Square and Toast Deepen Ties with Reservations Partners
Square and Toast, two major point-of-sale providers, have strengthened their relationships with online reservations services OpenTable and Resy, respectively, to offer restaurants a more complete view of their customers.
The restaurant industry is witnessing a significant shift in the way point-of-sale providers and online reservations services collaborate. Square and Toast, two prominent POS providers, have recently deepened their ties with OpenTable and Resy, respectively, to give restaurants a more comprehensive understanding of their customers.
## Integrating Reservations and Transaction Data
Square has announced a tighter integration with OpenTable, allowing restaurants to view OpenTable reservations and customer data alongside Square's transaction data. This integration enables staff to see a customer's reservation history, preferences, and purchase information in a single view across Square's software, including handheld ordering devices. This information can be used to serve customers better by suggesting menu items that meet their dietary needs or wishing them a happy anniversary.
| Staff can see detailed customer info. | Image courtesy of Square
The integration between Square and OpenTable has been in place since 2022, and the companies have stated that there is more to come to simplify operations and improve the customer experience.
## Toast and Resy Partnership
Five days prior to Square's announcement, Toast rolled out a similar integration with Resy. The new integration brings Resy data, such as customer preferences, visit history, and special occasions, into Toast's customer profiles, known as Digital Chits. These profiles appear on Toast's point-of-sale screens and handheld devices, enabling staff to provide more personalized service.
The integration between Toast and Resy has been in the works since last August, when Toast unveiled its partnership with Resy owner American Express to allow restaurants to make better use of their reservations data. The companies have stated that they will be developing more features along these lines, including the ability for customers to book tables in the Toast Local app, a marketplace of nearby Toast restaurants.
## Competition and Restaurant Benefits
The moves solidify the allegiances between Toast/Resy and Square/OpenTable as they compete for the same pool of small- and medium-sized restaurants and their customers. Toast is the dominant provider of POS software and hardware for these restaurants, while Square is its biggest competitor. OpenTable is the largest online reservations service by location count, competing with Resy and Tock, which have been merged under American Express, and the DoorDash-owned SevenRooms.
For restaurants, these new integrations should add value by streamlining how they serve customers and analyze data. It may also incentivize them to choose their POS provider's preferred reservations partner in the interest of better data.
