What's the difference between Square POS and Square for Restaurants?

Square POS is the general version suited to counter service and takeaway. Square for Restaurants is the hospitality-specific version with table management, floor plans, course firing, and dedicated kitchen printing. If your venue has dine-in table service, Square for Restaurants is the correct product — they have different features, different subscription costs, and different configuration steps.

How long does Square POS take to install?

A single-terminal counter-service setup takes 1–2 hours and is DIY-able with preparation. Two terminals with receipt and kitchen printing under Square for Restaurants takes 3–5 hours. A multi-section venue with floor plan, multiple printers, and integrated card processing typically takes 5–7 hours.

Do I need a technician to install Square POS?

Square is the most self-installable POS on this list — a basic single-terminal setup is genuinely achievable without a technician. Once you add kitchen printing, floor plans, and integrated EFTPOS, the network configuration becomes the most common point of failure in self-installations. The most preventable mistake: not assigning static IP addresses to network printers.

Square POS Installation Australia: What’s Involved & What to Expect | HospoDoc

Installation Guide

Square POS installation — what’s involved & what to expect.

Published: 07 Jul 2026

Square for Restaurants being set up at a Brisbane cafe counter.

Square has one of the lowest barriers to entry of any POS system in Australia — the software is free at its base tier, hardware is affordable, and the self-setup documentation is decent. For a single-terminal cafe with a simple menu, self-installation is realistic. For venues with multiple terminals, kitchen printing, table management, and integrated EFTPOS, the picture is more complex.

Square vs Square for Restaurants — know which you’re installing

ℹ️ Two different productsSquare POS (general version) suits counter service and takeaway. Square for Restaurants has floor plans, course firing, and dedicated kitchen printing — the right choice for any dine-in venue with table service. They have different features, different subscription costs, and different configuration steps.

What you need before installation day

Square account created and verified — Square Payments merchant approval can take 1–2 business days. Don’t leave this until the day before going live.
Compatible iPad or Android tablet — current-generation hardware. Older tablets work but performance degrades quickly.
Square hardware delivered — allow 3–5 business days shipping from Square. Don’t order the day before installation.
Compatible receipt printer — Square supports Star Micronics TSP100 and Epson TM series. Check the compatibility list before purchasing.
Kitchen printer if applicable — separate printer for kitchen orders, separate configuration.
Menu built in Square Dashboard — complete your menu at squareup.com/dashboard before installation day. Items, categories, modifiers, and prices all entered and saved before hardware setup begins.

How a Square installation works — step by step

Network configuration

Dedicated Wi-Fi SSID for POS devices, static IP reservations for all printers. Even for Square, the network is the first thing to get right.

App installation & account sign-in

Square POS or Square for Restaurants app installed on each device. All devices under one account share the same menu and reporting by default.

Card reader pairing

Paired through the Square app — not via the device’s native Bluetooth settings. Pairing through Bluetooth settings creates a connection that appears to work but doesn’t function correctly with Square.

Printer configuration

Receipt and kitchen printers added in Square’s hardware settings separately. Static IPs assigned to each printer. Test prints sent from every device to every printer.

Floor plan setup (Square for Restaurants only)

Built through Square Dashboard (web), not the app. Tables, sections, and section-to-device assignments configured here. Sync triggered on each device after saving.

Staff setup & end-to-end test

Employee profiles, PINs, and permissions set in Square Dashboard. Full test run: dine-in order, kitchen print, payment (real card at $0.50), receipt, EOD report.

Realistic installation timeframes

Single terminal, counter service, no kitchen printing: 1–2 hours (genuinely DIY-able with preparation)
2 terminals, receipt + kitchen printing, Square for Restaurants: 3–5 hours
Multi-section venue with floor plan, multiple printers, integrated card processing: 5–7 hours

Where self-installation goes wrong

⚠️ The most common Square self-installation failureNot assigning static IPs to network printers. Square works fine in the first week. Then the router reboots, the printer’s IP changes, Square can’t find it, and it drops offline mid-service. The fix is 10 minutes of work that needs to happen before the printer is first added to Square — not after the problem appears.

Pairing the card reader through device Bluetooth settings instead of within the Square app
Using Square POS instead of Square for Restaurants for a dine-in venue — no table management or course firing
Not verifying Square Payments merchant approval before installation day
Sharing one Wi-Fi network between POS devices and customer devices

Square’s offline mode — know its limits

Square’s offline mode stores card transactions when internet drops and processes them when connectivity restores. However, it has a hard cap of $200 AUD per transaction. Any transaction over $200 declines in offline mode. Plan around this for higher average-spend venues.

Getting Square installed at your venue?

HospoDoc handles professional Square POS and Square for Restaurants installations across Brisbane, Gold Coast, and the Sunshine Coast.

Call 1300 467 761 Talk to our team