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Square serves up custom-built platform for Australian restaurants

Australia is the first global market outside of the United States where the POS has been rolled out.
Written by Aimee Chanthadavong, Contributor

Square has rolled out Square for Restaurants in Australia, its latest product from its suite of tools, which was designed specifically for the restaurant industry. 

"We know Square has always been a great fit for cafes and quick-service vendors but we haven't always been able to meet the needs of larger full-service restaurants. These businesses require deeper functionality, such as table mapping or course firing, which is why we have designed Square for Restaurants as a completely customisable solution for their needs," Square Australia business development lead Colin Birney told ZDNet.

The company said the custom-built cloud-based point of sale system was designed with large-scale and multi-location restaurant operators in mind.

The system give managers the ability to remotely update menus and floor layouts across multiple terminals and locations, track staff time and performance, split bills and tips, and protect themselves against fraud.

It also has been designed to be compatible with Square's existing products, such as Square Terminal, which was launched in Australia last month, almost a year after the product was made available in the United States.

See also: 6 essential mobile payments apps small businesses need to know (TechRepublic)  

Australia is the first market outside of the United States to gain access to Square for Restaurants.

The rollout follows on from trials of Square for Restaurants that commenced in July and had 20 local businesses participate. With the rollout, Birney anticipates that there will be a significant uptake now that the solution is available to all restaurants in Australia.

"Currently businesses in the hospitality sector make up around a quarter of Square's seller base in Australia. We have also seen average year-on-year growth of 60% in the number of hospitality sellers signing up to use Square. Now with Square for Restaurants, we'll be able to cater to many more businesses in this sector," he said.

Square for Restaurants is the first custom-built industry specific solution to land in Australia. Although, Birney said Square's other industry specific solutions -- Square for Retail and Square Appointments -- will also be rolled out in Australia in the near future.

Alongside the launch of Square for Restaurants, Square has announced Square Loyalty, enabling businesses to run loyalty programs from the Square Point of Sale app.

Square for Restaurants is available to all restaurants in Australia for AU$129 per month, with Square Loyalty starting from AU$49 per month.

Square has been operating in Australian for a little over three years, launching its Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) contactless payments reader 18 months later.

Square now boasts 70 staff in Australia, with Square CEO and co-founder -- and also CEO and co-founder of Twitter -- Jack Dorsey saying recently that number is tip to hit 100 in the next couple of years.

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