The news: Square launched Square Kiosk, a premium point-of-service hardware offering with built-in AI capabilities for quick-service restaurants (QSRs), per a press release.

Square Kiosk’s features include:

• An agentic layer that enables consumers to converse with the kiosk as they would with a staff member on menu choices, substitutions and modifications, dietary preferences, and suggestions.
• A large 21.5-inch touchscreen display with presence detection.
• An integrated payment and barcode system supporting tap-to-pay, chip transactions, and gift card scanning.
• A personalized check-in that lets diners connect their Neighborhoods profile or Square Loyalty account to their order to earn rewards.

Square Kiosk costs $1,999 with a Square Plus or Premium subscription, along with a $99 monthly software fee per device. 

How we got here: Square has leaned into AI, agentic, and other conversational technologies to boost its merchants’ discovery, as over half (51%) of consumers move to AI tools to facilitate shopping, per NielsenIQ’s Agentic Commerce Tracker.

• Square launched plug-ins for ChatGPT and Claude to expand sellers’ AI discoverability.
• Square announced that it now automatically syncs seller information like store hours and menus across Apple Maps, Siri AI, and Apple Wallet.

Why this matters: Intelligent kiosks could help QSR sellers capture more spending from a highly engaged consumer segment: Gen Z. 

• 67% of Gen Zers and 58% of millennials prefer ordering from self-service kiosks, per a survey from Revenue Management Solutions.
• Gen Zers are increasing their QSR trips: 45% say they visited QSRs more frequently during Q2, compared with 30% of millennials, 17% of Gen X, and 7% of boomers who said the same, per Modern Restaurant Management.

Implications for merchants: Gen Zers are gravitating toward discovery and ordering experiences that provide personalization and convenience. While this should encourage merchants to explore self-service options like kiosks, they should also consider offline experiences that also deliver similar benefits. Gen Zers are seeking a balance between their highly integrated online social lives and in-person experiences.

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