Voice kiosk for Square restaurants: setup, how orders land and what to ask

A Square restaurant has a voice kiosk option from Square itself, so the question is which one to buy, not whether one exists. Square Kiosk is a 21.5-inch screen where guests order by voice or touch and pay on the spot. Square prints its price: $1,999 with a counter stand, plus $99 a month per device. Maple's voice kiosk is a different unit. Guests say the order and see each item and the total on screen, and Maple says the ticket goes straight to your POS. Maple's pages describe the Square menu sync for phone ordering only, so how the kiosk gets its menu is a question for the demo. It is in early access with a small number of restaurants and is priced per unit, with no public price.

This guide sets the two side by side, walks through what Maple documents for Square and for pairing a kiosk, flags the payment question that Maple's public pages leave open, and ends with a test to run before guests use it. Where a page does not say, this guide says so and turns the gap into a question for the demo.

Is Maple's voice kiosk the same thing as Square Kiosk?

No. Square Kiosk is Square's own self-service product, sold by Square and managed in Square. Maple's kiosk is a separate product that works with the POS systems Maple takes orders into, and Square is one of them. Your Square account stays the place where orders land and where you manage the menu.

Question	Square Kiosk	Maple's voice kiosk	Start here if
How guests order	Voice or touch, at any point in the order, per Square	Say the order; each item and the total show on screen	Square: you want one vendor for screen, payment and POS. Maple: you want a unit built around the voice order.
Hardware	A 21.5-inch device; floor, counter, wall or VESA mount; Wi-Fi or wired Ethernet	Maple's kiosk page says Maple supplies the kiosk and helps you set it up; its setup doc describes the Maple Device app on an Android 8 or newer tablet or kiosk unit. Ask which device you get.	Square: you want Square hardware. Maple: you want a unit set up for you.
Price	$1,999 with counter stand, plus $99 a month per device, on top of a $49 (Plus) or $149 (Premium) location plan	Priced per unit; no public price	Square: you want the cost on a page today. Maple: you are happy to take a quote.
Menu	Price, inventory and menu changes made in Square reach every kiosk automatically	Maple's Square docs, written for phone ordering, say changes made in Square reach Maple in 5 to 10 minutes; ask whether the kiosk works the same way	Square: one menu, and the kiosk reads it. Maple: confirm the kiosk uses your Square menu.
Guest payment	Tap, dip or PIN on the device, no separate reader	Not stated on Maple's kiosk page; ask	Payment is the first question for Maple's kiosk. See below.
Where orders go	Square POS and KDS in real time	Straight to your POS, per Maple's kiosk page	Same destination: your Square orders.
Staff help	Guests can fall back to touch at any time	A staff-help button on every screen; Maple can be turned off on any kiosk with one tap	Maple: you want the crew to step in with one tap.

Sources: Square's Kiosk page and pricing table, our Square Kiosk cost guide for the hardware price and setup limits, and Maple's kiosk page. Square Kiosk Lite, which runs on an iPad with Square Stand, is $50 a month per device on Plus and $30 on Premium; it is the cheaper Square route.

How much does a Square kiosk cost, and what is Maple's number?

Square's price table prints the monthly line, and its hardware page shows the device price. The arithmetic below uses those figures and leaves out installation, tax, processing fees and printers. It is not a quote.

Setup	Monthly software	First year, including the $1,999 device
One Square Kiosk on Plus	$148 = $49 + $99	$3,775 = $1,999 + 12 × $148
One Square Kiosk on Premium	$248 = $149 + $99	$4,975 = $1,999 + 12 × $248
Two Square Kiosks on Plus	$247 = $49 + 2 × $99	$6,962 = 2 × $1,999 + 12 × $247

Maple prints no kiosk price, so there is no line to put beside these. What you can do is ask for a written quote that lists every device, mount, printer, plan and monthly charge, then fill in the same three rows. If you also want phone ordering, Maple prints that price: Pro is $350 a month, or $220 a month billed yearly, with no per-minute fees (pricing). Ask whether the kiosk is quoted inside Pro or next to it, because the public pages do not say.

Square's pages disagree with each other on one point. Its drive-thru page says Square Premium includes kiosk software at no extra cost, while its pricing table lists the $99 device fee on Premium as well. The table is the more specific source, so this guide uses it. Confirm the line in your own Square quote.

