While kiosks have become fixtures in many restaurants, most people still prefer ordering from a human being, industry data shows.
But that soon may change, if all goes according to plan for Square.
The point-of-sale company is launching the Square Kiosk, a new take on restaurant kiosks that employs a sleeker design and agentic AI.
The kiosk—which features a distinct oval shape, separating it from other square, flat-screen-shaped kiosks—is designed to smooth out ordering issues for customers and also help restaurateurs get a better handle on mealtime rushes.
It’s Square’s first foray into kiosks, which Square’s team tells Fast Company it considers “an area of growth” as more restaurants look at self-service and automation options.
Square expects the kiosk will soon be found in all sorts of quick-service restaurants (QSR) and other types of eateries soon, though it had no news to share about deals with specific restaurant chains.
Customers can use touchscreen or voice commands, and even ask specific menu questions to narrow down their choices (such as “show me pescetarian options” or “what’s on the menu that doesn’t contain onions?”). When ordering, they can also connect their Square Neighborhoods profile and Loyalty account.
“Adding intelligence and voice enables us to do more things,” Thomas Templeton, hardware lead at Square parent company Block Inc., tells Fast Company. “That means it can take more complicated questions, and you can interact with it more like you would a person.”
The built-in AI platform can also rope in contextual information in real time.
Source link
