Square For Restaurants Needs More Input From Restaurant Operators

[seattlesam]

I'm new here and have been using Square at a new pizza and pasta restaurant in Seattle.  I have worked with many POS in the past.   My main concerns are that there seems to be too much functionality that is just residual Ecom that is mostly not relevant to restaurants, and that syncing items from the Dashboard to the Online website is too tedious.  

My main gripe is there is too much distinction between the 'Dashboard' in-house POS, and the online store.  For example - the 'item type' in the online store is not an option when creating an item in the dashboard, and it defaults to 'physical' instead of 'prepared food and beverage' (so not optimized for restaurant).  Also, the category you assign an item to in Dashboard does not carry over to the item Online.  Without an assigned category, the item will not appear on your online menu even after you make it 'Visible' (which for some reason is not called 'available' ? the other option is 'unavailable').  

As a restaurant owner who does a mix of take out and dine in, I would prefer the entire item creating process to be one and done.  Make the item in Dashboard and have everything about it carry over to online automatically (including being immediately visible).  Have an option 'do not add to online store' if you want to sell something only in person.  But it is generally rare in my experience that you wouldn't want to an item to appear on your online menu, especially during COVID. 

Same goes for discounts! I can't even do discounts for online ordering, which is brutal.  Promo codes are tedious and in the context of restaurants they are tacky.  Why on earth wouldn't Square allow us to just offer the same discounts as we do for in-store?

Sorry for the rant.  

[AshleyK]

@seattlesam Thank you so much for sharing your feedback. I know it can be really frustrating to wait for features to be released, especially when you have a lot of requests. I will continue to share as much feedback as possible on behalf of all the sellers on this platform, yours included. One thing that may help is subscribing to our Product Updates page to get alerts for when we release new features. 

Thanks again for your time and feedback. Have a nice day! 🙂

[seattlesam]

Hey Ashley, 

To be honest, the more frustrating part is having no real insight into why these features are the way they are.  E.G. Why would I be able to create discounts for my in-store sales, but not my online store?  Why do customer names print in different places on the tickets when they order online vs in store?  Why doesn't 'category' sync when sync is turned on? Without a category assigned, new items don't appear on the online store, so auto-syncing like everything else would make sense.  When creating a new item, why are the 'Variations' fields higher on the scroll then the 'Menus', when menus are compulsory and variations are rarely used in restaurants? Most importantly - who, other than this seller community, is giving input to Square from the restaurants perspective abou these things?  I'm honestly very curious about all of this.  Thank you for your response.  

[DSander]

I think its mostly because the online system is not actually square but through weebly. One inline system would be nice for sure.

[blakeadesigns]

I have been working with the Square Restaurant platform for 2.5 years.   Over this time I have yet to see any real or meaningful updates--- like real practical and functional updates.     It is kind of disappointing that there seem to be little progress or transparency from one of the so-called top tech companies in the world.   
KDS screens in kitchens great, but why do this when the system lacks other basic functionality. 
I sell an item (a dinner) - no where can I explain of input what is included or options.  
ie how its prepared, with what
But what about simple text messaging when orders are ready.
The ability to track inventory, ingredients and formulas to an item.
The ability to tailor workflow to your needs--> 
The ability to configure much of the system without work arounds and hidden or deep embedded check boxes.
I used to develop software for medical offices and ran product management on other complex software.
None of the features requested that I need - and or read about are not complex.   
My opinion is that.. hey it works so don't fix what's not broken -- or its good enough for now.
How about something as simple as- pausing a modifier (were out of it) or changing the order of how they display?
I am starting to look at other systems and most likely will drop square by the end of the year unless I see some sign of updates for the Restaurant market.   
Not disgruntle - just think there are better systems in the market that their sole focus is restaurants. 
The support people on the phone are nice but can only say -- that's a good idea... we don't do that.