Square unveils a kiosk you can talk to

Square’s new kiosk can take orders without customers having to lift a finger.

The POS provider’s latest piece of hardware features built-in voice AI, giving customers the option to talk, rather than tap, through the ordering process.

The company says it will help restaurants operate more efficiently without hurting service.

James Schonzeit, Square’s head of food and beverage, said that restaurants are interested in labor-saving technology like kiosks, but there’s concern about how the devices impact the customer experience.

A lot of kiosks on the market are just “digital menu boards that you can order from,” he said. When you go out to eat, on the other hand, a good server will welcome you and help guide you through the menu, he said.

“We've tried to bring those two things together, of not forcing operators to choose between speed and hospitality.”

With Square’s kiosk, customers can talk through their entire order, tap it out the traditional way, or do a mix of both. The AI is trained on the restaurants’ menu, so it can also answer questions about things like spice levels, allergens, or popular pairings.

“Some of those things tend to be a lot of taps and really hard to answer in a traditional UI interface,” said Thomas Templeton, head of hardware for Square parent Block. “All of a sudden they become really, really natural in this voice world.”

The hope is that the more dynamic experience will get more customers to order via kiosk, boosting restaurants’ throughput and easing the workload on staff.

But diners are generally not crazy about self-serve kiosks or voice AI. Thirty-five percent said they find ordering from a kiosk unappealing, and 46% said the same of voice AI in the drive-thru, according to Technomic survey data. Ordering at the counter with an employee remains the most popular method at 46%.

Templeton said Square’s voice AI is easy to interact with. The kiosk’s large display will allow customers to make sure their order is correct, and voice should naturally work better indoors than in the drive-thru, he said. If a customer asks a question the AI can’t answer, it will be able to loop in an employee.

He added that the experience will improve over time as the AI gets better and customers become more comfortable with it. And if someone just doesn’t want to deal with the AI voice, there’s a button to turn it off.

“I think the technology has come to the point where I think we can do this,” Templeton said. “The way we've designed and engineered this is best in class.”

For now, the voice AI will not do any proactive upselling, though upsells will be part of the on-screen flow. The sound of the voice itself cannot be customized, but Square is working on adding that option in the future.

Oakland-based Square is known for its sleek ordering and payment devices, and the kiosk is no different. The 21.5-inch oblong screen is designed to be both approachable and to stand out in busy restaurant lobbies. It can sense when a customer walks up and welcomes them to start the ordering process.

“It feels a little bit like walking to a mirror,” Schonzeit said.

The kiosk is intended for restaurants of all sizes, from larger chains to mom and pops. It costs $1,999, which includes a mount for the counter, wall, or floor, plus a $99 monthly software fee per device.

“I think what we've been able to do here is deliver a really fantastic experience that’s simple enough for the single location coffee shop just getting started to the largest chains that we work with,” Schonzeit said.

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