Food & Beverage
Square's Drive-Thru mode puts each car's color and type on the ticket, a customer-facing screen lets drivers confirm the order and Square Handheld takes orders in the lane — with Payaroo helping you set it up.
Square, made easier with Payaroo.
What your drive-thru needs
A drive-thru runs on car lengths. One wrong bag at the window stalls every car behind it, and the kitchen can't see the lane — only a stack of tickets that don't say which car is which.
What helps is simple: tickets that describe the car, a screen where the driver checks the order before paying, a way to start cooking while the order is still being built and a second order-taker walking the lane when it wraps around the building.
Bags stack up at the window and nobody can tell which order belongs to which car.
How Square helps Drive-Thru mode adds a drive-thru order type and records each vehicle's color and type on the ticket and the kitchen display. Lane orders get their own tab in Order Manager.
The grill can't start on the burgers until the driver finishes deciding on dessert.
How Square helps Send & Stay fires items to the kitchen as they're entered while staff keep building the order, and Square KDS routes each one to its station. Square lists Send & Stay for Square Premium with advanced restaurant capabilities.
A wrong order caught at pickup means pulling the car forward, remaking food and slowing the whole lane.
How Square helps Square Register's customer-facing screen shows the driver each item and the total at the pay window, so mistakes get fixed before the car reaches pickup.
At peak, cars back up past the menu board and wait just to be heard at the speaker.
How Square helps Staff with Square Handheld walk the lane, take orders and card payments car by car and send them to the kitchen before those cars reach the speaker.
Recommended setup
The Square tools that matter most for a drive-thru — and why each one earns its place.
Square's restaurant POS with a drive-thru order type, so lane, counter and online orders share one menu and one kitchen queue.
Car color and type print on the ticket and show on the kitchen display, and a drive-thru tab in Order Manager keeps lane orders apart.
Its second screen faces the driver at the pay window, so they can check the order before they tap.
Walk the lane at peak, key in each car's order and take the card payment on the spot.
The car description rides along to the kitchen, and timers flag the tickets that have waited longest.
Regulars order ahead from their phones and pick up without waiting at the speaker.
Weekday commuters earn points with a phone number, even though they never leave the car.
How Payaroo helps
Tell us how your business works. We'll help you understand the Square tools that fit.
Core capabilities
Choose the drive-thru order type and record the car's color and type, and that description rides along on the printed ticket and the kitchen display. Drive-Thru mode needs Square Premium.
With Send & Stay, items reach the kitchen as they're entered while the order stays open, and Square KDS puts each one on the right station's screen. Send & Stay is listed for Square Premium with advanced restaurant capabilities; KDS is a per-device add-on on a paid plan.
Mark an item sold out once and it disappears from the register, your ordering page and the delivery apps, so nobody at the speaker promises a shake the kitchen can't make.
Regulars order from your ordering page and choose a pickup time, and you set the lead time and how many orders each time window can take so pickups don't clog the lane.
Kitchen performance reports show ticket counts and average completion times, and the labor-vs-sales report compares hourly labor cost with net sales, so you can see how the 7 a.m. push went and staff for it. Both reports come with paid plans.
Hardware options
You don't need every device. Start with what matches where you take payments — and add more later.
A countertop point of sale with two touchscreens: one for your team and one that faces the customer.
At the pay window, drivers see the order on the customer-facing screen and tap without handing a card back and forth.
A pocket-sized point of sale with a built-in barcode scanner and camera.
For peak times in the lane: take the order and the payment at the car window, then send it to the kitchen.
A kitchen display app that replaces paper tickets and sends each order to the right prep station.
Kitchen screens that show each car's description next to its items, with a timer on every ticket.
Compatible third-party printers for customer receipts and kitchen or bar tickets.
A receipt printer at the window, and kitchen ticket printers if you run on paper instead of screens.
Software and tools
Restaurant ordering with the drive-thru order type, modifiers and sold-out controls.
An order-ahead page for regulars who want to pay first and grab their order.
Opening and peak-hour schedules, timecards and labor-vs-sales for the morning and lunch pushes.
Points by phone number for commuters who come through every weekday.
How it works
One realistic day at a drive-thru, with the setup above doing the work.
Setup finder
Answer a few quick questions about your drive-thru. We'll stop as soon as we can point you to a useful starting setup.
Tell Buckaroo how your business works and he'll help you figure out which Square tools make sense.
FAQs
A common setup puts Square Register at the pay window so drivers can confirm the order on its customer-facing screen, adds Square KDS in the kitchen and keeps a Square Handheld or two for taking orders in the lane at peak. KDS needs a paid Square plan plus a per-device add-on, and restaurant modes run on Square hardware or an iPad, not on phones.
Yes. Drive-Thru mode adds a drive-thru order type and records each vehicle's color and type on tickets and the kitchen display. It also adds a drive-thru tab in Order Manager, so lane orders stay separate from counter and online orders. Square lists it for Square Premium.
That's what Square's Send & Stay is for: items fire to the kitchen as they're entered while staff keep building the order. Square lists Send & Stay for Square Premium with advanced restaurant capabilities, so check your plan before counting on it.
Square hardware such as Register and Handheld can keep accepting tap and chip cards offline and process them once the connection returns. Square recommends reconnecting within 24 hours, and you're responsible for offline payments that end up declined, expired or disputed. Gift cards and Tap to Pay on a phone don't work offline.
Square sets its own pricing, and it can change. Square Free has no monthly subscription (you pay processing fees), but the drive-thru pieces sit on higher plans: Drive-Thru mode and Send & Stay are listed for Square Premium, and Square KDS needs a paid plan plus a per-device add-on. See Square's pricing page for current numbers; we can help you decide whether your lane needs Premium.
Tell us how your lane runs — one window or two, how long the line gets and whether anyone takes orders on foot — and we'll outline a setup. You'll apply with Square, which reviews applications and verifies your identity and business before approving an account. After approval, Payaroo helps you set up the drive-thru order type, tickets and hardware.
Related businesses
Counter ordering, combos, self-order kiosks, kitchen routing and delivery apps.
Fast counter checkout, drink modifiers, tips and order-ahead.
Offline card payments, portable hardware, order-ahead and catering invoices.
Tell us how your windows and kitchen work, and we'll help you put together the Square setup that fits.
Square reviews and approves every account. Call Payaroo at 972-431-0439.
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Square product details on this page were checked against Square's website on September 25, 2026. Square sets its own features, plans, pricing, fees, eligibility and hardware availability, and these can change. Confirm current details on Square's website before you sign up. Square pricing · Square fees
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