Does a voice kiosk work with Square?

Yes. Maple's kiosk page says it works with every POS Maple takes orders into. Maple connects to Square through StreamOrders, its ordering relay, and its public Square pages describe that connection for phone ordering. They say nothing kiosk-specific about Square, so this guide separates what Maple documents (setup, menu sync, how orders reach Square) from what to confirm for a kiosk (payment, order label, kitchen routing). If you also have a lane, AI drive-thru ordering for Square works through the same connection.

What do you need before you start?

From Maple's Square page and its Square setup docs:

• A Square account with admin access, connected to Maple through StreamOrders.
• A Maple Pro plan, which includes phone ordering and POS integrations. Ask how the kiosk is quoted next to it.
• Business documents for verification, if cards will run through Maple. Maple's Square docs say cards run through Stripe for phone orders, and Stripe sets how long the review takes.
• A Square menu you are happy for guests to read on a screen: clear item names, current prices, real modifier groups, and sizes set up as variations, because Maple's Square docs say each Square size or variation arrives in Maple as its own item for phone orders.

For the kiosk itself, Maple's setup doc asks for Wi-Fi at the spot where the kiosk stands, dashboard access for the store, and, optionally, a receipt printer: a built-in one, or an ESC/POS printer on the same network, taking 58 mm or 80 mm paper.

How do you connect Square and pair the kiosk?

There are two parts: the connection to Square and the device.

The Square connection takes four steps in Maple's docs:

1. If cards will run through Maple, submit your business verification documents first. The review time is Stripe's.
2. Open StreamOrders from the Maple dashboard and link your Square location.
3. Set your payment and order options.
4. Place test orders and check them in Square.

The kiosk pairing, from Maple's kiosk setup doc:

1. In the Maple dashboard, go to Orders, then Manage Kiosk, and click Enable Kiosk. You do this once per store. If you do not see Manage Kiosk, contact Maple: the kiosk may not be on for your store yet.
2. Click Pair a kiosk. Maple shows a 6-digit code that works once and expires after 10 minutes.
3. On the device, install the Maple Device app. It does not come from the Play Store, so Android asks you to allow installs from the source once. Allow Bluetooth, notifications and the microphone, because guests need the microphone to order by voice.
4. Type the code, choose Kiosk in the Mode card, save, and tap Finish setup and open kiosk. The device then shows as Online under Devices in Manage Kiosk.
5. Check the sound: hold the top-left corner of the screen for 5 seconds, open settings, confirm the microphone says Allowed and tap Test sound. You should hear three tones.

From the same page, the dashboard also sets the kiosk's colors, idle screen image, welcome message, voice and languages. Small app updates install overnight between 2 and 5 a.m. so guests are not interrupted. Maple's pages give no installation timeline for your site, so ask sales how the install and the Square connection are scheduled, and whether one connection serves phone and kiosk at your location.

Does the kiosk use the Square menu, and how fast do changes arrive?

Maple's Square docs describe menu sync for phone ordering. Changes made in Square reach Maple through StreamOrders, usually within 5 to 10 minutes. Modifiers come across with each item, items you turn off or mark sold out show as unavailable, and Square reporting categories do not sync. Maple's kiosk page says the kiosk knows your full menu and every modifier and skips items that are out of stock, but it does not name Square or say the kiosk uses the same sync. So treat each Square behavior above as a question to confirm for a kiosk, not a given.

If the kiosk does follow the same window, it matters at a counter. If you 86 an item at 12:10, the kiosk may keep offering it for several minutes. Ask Maple what a guest sees in that window and how a cook can flag an item as gone faster than the sync. The same question applies when you change a price.

Clean up the Square menu first. Guests read each item name and each required modifier group on a screen. Shorten any name only your crew understands, set every size as a variation, and fix prices that differ between channels. Kiosk menu design has a worksheet for this.

How does a guest pay at a Maple kiosk on Square?

Maple's public pages do not say, so make this the first question of the demo. What Maple's docs do say is about phone orders. Every Square order is paid by card through a payment link Maple texts to the caller (Stripe), with Apple Pay and Google Pay on the payment page. Maple's orders FAQ lists Square among the POS systems that require upfront card payment: pay in store is not available. Tips may not appear as Square tips in your Square reports.

