Food Ordering Transformed as Square and Google Expand Partnership to Shape the Future of Digital Dining
Square has announced an expanded collaboration with Google aimed at helping food and beverage (F&B) businesses across the United States connect with customers through the next generation of digital discovery and ordering. The partnership brings Square sellers into Ask Maps, a conversational artificial intelligence (AI) experience within Google Maps that allows customers to discover restaurants, explore menus, and place orders by simply asking questions in natural language.
Through this expanded integration, Square F&B sellers that activate a Google Business Profile can appear in Ask Maps results and enable new ordering experiences for customers. Business information, including menus, operating hours, and location details, will automatically synchronize from Square Dashboard, eliminating the need for additional setup, contracts, technical integrations, or extra fees.
The collaboration reflects the changing way consumers search for restaurants and make purchasing decisions. Instead of relying only on traditional search queries, customers are increasingly using AI-powered conversations to find recommendations, compare options, and complete transactions. Square and Google are helping businesses adapt to this shift by ensuring that local restaurants and cafés can be discovered naturally within these emerging digital experiences.
Helping Restaurants Get Discovered Through Conversations
For millions of businesses that use Square to manage their operations, visibility plays a crucial role in attracting new customers and building long-term relationships. The ability to appear accurately when customers are searching for nearby dining options can directly influence visits, online orders, and brand engagement.
With Ask Maps, customers can use conversational requests such as asking for a specific dish, cuisine type, or ordering preference. For example, a customer could request a seafood version of a favorite noodle dish for pickup after work and receive relevant restaurant recommendations based on available local options.
By extending existing Square Dashboard capabilities that already help sellers keep their information updated across Google Maps, the new integration allows businesses to appear directly within AI-generated responses without requiring additional effort.
Square sellers can benefit from several advantages through the partnership:
- Improved discovery through conversational search: Restaurants and cafés can appear when customers ask everyday questions about where to eat, what to order, or which local businesses offer specific menu items.
- Automatic information accuracy: Details managed through Square can flow into Google Business Profiles and Ask Maps, helping customers receive updated information about menus, hours, and locations.
- Simple activation process: Sellers do not need to develop APIs, configure new technology platforms, or invest in additional systems to participate.
Andrew Costaris, Digital Vice President at Partners Coffee, highlighted how important digital discovery has become for modern food businesses. He explained that customer relationships increasingly begin before guests enter a physical location, making accurate online presence essential.
According to Costaris, Square helps Partners Coffee maintain consistent information across customer touchpoints, whether people are searching for nearby coffee shops, checking operating hours, or exploring seasonal menu offerings. Each new digital channel creates additional opportunities for businesses to connect with their communities.
Moving From Restaurant Discovery to Seamless Ordering
The partnership between Square and Google extends beyond helping customers find restaurants. In the United States, users can also browse Square sellers’ menus through Ask Maps, customize their selections, and complete transactions using Order by Cash App.
This creates a smoother path from discovery to purchase, allowing customers to identify a restaurant, explore real-time menu options, and place an order within the same digital experience. The process reduces friction for consumers while creating new opportunities for restaurants to increase sales.
For sellers, orders placed through this experience are integrated directly into their existing Square ecosystem. Transactions can flow into established operational tools, including point-of-sale (POS) systems and Kitchen Display Systems, without requiring additional workflows or manual order management.
Morgan Kuntze, Global Partnerships Lead at Block, said consumer behavior around restaurant discovery and ordering continues to evolve. Customers are changing how they find restaurants, cafés, and takeout options, increasingly relying on AI-driven interactions rather than traditional search methods.
Kuntze emphasized that Square’s goal is to help businesses appear wherever customers are looking, whether that is through maps, search platforms, or emerging AI-powered conversations. By reducing the need for sellers to update information across multiple platforms, Square enables businesses to focus more on serving customers while maintaining a strong digital presence.
Supporting the Future of AI-Driven Commerce
The latest announcement represents the first phase of a broader collaboration between Square and Google focused on creating new opportunities for sellers to connect with customers throughout Google’s ecosystem.
As part of this ongoing effort, Square, Google, and other industry participants are supporting the expansion of the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), an open standard designed to improve commerce experiences within AI-powered environments.
The development of UCP aims to make digital purchasing journeys more seamless by allowing customers to discover products and services, interact with businesses, and complete transactions through intelligent AI interfaces.
For the food industry, this advancement could reshape how consumers interact with restaurants and cafés. Instead of navigating multiple websites, apps, or ordering platforms, customers may increasingly rely on AI assistants to recommend meals, answer questions, and complete purchases on their behalf.
By combining Square’s restaurant technology capabilities with Google’s extensive discovery ecosystem, the partnership positions independent restaurants, cafés, and other F&B businesses to participate in the future of conversational commerce.
As AI continues to influence consumer behavior, partnerships like this are expected to help small and medium-sized businesses remain competitive by improving visibility, simplifying operations, and creating more direct connections with customers. Square and Google’s expanded collaboration marks a significant step toward making food discovery and ordering more convenient, personalized, and accessible for both businesses and consumers.
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