How to Sell Square Online Ordering to Quick Service Restaurants

If you’ve talked to QSR (Quick Service Restaurant) owners, you know their pain point is getting customers what they want, fast. We’re talking about delis, bakeries, pizza counters, etc. Customers who visit these businesses often don’t have time to wait for their food, and if they wait too long, they’re less likely to return.

Many businesses turn to delivery apps. But these apps take about 20 to 30% of each order they send, not to mention labor costs. Many businesses say it’s hard to keep staff, and hiring costs can get expensive, so they turn to these apps as a lifeline for revenue. 

This is where you come in with a solution that offers higher margins and more efficiency: Square. With direct ordering and QR codes, you can help businesses take order-taking off the counter. The result? A more profitable business and happy customers. When you sell Square online ordering, customers will see the difference. If you’re new to selling Square, having a partner or reference point is key.

That’s where Turnkey comes in. Turnkey is an authorized Square partner that builds the merchant’s ordering site, installs the system, and supports the merchant after go-live. Square is built as do-it-yourself; Turnkey makes it done-for-you. It’s easy to become a Square reseller, and once your QSR customers see the benefits, the possibilities are endless.

Why Direct Online Ordering Opens QSR Deals

If you’re looking to sell Square to quick-service restaurants, it comes down to presenting the clear facts that support the business owner’s bottom line. When you show restaurant owners the numbers on what they are losing, signing on with Square becomes a no-brainer.

Here’s what quick-service restaurant owners need to know:

• Marketplace commissions run 20 to 30% per order and never go away.
• Business owners face roughly a 30% fee to the delivery app, plus labor costs, and that doesn’t include the cost of food.
• DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub each rank restaurants in their own search, so a merchant can end up at the bottom of three lists they don’t control.

When we talk about those popular food delivery apps, many businesses assume they need all three to grow. When you present them as one channel, they can see there’s a better option for them. 

Square gives the merchant a chance to get to know their customers better. With direct ordering, the customer’s order history and contact details stay with the merchant, not the marketplace. This is huge! This means no one can try to steal customers. 

A key point: orders on a delivery app are paid through the app. Orders on the merchant’s own Square site run through Square. There is no middleman. Moving orders to direct ordering grows the merchant’s margin and the agent’s residual at the same time. It’s a win-win all around.

Square Online Ordering: A Branded Site the Merchant Owns

With Square online ordering for restaurants, merchants get a branded site. This is something that becomes a major selling point for you to make. Merchants are not tied to generic images and colors that don’t suit their brand. They can give customers the same feeling they bring to the restaurant. 

Square lets the merchant brand the ordering page with their own colors, logo, and item photos. Competing systems send customers to a generic ordering page that doesn’t match the restaurant’s site.

The platform is also user-friendly; you can show your merchant an example and let them experience it firsthand. You can walk them through the menu on the site, which is also the ordering page. A customer taps the item and orders it, with no redirect. This simple process keeps customers adding from the menu and coming back. 

Square also supports SEO for merchant websites. For customers who haven’t reached the merchant yet, visibility may also be a problem. As a Square POS reseller, you can also show restaurant owners that they may not rank on Google. With Square, basic SEO is built in. Square’s AI assistant can write the page title and description, so the restaurant owner doesn’t have to do the heavy lifting. 

If you’ve been looking for a partner to sell with Square, at Turnkey, we build the ordering site for the merchant as an admin on the account and handle all of the organic search setup. We can also schedule menu photo shoots in Connecticut so the restaurant’s site can be fully customized. This is an added selling point for the merchant because they are getting a partner to help build their business, not just another salesperson who sets up the system and doesn’t come back to support them. The more you can offer as an agent, the more the relationship and growth potential compound to help you close the sale. 

QR Code Ordering Runs on the Same Build

When you’re trying to educate on the benefits of Square QR code ordering, it’s important to point out that QR ordering and online ordering run from the same site builder. So, one build does it all. The online ordering sale brings in-store ordering with it. This is a huge benefit to the merchant and one you definitely want to bring into the conversation. 

• QR codes are set up by section and by table. 
• Text alerts are also available, along with an optional cap on alcoholic drinks per order if your merchant. 
• Orders reach the kitchen through the Square account, not the local network. 
• Guests can also order and pay on their own check or as a group. They don’t have to ask any staff member to split the check, which can be time-consuming. 

Getting Online Orders to the Kitchen With Square KDS (Kitchen Display System)

When people order online, it’s usually because they are in a rush and don’t want to go into a restaurant, place an order, and wait. They want it to be ready when they get there, no questions asked. 

With the Square KDS: 

• Scheduled orders can fire at pickup time minus the prep time. For example, a 5:00 pm order placed at 11:00 am reaches the kitchen at 4:30 pm, and nothing gets made early. This means no cold food, which means happy customers who return. 
• Each ticket shows its source. Online orders don’t get lost in the lunch rush. Tickets also turn yellow as they near prep time and red when they’re late. A priority button moves a ticket to the front of the line, so customers wait less. Each ticket also shows where the order was placed, so online orders don’t get lost in the lunch rush.

