Set up Send & Stay for your restaurant
About Send & Stay
Send & Stay with Square optimizes workflow for drive-thru and full-service restaurants by letting you send items to the kitchen immediately without leaving the order entry screen.
For full-service restaurants, send drinks and appetizers immediately while building the rest of the order, keeping food prep moving without interruption. For drive-thru operations, send items as they’re ordered so the kitchen can start preparing while you continue adding to the order.
Before you begin
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Send & Stay works on the following devices:
Square Register
iPads
Square Handhelds
Square Terminals
KDS (Kitchen Display System) on Android
Kitchen ticket printers
Send & Stay is off by default on existing devices and must be manually enabled. The feature is configured per device and specific to each Food & Beverage mode. You can enable it on some devices while leaving it disabled on others.
Once enabled, Send & Stay works with your existing KDS setup and order routing rules.
Send & Stay is designed for sending items to the kitchen during order entry, not for keeping orders open for extended periods like bar tabs. Orders processed with Send & Stay appear in standard sales reports like any other order.
Set up Send & Stay
You have two options for setting up Send & Stay:
Enable directly on your POS device.
Enable remotely through Square Dashboard.
The exact location of settings may vary by device. Consult your Square Dashboard for device-specific configuration options. After enabling Send & Stay, the feature will be available on your selected devices for the configured Food & Beverage modes.
Use Send & Stay
From the Square Point of Sale app in Full service, Quick service or Bar mode, or from the Square Restaurant POS app:
Start a new order on your POS and add items as you normally would.
Tap Stay when you are ready to send items to the kitchen (instead of Send or Pay).
Remain on the order entry screen and continue adding items, modifiers, quantities and notes as needed.
Tap Send or Pay when all items have been added to the order and process your customer’s payment.
The kitchen experience is identical to manually sending items in batches. Each batch appears as a separate ticket, but all carry the same order identifier.
Train your team on Send & Stay
Start with hands-on practice using real scenarios and create quick reference guides for staff reference.
Run test orders before going live to build confidence.
Enable Send & Stay on one device first and test with simple orders initially.
Once your team is comfortable, expand to additional devices.
Monitor order times and kitchen efficiency regularly.
Gather staff feedback to adjust workflows as needed.
Brief kitchen staff on how multiple tickets will work before launching.
Establish clear protocols for handling order modifications.
- Take complete drink orders and immediately tap Stay to keep the ticket open.
- Return to collect food orders and fire appetizers using Stay to control kitchen pacing.
- Once appetizers are delivered, send main courses using Stay.
- Submit the final entrée order with Send or Pay to close the ticket.
Train servers on when to use Stay versus Send, and establish clear course timing protocols. Ensure kitchen staff knows that multiple tickets for the same table need coordinated timing.
- Send items as customers order them, tapping Stay between additions.
- Verify items before each Stay using the order confirmation screen when available.
- Finalize with Pay when the order is complete.
- Always double-check the full order before final payment.
Kitchen coordination is critical for managing staggered items efficiently. Use vehicle descriptors to track orders and communicate any special timing needs to maintain accuracy and speed.