Key points
- Square launched its first standalone kiosk, the Square Kiosk, with a 21.5-inch touchscreen and a voice AI that takes orders in conversation.
- Hardware costs $1,999 and is available now to businesses on a Square Plus or Premium subscription, plus a $99 monthly software fee per device.
- The assistant is trained on each restaurant's menu, including popular items and pairings, and handles questions, modifications and substitutions.
- Presence detection lets the kiosk greet customers as they approach; payment runs through a contactless reader or card slot.
Why it matters for marketers: Ordering kiosks now double as a menu-aware sales channel, so restaurant marketers must treat menu data and item pairings as content the AI will use to upsell.
Square has released its first dedicated kiosk hardware, called the Square Kiosk, built around a conversational AI. Customers can speak to the screen to ask questions, request changes or swap items, rather than only tapping through menus. Square describes the voice layer as agentic and says it responds in real time.
According to Adweek, the assistant can field questions such as which dishes are vegetarian or what costs under $10. Each unit is trained on the specific restaurant's menu, including its popular items and which dishes pair well. Square's head of food and beverage, James Schonzeit, told Adweek the goal is ordering that feels natural and shows off the best of the restaurant.
For marketers and content teams in food service, the notable detail is that the menu itself becomes the training material. How items are named, described and grouped, and which ones a brand wants to highlight, will shape what the AI says to customers at the point of sale. That puts menu copy, pairing logic and promotions closer to the work of brand and content teams, not just operations.
Pricing is worth weighing. The Verge reports the kiosk costs $1,999 and is available now to businesses on a Square Plus or Premium subscription, with a $99-per-device monthly software fee. Multi-location operators should model that recurring cost against any lift in order size. Watch for early results on average ticket and how accurately the assistant handles modifications.
Sources
This brief is our own summary. Read the full reporting at the source.
