Latest news with #Square
National Post
2 days ago
- Business
- National Post
Make-or-Break Canada Day Weekend Set to Deliver 30%+ Boost for Canada's Bar and Restaurant Owners
Article content TORONTO — The countdown to Canada's most celebrated summer holiday is on and, for bars and restaurants, this Canada Day long weekend could be a make-or-break moment. According to a new survey commissioned by Square, 72% of Canadians plan to spend more time vacationing in Canada and enjoying local restaurants this year—an increase attributed to the current political climate. Article content To help food and beverage sellers make the most of the busy holiday and succeed, technology company Square announced today it is launching its most powerful, portable point-of-sale device yet alongside a suite of industry-specific features and upgrades to empower Canadian businesses to move faster, deliver better customer experiences and grow. Article content According to newly-released Square data, Canada Day weekend is far more than just a celebration: it's an important revenue driver for the hospitality industry. In 2024, bars and restaurants using Square to run and grow their businesses saw a 36% nationwide sales jump over the July 1st holiday weekend—building on a 30% rise in 2023. The boost didn't stop there: after the long weekend, sales remained elevated above the annual average for the next two months—a crucial period for operators aiming to shore up their bottom lines before Fall. Article content Making the Most of Summer in Canada Article content This year, nearly three-quarters (72%) of surveyed Canadians anticipate spending more time in the country and at local restaurants, bars and pubs due to the current political climate—and almost half (47%) plan to 'make the most of summer in Canada.' Article content Square data analysts will be monitoring this possible patriotic halo effect on popular food and drink items sold during the Canada Day long weekend. Last year, mocktails, signature poutines, local craft brews, and cocktail pitchers dominated orders over the extended holiday period—setting the tone for a lively 2025 patio season. Article content New Square Handheld Article content Every dollar counts between Canada Day and Labour Day—this period represents roughly a quarter of annual sales for many independent bars and restaurants across the country. To help Canadian bars and restaurants make the most of the season, Square is launching Square Handheld, a powerful and pocketable point-of-sale device that weighs in at 0.34 kgs and is only 1.2 cm thick. For quick-service restaurants, that means cutting down on lines during a busy rush, and for full-service restaurants, it's taking orders tableside or from across the bar. Article content A durable-yet-elegant device, Square Handheld is designed to stand up to water splashes and dust, plus offers an optional case, designed by Belkin, for added protection against accidental drops. Built to handle the realities of a busy shift, it offers a battery built to last all day and both Wi-Fi and offline payments capabilities—ensuring businesses stay up and running. A camera with integrated barcode scanning capabilities also allows food and beverage businesses to take product pictures and quickly scan in retail offerings like merch or bottles of wine. By eliminating unnecessary trips between tables and the counter, Square Handheld enables servers to provide more attentive service and turn tables more efficiently during peak hours, leading to improved customer satisfaction and increased revenue. Article content 'Square Handheld has made us dramatically faster. It's quick and easy to take orders and payment processing between customer and server is much more pleasant,' said Itamar Shani, owner and chef at Chickpea Restaurant in Vancouver, B.C. 'The device feels durable – it has high quality construction and no corners prone to chipping; it's definitely built to last.' Article content Streamlining Front and Back of House Article content Square is also introducing additional new features and expanding its comprehensive partnership ecosystem to help restaurants streamline and grow their businesses even further: Article content Square's new Item Splitting feature saves time and ends the fuss when it's time to split the bill among guests. The new feature makes it easier and faster for staff to check out larger groups by reducing time spent calculating totals and waiting on guests to discuss shared costs. Square's newly streamlined DoorDash Integration is built for accuracy and efficiency, from order to delivery. Now, sellers can manage menus, pricing, and orders – all within Square, with seamless real-time syncing to keep everything running smoothly. With Scan to Pay QR codes on receipts, customers can scan and settle up without having to wait for busy servers to collect payment. That means restaurants can turn tables faster and staff have more time to serve diners. With Multichannel menu management, Square sellers can now seamlessly edit and update menus across all locations and channels, both online and offline, in one centralized Dashboard. Pre-authorized bar tabs streamline the checkout experience for customers, providing fast, hassle-free payments, while giving businesses added security against financial loss. Article content 'Square has gone big in restaurants, and it shows, with our product velocity accelerating to include more restaurant-specific tools to help Canadian restaurant and bar owners capture every order, all while freeing up staff to spend more time serving customers,' said Ming-Tai Huh, Head of Food and Beverage at Square. 