Customers can now order from local restaurants within Cash App, the payments app owned by Block. Block also owns Square, a provider of POS systems and other technology for restaurants.
The new feature, called Neighborhoods on Cash App, is designed to connect the more than 4 million businesses that use Square with the 57 million active users of Cash App, an app that allows users to send and receive money.
Square said the scale of this network will help lift up small local restaurants that have fewer digital resources than large chains.
Restaurants that join the Neighborhoods network will get a branded mobile ordering channel for pickup and delivery. Cash App users can follow restaurants in the app and use their stored funds to pay. Restaurants pay a processing fee of just 1% per transaction. And they will be able to send marketing campaigns to their followers via Cash App to keep them coming back. It’s free for restaurants to join.
Customers will also earn rewards that can be redeemed at any business in the Neighborhoods network. For every order, they get 10% of the subtotal back in Local Cash rewards. When they redeem the Local Cash, the cost is covered by the business where they spend it.
Square said systemwide rewards will help keep consumer dollars local and strengthen the overall network. Restaurants will never have to spend more on rewards than the amount earned at their business each month, the company said.
Customers can order from restaurants directly within Cash App. | Courtesy of Square
With Neighborhoods, Square becomes the latest POS provider to set up an ordering marketplace for local restaurants, joining Local by Toast and SpotOn’s GoTo Place.
Part of the idea is to offer an alternative to third-party delivery apps like DoorDash and Uber Eats, where restaurants get access to lots of customers, but are charged a commission on each order and don't own the customer data.
But Neighborhoods on Cash App offers some unique benefits, such as stored payments and universal rewards. And it has the advantage of a large existing user base. Cash App is one of the biggest mobile payment apps in the world, along the lines of PayPal or Venmo. About $300 billion flows into the app every year.
Neighborhoods was part of a host of new restaurant products unveiled by Square on Wednesday. They include:
- AI voice ordering for phone calls.
- A redesigned kiosk ordering experience.
- Menu management that syncs menus across online ordering, kiosks and third-party delivery apps.
- New accounting and procurement tools.
- Updates to Square’s AI assistant for operators.
- Bitcoin payments.
Square said it was the biggest round of updates for food and beverage clients ever.
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