Dive Brief:
- Square, the merchant business of digital payments company Block, rolled out a Square for Franchises platform, the company said Tuesday in an email to Restaurant Dive.
- Square for Franchises allows franchisors to monitor multiple units using the dashboard, which highlights store performance, gift and loyalty program management, as well as control over menu options.
- Square’s latest product developments follows the company’s release of roughly 100 new features in April across its platform, which also included integrations with OpenTable and Facebook/Instagram.
Dive Insight:
Block-owned Square’s product expansion is part of its strategy to cater to a growing subscriber base. Last year, its paid subscribers rose 38% year over year, the company said. Square for Restaurant sellers end up using about four other Square products, the company said.
Square parlayed its May 2022 acquisition of GoParrot into its Square for Franchises platform. The company said this platform will help businesses “operate more efficiently, grow revenue, and prepare for future scale.”
The company has also partnered with several other companies to provide integrations to help restaurants of all sizes. Its Paytronix partnership will soon allow restaurants with Paytronix Online Ordering and Loyalty to integrate with Square for Restaurants to engage with guests across all touchpoints and access data-driven insights. Square also partnered with Flash Order and Soundhound to provide tools to allow operators to more easily process drive-thru orders.
Square’s new kitchen display system (KDS) allows operators to tailor it to route tickets to dine-in or takeout orders, the company said.
Square’s product rollout follows several other tech company expansions. Yelp added more front-of-house capabilities through product releases and integrations with Toast and Google on Monday, a month after it expanded some consumer features like video reviews. Toast added reservation and waitlist management product in April. Deliverect acquired ChatFood to offer dine-in ordering and other features earlier this month.