'Square is the technology backbone for hundreds of thousands of businesses across Canada, from neighbourhood cafés to national chains – and with this latest release, we're giving single unit and multi-unit restaurants the tools they need to operate efficiently and thrive in today's dynamic marketplace – on Canada Day long weekend and throughout the year.' Article content For more information on Square's recent product innovations and how they can help a single-location full-service restaurant, a busy multi-location quick-service restaurant, a bar or a multiconcept business, visit Methodology The national omnibus survey was conducted from May 2 to May 5, 2025, among a nationally representative sample of 1,626 Canadian residents aged 18 and older who are members of Leger's online panel, balanced and weighted on age, gender, region, education, and language. For comparison purposes, a probability sample of 1,626 respondents would have a margin of error of ±2.4%, 19 times out of 20. Article content Square analysis is from transaction data from hundreds of thousands of food and beverage sellers in Canada between January 2023 and December 2024. Article content About Square Article content Square makes commerce and financial services easy and accessible with its integrated ecosystem of commerce solutions. Square offers purpose-built software to run complex restaurant, retail, and professional services operations, versatile e-commerce tools, embedded financial services, buy now, pay later functionality through Afterpay, staff management and payroll capabilities, and much more – all of which work together to save sellers time and effort. Millions of sellers across the globe trust Square to power their business and help them thrive in the economy. For more information, visit Article content Article content Article content Article content Article content
Business Wire
2 days ago
- Business
- Business Wire
Make-or-Break Canada Day Weekend Set to Deliver 30%+ Boost for Canada's Bar and Restaurant Owners
TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The countdown to Canada's most celebrated summer holiday is on and, for bars and restaurants, this Canada Day long weekend could be a make-or-break moment. According to a new survey commissioned by Square, 72% of Canadians plan to spend more time vacationing in Canada and enjoying local restaurants this year—an increase attributed to the current political climate. To help food and beverage sellers make the most of the busy holiday and succeed, technology company Square announced today it is launching its most powerful, portable point-of-sale device yet alongside a suite of industry-specific features and upgrades to empower Canadian businesses to move faster, deliver better customer experiences and grow. According to newly-released Square data, Canada Day weekend is far more than just a celebration: it's an important revenue driver for the hospitality industry. In 2024, bars and restaurants using Square to run and grow their businesses saw a 36% nationwide sales jump over the July 1st holiday weekend—building on a 30% rise in 2023. The boost didn't stop there: after the long weekend, sales remained elevated above the annual average for the next two months—a crucial period for operators aiming to shore up their bottom lines before Fall. Making the Most of Summer in Canada This year, nearly three-quarters (72%) of surveyed Canadians anticipate spending more time in the country and at local restaurants, bars and pubs due to the current political climate—and almost half (47%) plan to 'make the most of summer in Canada.' Square data analysts will be monitoring this possible patriotic halo effect on popular food and drink items sold during the Canada Day long weekend. Last year, mocktails, signature poutines, local craft brews, and cocktail pitchers dominated orders over the extended holiday period—setting the tone for a lively 2025 patio season. New Square Handheld Every dollar counts between Canada Day and Labour Day—this period represents roughly a quarter of annual sales for many independent bars and restaurants across the country. To help Canadian bars and restaurants make the most of the season, Square is launching Square Handheld, a powerful and pocketable point-of-sale device that weighs in at 0.34 kgs and is only 1.2 cm thick. For quick-service restaurants, that means cutting down on lines during a busy rush, and for full-service restaurants, it's taking orders tableside or from across the bar. A durable-yet-elegant device, Square Handheld is designed to stand up to water splashes and dust, plus offers an optional case, designed by Belkin, for added protection against accidental drops. Built to handle the realities of a busy shift, it offers a battery built to last all day and both Wi-Fi and offline payments capabilities—ensuring businesses stay up and running. A camera with integrated barcode scanning capabilities also allows food and beverage businesses to take product pictures and quickly scan in retail offerings like merch or bottles of wine. By eliminating unnecessary trips between tables and the counter, Square Handheld enables servers to provide more attentive service and turn tables more efficiently during peak hours, leading to improved customer satisfaction and increased revenue. "Square Handheld has made us dramatically faster. It's quick and easy to take orders and payment processing between customer and server is much more pleasant," said Itamar Shani, owner and chef at Chickpea Restaurant in Vancouver, B.C. "The device feels durable – it has high quality construction and no corners prone to chipping; it's definitely built to last." Streamlining Front and Back of House Square is also introducing additional new features and expanding its comprehensive partnership ecosystem