A texted payment link does not map neatly onto a guest standing at a screen. Nothing in Maple's public pages says a kiosk guest receives one. Square Kiosk, by contrast, takes tap, dip or PIN on the device. Decide which of these you want, then ask Maple whether it fits:

• The guest pays at the kiosk with a card, and the payment lands in your Square account.
• The guest orders at the kiosk and pays at your Square register.
• The guest pays cash. Square's own kiosk does not take cash, per its setup documents as summarised in our Square Kiosk guide, so this needs its own answer. Kiosk payments and cash lists the questions.

Run each path through a test order and look at the payment, the tip line and the deposit as well as the ticket.

How should a kiosk order land in Square?

Maple's kiosk page says the ticket goes straight to your POS. Test with real tickets and read each one in Square:

Order	What it shows	Where to look
One plain item	Whether the ticket and total match the kiosk screen	The Square order
An item with required modifiers and an extra	Whether each modifier arrives as your crew would ring it	Your kitchen printer or Square KDS
A size, such as "large"	Whether it lands on the right Square variation	The Square order
A guest who changes their mind midway	Whether the removed item is gone from the ticket and the total	The kiosk screen, then the Square order
An item you mark sold out in Square	How long the kiosk takes to stop offering it	The kiosk screen
A price change made in Square	How long the kiosk takes to show it	The kiosk screen and a new order

Then ask what label a kiosk order carries in Square, so the counter can tell it from a phone order or a Square Kiosk order, and whether it appears in your standard sales reports with the right source. Maple's Square docs describe orders for phone ordering only. If your kitchen runs on Square's display system, Square KDS covers what Square documents, and the routing check above confirms kiosk tickets reach it.

What happens when a guest needs a person, or the internet drops?

From Maple's kiosk page: every screen has a staff-help button, and a crew member takes over when a guest taps it. You can turn Maple off on any kiosk with one tap, and guests can ask for a person at any time. Its microphone points at the guest in front of it, so it picks up that voice over nearby talk and kitchen noise, and guests can order in many languages. Decide before launch who answers the staff-help button. Kiosk staff help has a four-zone staffing table.

Maple's kiosk doc covers the connection: the app keeps trying while the device is offline and reconnects on its own once the network is back, and the dashboard shows each device as Online or Offline with the time Maple last heard from it. It does not say what a guest can do while the device is offline, or what happens to an order in progress. Square's own kiosk does not take payments offline, per its setup documents, so ask Maple for its answer in writing and agree a fallback: who checks whether a payment completed, and how staff avoid entering the same order twice.

What should you ask before a Square kiosk trial?

• How does a guest pay at a Maple kiosk, and does the payment land in Square the way a Square Kiosk payment does?
• Which device do I get, and does the Android 8 setup in the docs apply to it?
• Does one StreamOrders connection serve phone and kiosk at my location? If I have more than one Square location, how is each kiosk paired to the right one?
• What label does a kiosk order carry in Square, and can the crew tell it apart from phone and register orders?
• Does the kiosk use the same Square menu sync as phone ordering (5 to 10 minutes), and how does it handle an item I 86 mid-rush?
• Where do kiosk tickets print or display, and do they reach Square KDS?
• How are tips recorded, given that tips may not appear as Square tips for Maple orders?
• What does a guest see if Square or my internet is unavailable?
• Which accessibility features does the kiosk have? Kiosk accessibility lists the public guidance to check against.
• What does early access include, and where would my store be in line?

How do you run a first-week test on a Square kiosk?

1. Before the unit arrives, clean up the Square menu: names a guest would say, current prices, required modifier groups, and every size as a variation.
2. If cards will run through Maple, start the Stripe verification first. It is Stripe's clock, not Maple's.
3. Pair the device with the dashboard code, then run the sound check and, if you use one, the printer test print.
4. Place the six test orders in the table above yourself, and follow each one to the kitchen. Use "Test" as the name and tell the crew first.
5. Press the one-tap off switch in a quiet hour and time how long the crew takes to run the counter by hand.
6. Put the kiosk where guests already queue and go live for a slow daypart. Keep three counts apart: orders completed without help, orders that needed a person, and tickets the kitchen had to correct.
7. Compare similar dayparts before you widen the trial. The kiosk pilot checklist gives a four-week plan.

