POS for Coffee Shops and Cafes: Move the Morning Line Faster.
Square for a counter where most tickets are small, most customers are regulars and the line is the business.
Coffee Shops and Cafes
What This Business Needs at the Counter.
Coffee is a high count of small tickets from the same faces.
Line speed
Tips on a $4 ticket
Drink modifiers
Regulars, rewarded
Order ahead
Wi-Fi drops
Square, Tuned for Small Tickets.
Coffee is where Square's design choices pay off: smart tip amounts, tip before tap, a kiosk for the rush and loyalty in Apple Wallet.
Also in the lineup
Clover. A full counter system with its own app marketplace, for a cafe that wants a different hardware family.
Smart tip amounts
Under $10 the screen offers No Tip, $1, $2 or $3; at $10 and up it switches to 15%, 20% or 25%.
Tip before tap
Asking for the tip before payment is on by default, so the flow is cart, tip, tap, done.
Commission-free order ahead
A branded online ordering page takes pickup and delivery orders without marketplace commission.
Self-order kiosk
Customers upgrade, add on and customize on an iPad kiosk while the line keeps moving.
Loyalty in Apple Wallet
Customers add a digital loyalty pass to Apple Wallet, with tiered rewards and bonus point promotions.
Offline mode
Card payments keep running if the Wi-Fi drops, and upload when it returns.
Read the full picture
Square's tipping help article documents smart tip amounts: on a transaction under $10 the options are No Tip, $1, $2 or $3, and at $10 or more they become 15%, 20% or 25%. The same article says asking for tips before payment is on by default on Square Stand, Terminal and Register.
Square's coffee shop page describes a branded online ordering page for commission-free pickup and delivery, a kiosk that lets customers upgrade, add on and customize, and offline mode when the Wi-Fi is down. The Kiosk app is $50 a month per device on Square Plus and $30 on Premium, and it is not available on Square Free. The kiosk stand lists at $149 and runs on an iPad you supply.
Square Loyalty lets customers add a digital pass to Apple Wallet and supports tiered rewards and bonus point promotions, with a 30 day free trial. Points from a sale taken offline have to be attached to the customer by hand afterward.
Offline mode has limits worth knowing before a rush depends on it: offline payments must upload within 72 hours or they expire, you are not notified of declines while offline, and Tap to Pay on iPhone and manually keyed cards do not work offline. A per-transaction cap can be set to limit the exposure.
Batch is an authorized Square reseller in Square’s closed, invitation-only ISO sales network. Square is a trademark of Block, Inc.
Pricing, Plainly.
Square publishes its rates. Plus and Premium lower the in-person rate for a monthly fee.
- Square Free, in person
- 2.6% + 15¢
- Square Plus, in person
- 2.5% + 15¢, $49/mo per location
- Square Premium, in person
- 2.4% + 15¢, $149/mo per location
- Online
- 3.3% + 30¢ on Free, 2.9% + 30¢ on Plus and Premium
- Keyed in or card on file
- 3.5% + 15¢
- Kiosk app
- $50/mo per device on Plus, $30 on Premium
Published vendor prices as checked October 7, 2026. Your rate is set when you apply; nothing here is a quote.
Cash discount
Surcharging in New Jersey
Visa's 3% ceiling
Notice before you start
Three Ways to Get the Hardware.
A Register or Terminal at the counter, and a kiosk if the line is long enough to need one.
Free device
Apply at no upfront cost. Meet a monthly volume threshold and the hardware is on us.
Commonly Asked Questions
For a coffee shop or cafe, BatchOut recommends Square, whose tipping, order-ahead, kiosk and loyalty tools are built for fast, small, repeat tickets.
Will a customer see a 20% tip prompt on a $3 coffee?
Can the tip screen come before the card tap?
Can customers order ahead without marketplace fees?
What does a self-order kiosk cost?
Can loyalty live in the customer's phone wallet?
Shorten the Line Before the Rush.
The right processor, the hardware your way, installed and supported anywhere in the country.