to help restaurants streamline and grow their businesses even further: Square's new Item Splitting feature saves time and ends the fuss when it's time to split the bill among guests. The new feature makes it easier and faster for staff to check out larger groups by reducing time spent calculating totals and waiting on guests to discuss shared costs. Square's newly streamlined DoorDash Integration is built for accuracy and efficiency, from order to delivery. Now, sellers can manage menus, pricing, and orders – all within Square, with seamless real-time syncing to keep everything running smoothly. With Scan to Pay QR codes on receipts, customers can scan and settle up without having to wait for busy servers to collect payment. That means restaurants can turn tables faster and staff have more time to serve diners. With Multichannel menu management, Square sellers can now seamlessly edit and update menus across all locations and channels, both online and offline, in one centralized Dashboard. Pre-authorized bar tabs streamline the checkout experience for customers, providing fast, hassle-free payments, while giving businesses added security against financial loss. 'Square has gone big in restaurants, and it shows, with our product velocity accelerating to include more restaurant-specific tools to help Canadian restaurant and bar owners capture every order, all while freeing up staff to spend more time serving customers,' said Ming-Tai Huh, Head of Food and Beverage at Square. 'Square is the technology backbone for hundreds of thousands of businesses across Canada, from neighbourhood cafés to national chains – and with this latest release, we're giving single unit and multi-unit restaurants the tools they need to operate efficiently and thrive in today's dynamic marketplace – on Canada Day long weekend and throughout the year.' For more information on Square's recent product innovations and how they can help a single-location full-service restaurant, a busy multi-location quick-service restaurant, a bar or a multiconcept business, visit Methodology The national omnibus survey was conducted from May 2 to May 5, 2025, among a nationally representative sample of 1,626 Canadian residents aged 18 and older who are members of Leger's online panel, balanced and weighted on age, gender, region, education, and language. For comparison purposes, a probability sample of 1,626 respondents would have a margin of error of ±2.4%, 19 times out of 20. Square analysis is from transaction data from hundreds of thousands of food and beverage sellers in Canada between January 2023 and December 2024. About Square Square makes commerce and financial services easy and accessible with its integrated ecosystem of commerce solutions. Square offers purpose-built software to run complex restaurant, retail, and professional services operations, versatile e-commerce tools, embedded financial services, buy now, pay later functionality through Afterpay, staff management and payroll capabilities, and much more – all of which work together to save sellers time and effort. Millions of sellers across the globe trust Square to power their business and help them thrive in the economy. For more information, visit
Daily Mirror
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
EastEnders fans rumble Zoe Slater has 'secret son already in Walford'
EastEnders fans are convinced that Zoe Slater could have a secret in Walford, ahead of her big return to the BBC soap. She made a cameo in scenes that aired last night but will make a permanent return soon Zoe Slater could have a secret son on EastEnders - as fans speculate about her returning storyline. At the end of last night's episode, we learned that Zoe was back - temporarily and then permanently in the coming months. Fans are convinced Zoe could be linked to someone else in the Square, as they work out her connection to a new character. Michelle recently broke her silence on returning to the soap and why she decided to go back after two decades. "It all happened at the right time. I'd already been thinking about a return because I'd met up with Kacey Ainsworth (Little Mo) and Kim Medcalf (Sam Mitchell) and we were reminiscing our fond memories of the show, and I'd also joined social media and saw that there was still a lot of love for the character," she said. "It just so happened that at the same time, EastEnders had announced a new Exec who was keen to explore the potential of a return as he was such a massive fan of Zoe and the Slaters, so both of our worlds aligned at the right time, and I'm so excited to be back. When Ben pitched me the storylines, and when I read the scripts, I knew it was the right decision." New Executive Producer Ben Wadey said of the exciting news: "Before I even stepped into the role, Zoe Slater was on my wish-list of returnees as although we haven't seen her on screen for twenty years, her character has transcended time due to her popular storylines. I was absolutely delighted when Michelle agreed to return, and I'm thrilled to welcome her back to Walford. "Whilst I can't say too much at this stage, Zoe's return is just one of the many exciting storylines we have planned." Now fans are convinced she could somehow be connected to Joel - who recently arrived alongside Vicki Fowler. One fan wrote: "When I first heard the theory of Zoe being Joel's mum I thought it was ridiculous. But now I'm thinking it could be correct. It would be a great twist. And she's not back to see Kat but her son Joel.." Another suggested: "After tonight's episode, she's 100% Joel's mum. Utterly ridiculous storyline, especially after they did the exact same thing with George, Gina and Anna moving to the same place Cindy lived at."
