Operations 10 min read
Do You Charge GST/HST on Café Online Orders in Canada?
The channel doesn't change the tax. A plain-language guide to GST/HST on café online orders, the Ontario point-of-sale rebate, and Square's tax settings.
Tag
Posts tagged “online ordering”
27 posts
Square How-Tos 9 min read
Time-Based Menus on Square: Cut Breakfast Off at 11
Stop taking breakfast orders at 11:04. How to schedule menus by time of day in Square, plus the prep-time trap that breaks most setups.
Square How-To 9 min read
Square Payment Links for Cafés: When to Use One (and When Not)
A no-website way to take a payment on Square: what payment links cost, what they can and can't do, and the six café jobs they actually fit.
Operations 10 min read
Do You Have to Put Calories on Your Café Menu? (Canada + US)
The 20-location threshold explained plainly — who is covered, what the exact required wording is, what it costs to get wrong, and why some independents post calories anyway.
Guides 12 min read
Is Your Café's Online Ordering Accessible? ADA & WCAG
A plain-English read on which accessibility rules actually apply to an independent café, and the handful of fixes that cover most real failures.
Square How-Tos 10 min read
How to Update Your Café's Holiday Hours Everywhere
A channel-by-channel holiday hours checklist for Square cafés, including the one gap where Square Online can't express a short day.
Square How-Tos 7 min read
How to Mark Items Sold Out (86) on Square Online
The exact steps to mark an item sold out on Square, from the POS and Dashboard, plus how to auto-restock it the next morning.
Marketing 7 min read
How to Drive Café Orders From TikTok
Views are not orders. Here's how to build TikTok videos around a clear next step and route the traffic into an ordering channel you control.
Marketing & Growth 7 min read
How to Get Your Square Ordering Page to Rank on Google
A practical SEO walkthrough for getting your Square Online ordering page found on Google — page titles, custom domains, item pages, and the indexing steps most owners skip.
Guides 7 min read
Menu Photos & Descriptions That Sell More Online Orders
Practical, honest guidance on the menu photos and descriptions that lift online-order conversion and basket size — and how to shoot them on a phone.
Delivery & Direct Ordering 6 min read
How to Recover Abandoned Online Orders at Your Café
Roughly two-thirds of food carts are abandoned. A practical playbook for recovering those lost café orders with Square Marketing, faster checkout, and push.
Payments & Fees 6 min read
How to Reduce Chargebacks on Square Online Orders
A plain-English guide to Square payment disputes for cafés: how the process works, what a lost chargeback actually costs, and how to prevent them.
Guides 7 min read
How to Set Up Curbside Pickup on Square for Your Café
Curbside pickup is a free Square Online fulfillment option. Here's how to set it up, staff it, and keep the hand-off fast at a busy café.
Square How-To 8 min read
How to Handle Refunds on Square Online Orders
Refunds are unavoidable in pickup and delivery. Here's how to process them cleanly on Square, what they actually cost you, and when store credit beats a refund.
Square How-Tos 7 min read
How to Let Customers Schedule Pickup Orders on Square
A practical, operator-grade walkthrough for letting guests book a pickup time on Square, plus the limits that keep your kitchen from drowning.
Guides 7 min read
How to Price Your Café Menu for Online Ordering
A practical method for pricing your online menu: target food-cost percentages, when to mark up for delivery, and the rounding tricks that protect margin.
Delivery & Direct Ordering 8 min read
Square Online vs ChowNow for Cafés: Honest Comparison
A clear, numbers-first comparison of Square Online and ChowNow for an independent café, plus the volume math that tells you which one is cheaper.
Delivery & Direct Ordering 7 min read
Phone Orders vs Online Ordering for Cafés: The Real Cost
An operator-grade comparison of taking orders by phone versus online — the hidden labour cost, the missed-call revenue leak, accuracy, and when each still makes sense.
Guides 8 min read
Square Online Menu Modifiers & Allergens: A Café Setup Guide
How to build clean modifier sets and surface allergen info in Square so online orders are accurate, profitable, and safe — without confusing your kitchen.
Payments & Tipping 8 min read
Do Mobile Orders Get Fewer Tips? Tipping on Square
An honest look at tipping on pickup and mobile orders: how to turn it on in Square, what actually moves the tip rate, and where a branded app helps.
Comparisons 6 min read
Square vs Shopify for Café Online Ordering
Shopify is built for shipping products; Square is built for serving food. Here's the honest pricing-and-fit comparison for a café taking pickup orders.
Operations 7 min read
How to Manage Online Orders in Your Square Kitchen
Online orders land in the same Square system as in-store sales. Here's how to route them to a display or printer, set prep times, and throttle the rush.
Guides 7 min read
How to Set Up Square Online Ordering for Pickup (Step by Step)
A no-fluff walkthrough of standing up commission-free pickup ordering on the Square Online site you probably already have.
Marketing 6 min read
How to Drive Café Orders From Instagram
Likes don't pay rent. Here's how to convert Instagram attention into actual café orders — the bio link, the content mix, the Stories play, and how to know it's working.
Delivery & Direct Ordering 6 min read
SkipTheDishes Fees for Restaurants in Canada (2026)
A clear, Canada-specific breakdown of what SkipTheDishes actually costs a restaurant — commission, processing, and marketing fees — plus how to keep more of each order.
Local SEO 7 min read
Add Your Own Ordering Link to Google Business Profile
A step-by-step guide to putting your own direct ordering link on the 'Order online' button of your Google Business Profile, instead of leaving it to third parties.
Delivery & Direct Ordering 10 min read
How to Take Online Orders Without Paying Commission
A fair, operator-grade walkthrough of every commission-free way to take online orders, and how to stand one up this week.