanded our small business (food trailer) this year which included using the square register with kitchen tickets. Since our business, at this moment, is strictly set up for events (fairs, festivals, etc.) I was thinking it would be neat to take the order and give the customer a number but instead of them waiting (unless they want to), text them a notice their food is ready to pick up. That way they won't have to keep checking back, they can enjoy their selves where they are at. Is that something I can do with square or is there another app that works with square?

 

Thanks!

 

Donna

96 Replies
Square Community Moderator

Hey @South_of_North,

 

This is actually an old thread so sorry for the confusion here.

 

Our new online store does offer texts when orders are ready for pick-up.

 

Like when I place an order with my local coffee shop that uses Square- it asks for my phone number and I can opt in there for text confirmations and it'll send me one confirming and when the order is ready to be picked up.

Hi Ashley,

 

That's what I was saying. We were able to do it when we were doing online ordering only but now that we are allowed to be open again it would be super helpful to be able to do it for in person orders.

 

-Savannah

Agree 100% !!  Need to be able to text customers that place orders in person, since most of them are waiting outside to pickup.  The functionality is there for online orders so it can't be that hard to make this possible please help!

any update on this? This is sorely needed for restaurants. Our staff wastes so much time running outside with orders, trying to match the order with the customer. 

This is such an old thread, and SQUARE is so useful and powerful. It is a mystery why this feature has not been implemented, especially with COVID-19.  We are now processing lots of in-person orders that need to be delivered to a car SOMEWHERE in the parking lot (or sometimes they leave and come back)...

 

It would be SO MUCH EASIER to just send a text and have them come back in and/or text us where they are. 


@ColonelMustard wrote:

This is such an old thread, and SQUARE is so useful and powerful. It is a mystery why this feature has not been implemented, especially with COVID-19.  We are now processing lots of in-person orders that need to be delivered to a car SOMEWHERE in the parking lot (or sometimes they leave and come back)...

 

It would be SO MUCH EASIER to just send a text and have them come back in and/or text us where they are. 


 

I know people aren't excited about the idea of paying for another service to help with this, but I did just want to highlight a way a lot of people are using TablesReady now to help with social distancing.

 

When you process a new transaction (or receive an order in Weebly/Square Online Store), the customer information then flows to TablesReady, then we can trigger an additional confirmation text that says something like:

"We're prepping your order! Please reply back to this with the make, model, and color of your car so we can bring your food out when it's ready."

 

When your customer replies, the response shows up right on the waitlist/order queue page. You can then bring their food right out to them when it's ready.

 

Being able to see customer replies is not very easy in other POSes (maybe Square will do it right whenever it happens), but if this is important to you, you may want to check us out.

 

You can also bypass that message and just send them a text to come pick up their order once it's ready.

 

These messages are all fully customizable in TablesReady to fit with how your pickup process needs to work.

 

You can read our support doc on setting this all up, if you're interested.

The frustration here is that the functionality we are asking for already exists within Square.  When we get online orders, there is a button to note the order as being in progress, and then you press the button again and it auto sends a message to the customer alerting them that their order is ready for pickup.

 

All we are asking for is this existing functionality be applied to in person orders.  All the info is pulled from the customer's card at the time of order. 

 

The suggestion to use something like TablesReady does not address the issue for the tens of thousands of us who aren't using an ipad/tablet but are using Square's own POS hardware that does not allow the installation of any third party apps. 

 

 

Thats a tough one, because that sort of functionality would be kinda niche. The person is already in front of you, and probably conpleting the transaction already. You can gather whatever information is needed while they’re there. 

We have the same issue, I second that hope for an easy way to text someone when an order is ready. Did you find any 3rd party apps that work for you?