Add "Schedule for pickup" functionality to the Square register and Restaurant POS app

BistroSupport · ‎08-10-2022

Greetings...
Hoping to bring attention to this thread and request.

https://www.sellercommunity.com/t5/Questions-How-To/POS-Phone-order-set-quot-pick-up-time-quot/td-p/...

In short, we need the ability to set the pickup time when we take a phone orders.

Per the reply given on the above linked thread, apparently this can be done in the "regular" POS app but not in the Restaurant App OR the Square register???

https://squareup.com/help/us/en/article/6923-pickup-orders-on-square-point-of-sale

How is this not a core function of the restaurant app and register?

PizzaCo · ‎09-15-2022

We have been needing this feature as well, I've asked about it in several places but figured I'd add it here for good measure. We have many people call orders in advance and it is very difficult to keep our kds screens in order when we have all the early orders sitting around for hours waiting to be made.

kinfolkavl · ‎01-02-2023

Yes, we agree! We are a lunch restaurant and just implementing online ordering through our Square website. There needs to be a way that customers can schedule a pickup time (ex. in an hour from when it was placed) not just first available after the prep times are set. Please make this an option!!

TheHaven2 · ‎01-03-2023

We are a BBQ business and take phone orders and in-person orders for future pickup days and times. This is very much needed and should have been included for the Square for Restaurants app. We refer to these as "preorders" and is the top type of order for us. I'll detail my work-around below, but please note, this is not ideal but was done out of necessity. It throws off my reports and opens the door for errors when removing the entries at the end of the day.

My Preorder Work-around:

1. In the item library create an item named PREORDER with a price of $0.00. We have it hidden for online orders.

2. Under the menu tab, add "Preorder" to show under the POS Home Screen. Do not select to automatically add.

3. Edit your POS Layout to include PREORDER to be viewable on your POS screen.

4. To ring up a preorder, select PREORDER and enter your customers info in the notes field. We take the person's name, phone number, date and time for pickup. Add to ticket and begin taking the order as normal.

5. To take payment, select "record other payment" (this has to be selected in your setting's payment methods) and enter PREORDER in the type of payment field and submit the order. This will allow the ticket to go through and send the order to our kitchen.

6. Before closing, pull up that day's transactions and "refund" all the tickets that say PREORDER. This removes the recorded payments from your sales.

Pros: this gets your orders submitted to the kitchen accurately and allows us to give the customer a total.

Cons: we have to re-enter the ticket when the customer comes to pickup and pay for the order. It takes up time having to delete the initial preorder entry at the end of the day. It throws off reports for those who keep up with returns/cancellations. The biggest hassle is the possibility of error by accidentally refunding a preorder that was actually paid, which we did when this was first initiated.

PizzaCo · ‎05-27-2023

Just coming back to check on the status of this feature. It is definitely the biggest issue we have had with this system as the orders show up on the KDS system sometimes days before they are due and they get missed by the time they are actually due out. If we just had the option to submit orders from the POS like people do online where they select the date and time and then it sends to the KDS the amount of time before it is due that is set by the restaurant (for example our online orders get in line with the other orders 25 minutes before they are due) This would be immensely helpful during our peak hours when we can have 20-50 tickets needing to be made so those call ahead orders can be in order not only for the people making pizzas but also the person running the oven so they don't have to constantly scroll through the screens to try to find which order a food item goes with. Thanks again, looking forward to any updates!

edenwoodstock · ‎10-17-2023

I'm glad I found this post. Agreed that it's insane that this functionality DOESN'T exist in Square for Restaurants but DOES exist on Square POS. Our workaround is to use a handheld (will cost you a few hundred) with Square POS on it and we can schedule orders that way. A bit of a pain, but it does work.

RoniM · ‎10-18-2023

We have a similar issue with takeout and phone orders. There's no way to input such orders now into Square For Restaurants. I detailed our use case here: https://www.sellercommunity.com/t5/Square-for-Restaurants/Merge-phone-amp-take-out-orders-with-Order...

pizzaamericana · ‎02-23-2025

We also need this feature as a Pizza place we have plenty of call ahead orders, we continuously ask people to call back or ask them to use the web, but it is very frustrating for customers. It must integrate with KDS so that the orders will only display in the prep window...

Guidos-Pizza · ‎05-09-2025

This should be a simple feature to be added since customers call and place catering orders ahead of time for a weekend pickup/delivery. It seems like it have not been resolved since this thread is from Aug 2022. Customer can schedule ahead online but not in-person or over the phone? And why can't we have the customers address printed on the ticket for in-house delivery? Some of our customers are old school and like to call in to place a pickup/deliver orders. Every other POS does it w/o any security issue. We're currently on a 30 days trial and wondering if we should continue beyond the trial since half of our revenue are delivery orders.

HoneysFCP · ‎07-17-2025

It is completely insane to me that this software is positioned for use in restaurants, but contains no native order scheduling functionality for phone-in or walk-in orders that need to be scheduled at a later time. And it's even more insane that this thread is years old, with no progress made on this very basic piece of functionality, especially since it seems (to the layperson like me) that it's already partially built, since online orders can be scheduled just fine. This is sloppy and a core feature of any restaurant's POS, and why any development time would be spent on anything else while this is still an issue is beyond me. Is the Square for Restaurants platform not being developed any more? How can this keep getting overlooked?

PizzaCo · ‎08-25-2025

Hello, me again, just checking to see if there have been any plans to get a feature implemented to handle these call ahead orders. It is definitely still one of the main problems we have using this system.