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Add menu items and categories with Square Kiosk

Who is this article for?
  • Account owners or team members with the Items permission set can edit items and categories. Set permissions in Square Dashboard.
  • Square Kiosk app subscribers.
  • About adding items to your kiosk menu

    Customers can place orders at your Square Kiosk from the selection of items you add to your kiosk menu. To create your kiosk menu, you can add item categories and customize individual items within that category. 

    Before you begin

    Before you begin the steps below, you will need to:

    The directions below will show you how to add items and categories to your kiosk menu and how to remove them if needed.

    If your items do not have images, we strongly suggest adding images to your items. Dimensions for menu items and modifiers should have a max size of 2650 x 2650 pixels and a file size of 15 MB or less. You can use the free Square Photo Studio app to create professional photos and sync them with your items list. Learn how to Use the Square Photo Studio app.

    Square Kiosk hardware can be used as a regular point of sale if it is not paired with the Square Kiosk app. The steps below only apply if you are using the Square Kiosk hardware paired with the Square Kiosk app.

    Important information for alcohol sellers: Square Kiosk cannot verify age as part of the customer purchase process at this time. Please refer to our feedback survey to request this feature and share your experience with Square Kiosk.

    Add item categories to your Kiosk menu

    Item categories must be added to your kiosk menu prior to making item-specific edits. If your menu has over 100 items, your customers may get overwhelmed and experience difficulty in scrolling through a long list of options. For best performance, we recommend that your kiosk menu doesn’t exceed 100 items. If it does, you may experience a slower performance with the self-serve Square Kiosk app.

    To enable one or more item categories on your Square Kiosk:

    1. Sign in to your Square Dashboard and navigate to Device Management > Kiosk.

    2. Select Edit Items and Categories > Categories.

    3. Select one or multiple item categories that you want to display on your kiosk menu.

    4. Under Channel visibility, click the toggle next to Kiosk to enable it.

    5. Click Actions > Add to channels.

    6. Select Kiosks.

    7. Click Save.

    When a category is enabled to appear on Kiosk, all items within that category gain additional item settings. These individual item settings allow you to add or remove items from your Kiosk menu without having to remove them from the category. 

    Add items to your Kiosk menu 

    Follow these steps to add items to your Kiosk menu. Items can only be added individually at this time.

    Note: Square Kiosk supports items with no price ($0) associated with them, but the cost will show up as $0 when ordering, instead of “No Price.”  They can be added to the cart the same as priced items.  Customers will still need to check out and complete the sale on Kiosk, even if the total is $0.

    Add items to your kiosk menu

    To add individual items for your Kiosk menu:

    1. Sign in to your Square Dashboard and navigate to Device Management > Kiosk.
    2. Select Edit Items and Categories > Items to view your full item list.
    3. Click on a specific item to open the Edit item page.
    4. Scroll to the Where it’s sold section and toggle Kiosk ON.
    5. Under Site visibility section, select if you want the items to be Visible, Hidden, or Unavailable.
    6. Scroll to Fulfillment and select Online fulfillment methods > Edit > Self-serve ordering > Done.
    7. Repeat this process for all items.

    Note: If you use Square Online the discounted Online Sale Price will also be reflected on Kiosks.

    Add a custom order item modifier

    You can create a text modifier to allow customers to enter requests and customize select items on your menu. You could use this for substitutions, allergy information, or other adjustments that your preset modifiers don’t cover.

    1. Sign in to your Square Dashboard and navigate to Device Management > Kiosk.
    2. Select Edit Items and Categories > Items to view your full item list.
    3. Click on a specific item to open the Edit item page.
    4. Click Create a modifier > Text modifier.
    5. Add a Modifier name.
    6. Add a Display name for your modifier.
    7. Click Save.

    Assign the text modifier to relevant items on your kiosk menu so customers can request custom changes to their order as they order.

    Rearrange items and categories on your kiosk menu

    You can change the order of items and categories that appear on your kiosk menu. Editing item and category order will also change their display order on Square Kiosk, Square Online, and in the Point of Sale.

    Rearrange categories

    1. Sign in to your Square Dashboard and navigate Items > Categories.
    2. Select Rearrange to adjust the order your categories are listed.
    3. Click the Up and Down arrows next to categories to arrange them in your ideal order.
    4. Select Done Rearranging to save these changes.

    Rearrange items

    1. Sign in to your Square Dashboard and navigate Items > Categories.
    2. Select a category to edit.
    3. Navigate to the Items heading and select Rearrange.
    4. Drag and drop category items into your preferred order using the dot icons to the left of the item name.
    5. Select Done to finish rearranging items.
    6. Select Save to to save the changes to the category.

    Locate missing items

    A specific item is not showing up on your kiosk menu

    1. Sign in to your Square Dashboard and navigate to Device Management > Kiosk > Edit Items and Categories.
    2. Click Items and select the item that is not visible on your kiosk menu.
    3. Check the following:
      • Under Where it’s sold section, Kiosk is toggled on.
      • Under Site visibility, the item is set to Visible.
      • Under Fulfillment, click Edit Online fulfillment methods and make sure Self serve ordering is enabled.

    Only items within categories assigned to kiosks will be visible on your kiosk menu.

    Items from the same category are not visible on your kiosk

    1. Sign in to your Square Dashboard.
    2. Click Items & orders > Items > Categories.
    3. Select a category that should be visible on your kiosk.
    4. Under the Channel Visibility section, make sure the category is toggled on for your kiosk.

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