Send order-ready texts with Square for Restaurants
About order-ready texts
By texting your customers when their order is ready with order-ready texts, you can offer a relaxed dining experience to your customers and save on staffing costs without using pagers, running food to tables, or printing an order number on a ticket. With Square for Restaurants or Square Kiosk, you can capture a customer’s phone number and text them when their meal is ready using Square KDS.
Before you begin
Before you start sending order-ready texts, you need to complete the following:
Download the Square KDS app on an Android tablet.
You can enable order-ready texts from your Square Dashboard. Make sure you’ve created at least one Kitchen Display device code, using an Expeditor device. Learn more about how to set up device codes.
Once you’re ready to send order-ready texts, you can collect a guest’s phone number from the Square for Restaurants app and Square Kiosk. Order-ready texts will automatically be sent from the Square KDS app.
If you use Square Loyalty the Loyalty Customer profile number will not save the phone number when your customer inputs a phone number for ‘Text when order is ready’.
Enable order-ready texts
You can enable order-ready texts from your Square Dashboard.
- Sign in to your Square Dashboard and click Settings > Device Management, then click Kitchen settings > Order settings.
- Toggle ON Automatically send order updates.
- Click Save.
- Sign in to your Square Dashboard and click Settings > Device Management, then click Profiles > Device profiles.
- Select your device profile and click Manage under Settings.
- Click Customer engagement.
- Toggle ON Collect phone number upon tapping pay under Notify when ready.
- Click Save.
Send an order-ready text
Once the device settings for order-ready texts are enabled, you can collect a guest’s phone number from the Square Restaurants app or Kiosk to automatically send a text when their order is marked as complete from the Square KDS app (from an Expeditor station).
Open your Square for Restaurants app or Square Kiosk, build your cart then tap Pay.
Tap Yes when the Notify when ready window pops up.
Enter your customer phone number then click Next.
Tap Confirm to confirm your customer consent.
When the order will be marked as complete from the Square KDS app, your guest will receive the order-ready text.