As the agent, you don’t have to take responsibility for the KDS installation. When you’re selling Square KDS, QR ordering, and kiosks with Turnkey, installs and configurations can be set up with our team. The KDS stations go live when the QSR goes live, so business owners don’t have to worry. Contact Turnkey for updated pricing schedules.

Order-Ready Texts and the Customer List They Build

What is one of the most annoying parts of online ordering? Many people say they don’t know whether their order is ready when they arrive. With Square, the customer gets an automatic “order ready” text. This may seem like a small detail, but these little details can become major benefits to the merchant.

Another important feature worth mentioning is that every name and phone number added to a ticket saves automatically to a customer directory. This is a bonus if the business owner wants to build a loyalty program.

This is something you definitely want to mention to your clients. You should ask the business owner if they are working on a customer retention or loyalty program. You may assume they are, but you’ll be surprised by how many aren’t. Explain to them the tools that Square provides when it comes to creating a customer directory. They can even break it down to a targeted audience by age and location.

Business owners can also reach out to customers who haven’t been in a while. A “we miss you, here’s a discount” can go a long way. As a Square reseller, this gives you clear ways to add value to their business, bringing you one step closer to the restaurant owner saying yes.

Keeping DoorDash and Uber Eats Without the Extra Tablet

Beyond loyalty perks and customer directories, QSRs can also keep Uber Eats and DoorDash with Square without an extra tablet. Uber Eats orders flow naturally into Square in the U.S. The Uber Eats and Square partnership is similar to the one in the works with DoorDash.

When all the systems work together, business owners can use one menu universally. There is no need for a separate menu for DoorDash or Uber Eats.  

Beyond using one universal menu, businesses can also enjoy commission-free deliveries with DoorDash. If business owners get a lot of traffic through DoorDash and don’t want to pay the fees, they can pass them on to the customer. DoorDash Drive delivers orders from the merchant’s own Square ordering site using DoorDash couriers for a flat per-order fee. 

Online Ordering Objections and How to Answer Them

As you get closer to closing the deal with all the perks of Square, you are bound to run into questions from your merchants. Here are some common online ordering objections and how you can handle them:

• “My customers find me on DoorDash.” Tell your clients to keep the apps as one channel; use order-ready texts, loyalty, and a branded site to move repeat customers to direct ordering. This way, they keep the margin.
• “My servers will lose tips.” Organized servers like QR ordering because tables turn faster and they still deliver the food, so tips stay; tip prompts run on the QR and kiosk.
• “I’ll lose the personal feel.” Your client can have both. They can keep the counter staff and add online, QR, and skip-the-line ordering for customers who want speed. 
• “I don’t want another monthly fee.” If you hear this, remind them that one order kept off a delivery app saves them 20 to 30% of that ticket. A handful of direct orders a week may be able to cover the software.
• “We already have Toast.” Advise them that with your partner at Turnkey, they converted a Toast restaurant with about 400 modifiers and modifier groups, simplified the setup, and added drive-thru on Square. With support and a great system, Square wins on total SaaS fees and the ecosystem.

Even after you dispel all of the myths, some merchants may feel like Square just isn’t the right fit. This doesn’t mean you have to lose the deal. Turnkey carries seven POS platforms. You can learn more about these, as well as how to work through those objections, in the Square Sales Academy. 

What a Direct-Ordering Account Means for Your Residuals

You’ve done the work, and you’ve sealed the deal. So, what does this mean for your Square residuals? Here’s a quick rundown:

• Residuals are paid monthly on every merchant the agent places, for as long as they keep processing, as a share of what Square makes above interchange.
• Turnkey runs four Square reseller programs: Referral Partner, Agent, Veteran Agent, and Sub-ISO. The more of the work the reseller carries, the larger the share.
• With the Square Partner Program, there is no cost to join, no buy-in, no quotas, no exclusivity, and no minimums. Agents can keep selling what they sell today.
• Sub-ISOs keep their brand and downline, with a written agreement that Turnkey won’t recruit their agents. 
• Turnkey handles deployment (menu build, hardware, printers, kitchen displays, staff training, go-live in person) and gives each reseller a named partner manager and a direct escalation line into Square.
• Resellers get a white-labeled signup link carrying their company name and logo.

Keep this in mind: a QSR that moves orders from delivery apps to its own Square site is processing more through Square every month, which is more residual for you.

Start Selling Square Online Ordering With Turnkey

If you’re ready to start selling Square with Turnkey, let’s get started. We have the experience you can rely on. Turnkey is an authorized Square partner and a registered ISO. We have been in the business of setting up POS systems for merchants since 2009. Turnkey has also been named the #1 Best Place to Work in Connecticut by the Hartford Business Journal.

At Turnkey, once you make the sale, we handle the setup and go-live. You earn a residual on every merchant you place for as long as they process. 

If you want to become a Square reseller, the Square reseller application takes under five minutes to complete, and there is no obligation. You’ll hear back from a Turnkey team member in less than one business day. If you want to start and just talk to our team, we’re here to answer your questions.