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Block's CFO explains Gen Z's surprising approach to money management
One stock recently impacted by a whirlwind of volatility is Block—the fintech powerhouse behind Square, Cash App, Tidal Music, and more. The company's COO and CFO, Amrita Ahuja, shares how her team is using new AI tools to find opportunity amid disruption and reach customers left behind by traditional financial systems. Ahuja also shares lessons from the video game industry and discusses Gen Z's surprising approach to money management. Pentagon Pizza Index: The theory that surging pizza orders signal global crises What is a fridge cigarette? The viral Diet Coke trend explained 5 signals that make you instantly more trustworthy at work This is an abridged transcript of an interview from Rapid Response, hosted by Robert Safian, former editor-in-chief of Fast Company. From the team behind the Masters of Scale podcast, Rapid Response features candid conversations with today's top business leaders navigating real-time challenges. Subscribe to Rapid Response wherever you get your podcasts to ensure you never miss an episode. This embedded content is not available in your region. As a leader, when you're looking at all of this volatility—the tariffs, consumer sentiment's been unclear, the stock market's been all over the place. You guys had a huge one-day drop in early May, and it quickly bounced back. How do you make sense of all these external factors? Yeah, our focus is on what we can control. And ultimately, the thing that we are laser-focused on for our business is product velocity. How quickly can we start small with something, launch something for our customers, and then test and iterate and learn so that ultimately, that something that we've launched scales into an important product? I'll give you an example. Cash App Borrow, which is a product where our customers can get access to a line of credit, often $100, $200, that bridges them from paycheck to paycheck. We know so many Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. That's a product that we launched about three years ago and have now scaled to serve 9 million actives with $15 billion in credit supply to our customers in a span of a couple short years. The more we can be out testing and launching product at a pace, the more we know we are ultimately delivering value to our customers, and the right things will happen from a stock perspective. Block is a financial services provider. You have Square, the point-of-sale system; the digital wallet Cash App, which you mentioned, which competes with Venmo and Robinhood; and a bunch of others. Then you've got the buy-now, pay-later leader Afterpay. You chair Square Financial Services, which is Block's chartered bank. But you've said that in the fintech world, Block is only a little bit fin—that comparatively, it's more tech. Can you explain what you mean by that? What we think is unique about us is our ability as a technology company to completely change innovation in the space, such that we can help solve systemic issues across credit, payments, commerce, and banking. What that means ultimately is we use technologies like AI and machine learning and data science, and we use these technologies in a unique way, in a way that's different from a traditional bank. We are able to underwrite those who are often frankly forgotten by the traditional financial ecosystems. Our Square Loans product has almost triple the rate of women-owned businesses that we underwrite. Fifty-eight percent of our loans go to women-owned businesses versus 20% for the industry average. For that Cash App Borrow product I was talking about, 70% of those actives, the 9 million actives that we underwrote, fell below 580 as a FICO score. That's considered a poor FICO score, and yet 97% of repayments are made on time. And this is because we have unique access to data and these technology and tools which can help us uniquely underwrite this often forgotten customer base. Yeah. I mean, credit—sometimes it's been blamed for financial excesses. But access to credit is also, as you say, an advantage that's not available to everyone. Do you have a philosophy between those poles—between risk and opportunity? Or is what you're saying is that the tech you have allows you to avoid that risk? That's right. Let's start with how do the current systems work? It works using inferior data, frankly. It's more limited data. It's outdated. Sometimes it's inaccurate. And it ignores things like someone's cash flows, the stability of your income, your savings rate, how money moves through your accounts, or how you use alternative forms of credit—like buy now, pay later, which we have in our ecosystem through Afterpay. We have a lot of these signals for our 57 million monthly actives on the Cash App side and for the 4 million small businesses on the Square side, and those, frankly, billions of transaction data points that we have on any given day paired with new technologies. And we intend to continue to be on the forefront of AI, machine learning, and data science to be able to empower more people into the economy. The combination of the superior