A worked example of the counts, with made-up numbers to show the arithmetic: if a slow daypart sees 50 kiosk orders, and 42 finish without help, 5 need a person and 3 tickets are corrected by the kitchen, then 42 ÷ 50 = 84% finished without help, 5 ÷ 50 = 10% needed a person, and 3 ÷ 50 = 6% needed a kitchen fix. Those are not results from any restaurant. Use your own counts.

What goes wrong on the Square side, and how do you fix it?

The Square rows below come from Maple's Square docs for phone ordering. Confirm each one applies to a kiosk before you rely on it.

Symptom	Likely cause	Fix
An item a guest wants is not offered	The item is turned off or sold out in Square, or the change has not yet passed through StreamOrders.	Turn it back on in Square and wait for the sync, usually 5 to 10 minutes. Menu changes are made in Square, not in Maple.
A guest asks for a size that is not there	Each Square size or variation arrives as its own item, and the variation is missing or named oddly.	Fix the variation name in Square, then test the exact words guests use.
Card setup is stuck	Business verification is still under review. Stripe sets the time.	Make sure the documents were submitted, and ask Maple's team to walk you through what Stripe asked for.
Tips are missing from Square tip reports	Maple's docs say tips may not appear as Square tips.	Check a test order's tip line in Square, and ask Maple how tips are recorded for your setup.
The pairing code does not work	Each code works once and expires after 10 minutes, or a digit is wrong.	Click Pair a kiosk again for a new code and type all 6 digits right away.
Guests cannot be heard, or hear nothing	The microphone permission is off, or the call volume is low.	Open settings, check the Sound card says Allowed, run Test sound, and turn up the volume.
The dashboard shows the kiosk Offline	The device lost Wi-Fi or internet.	Check Wi-Fi, check Connection says Connected in settings, then restart the device if it stays offline.
The printer does not print	It is off, out of paper or on another network.	Run Test print, check the IP address against the printer's self-test slip, and check the port is 9100.

Should you buy Square Kiosk, Maple's kiosk, or neither?

If the problem at your counter is a queue and you want the lowest-effort route inside Square, Square Kiosk has a printed price and one vendor to call. If you want guests to talk instead of tap, both can do that, so compare the demo and the written quote line by line, not the brochure. If the problem is a ringing phone, a kiosk will not fix it: look at phone ordering, which Maple prints a price for on its pricing page. For the wider cost picture read what a restaurant kiosk costs, and for lease and buy terms lease versus buy. Voice ordering kiosks covers noise, modifiers and languages for any POS, and the Toast version and Clover version of this guide show how the same questions play out on other systems.

What does it cost and when can you get it?

The kiosk is in early access with a small number of restaurants and priced per unit. There is no public price; talk to sales through the kiosk page to learn where you are in line.

Frequently asked questions

Does Square have its own voice ordering kiosk? Yes. Square Kiosk takes orders by voice or touch and payment by tap, dip or PIN. It needs an active Square Plus or Premium subscription.

Do I need a Square account to use Maple's kiosk with Square? Yes, with admin access, connected to Maple through StreamOrders, and a Maple Pro plan.

Can I change the menu in Maple? Maple's Square docs say menu changes are made in Square and usually reach Maple within 5 to 10 minutes. Those docs cover phone ordering, so ask Maple to confirm the kiosk menu works the same way.

Will it work in a loud restaurant? Maple says its microphone points at the guest in front of it, so it picks up that voice over nearby talk and kitchen noise. Test it at your loudest hour.

What if a guest wants a person? They tap the staff-help button and a crew member takes over. You can also turn Maple off on any kiosk with one tap.

Which Maple plan includes Square ordering? Pro. Voice covers answering, FAQs and call transfer.

Published by Maple, which sells the product described here. This AI-assisted guide uses Maple's published kiosk page, Square integration page, Square setup docs and kiosk setup doc, plus Square's Kiosk page and restaurant pricing table, all read November 13, 2026, with an original comparison, cost arithmetic, test and question list. It does not report a Maple test of the kiosk at a Square restaurant, a customer result or a price for the kiosk.