data and the technologies is what we believe ultimately helps expand access. You have a financial background, but not in the financial services industry. Before Block, you were a video game developer at Activision. Are financial businesses and video games similar? Are there things that are similar about them? There are. There actually are some things that are similar, I will say. There are many things that are unique to each industry. Each industry is incredibly complex. You find that when big technology companies try to do gaming. They've taken over the world in many different ways, but they can't always crack the nut on putting out a great game. Similarly, some of the largest technology companies have dabbled in fintech but haven't been able to go as deep, so they're both very nuanced and complex industries. I would say another similarity is that design really matters. Industrial design, the design of products, the interface of products, is absolutely mission-critical to a great game, and it's absolutely mission-critical to the simplicity and accessibility of our products, be it on Square or Cash App. And then maybe the third thing that I would say is that when I was in gaming, at least the business models were rapidly changing from an intermediary distribution mechanism, like releasing a game once and then selling it through a retailer, to an always-on, direct-to-consumer connection. And similarly with banking, people don't want to bank from 9 to 5, six days a week. They want 24/7 access to their money and the ability to, again, grow their financial livelihood, move their money around seamlessly. So, some similarities are there in that shift to an intermediary model or a slower model to an always-on, direct-to-consumer connection. Part of your target audience or your target customer base at Block are Gen Z folks. Did you learn things at Activision about Gen Z that has been useful? Are there things that businesses misunderstand about younger generations still? What we've learned is that Gen Z, millennial customers, aren't going to do things the way their parents did. Some of our stats show that 63% of Gen Z customers have moved away from traditional credit cards, and over 80% are skeptical of them. Which means they're not using a credit card to manage expenses; they're using a debit card, but then layering on on a transaction-by-transaction basis. Or again, using tools like buy now, pay later, or Cash App Borrow, the means in which they're managing their consistent cash flows. So that's an example of how things are changing, and you've got to get up to speed with how the next generation of customers expects to manage their money. This post originally appeared at to get the Fast Company newsletter:
Daily Mirror
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
EastEnders fans spot big clue another Slater is 'returning' - and it's not Lynne
After the excitement of Zoe Slater's return, eagle-eyed EastEnders fans think they've spotted a huge clue that another Slater will be returning to Albert Sqaure Last night saw the return of EastEnders legend Zoe Slater (Michelle Ryan), and now eagle-eyed fans predict a return for another Slater after spotting a huge online clue. The soap had kept Zoe's shock return under wraps until the end of Monday night's episode. However, some fans had worked it out through social media clues the BBC soap had been dropping. Now, they've spotted another huge social media clue, which has them believing Stacey's brother Sean Slater (Rob Kazinsky) may be making a shock return. Sean left the Square in 2009, shortly after he found out that Amy was Jack Branning's daughter, and not his. On a rampage, Sean tried to drown Roxy, Amy, and himself in an icy lake, before Ronnie interjected. He then went on the run - but returned to the soap ten years later mother Jean's cancer diagnosis. Now, fans think he's about to make a return once again as Rob and new Executive Producer Ben Wadey both follow each other on Instagram. Taking to X, formerly known as Twitter, one fan penned: "Ben Wadey and Rob Kazinsky follow each other... is it finally happening??? #EastEnders," as another responded: "Probably come back to take Lacey on her maternity leave." A third commented: "Can definitely see him return to the show again," as a fourth begged: "Oh please! "Kind of don't want to get my hopes up too much tho!" Despite not showing his face in Albert Square since 2019, Sean was recently mentioned on the soap. Following the death of Martin Fowler, Stacey went to stay with her brother to get away from the Square, later returning for Martin's funeral. The prediction from fans comes less than 24 hours after they were left stunned by the return of Zoe. To avoid spoilers, the BBC One soap decided against dropping the episode on iPlayer at 6am, as fans all tuned in a 7.30pm. Taking to X, formerly known as Twitter at the end of the episode when the big reveal dropped, one fan wrote: "ZOE BLOODY SLATER #EastEnders." "ZOE YOU CAN'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO YOU AIN'T MY MOTHER SLATER IS BACK! #eastenders," another rejoiced as a third wrote: "An actual Zoe Slater return i can't believe my eyes #EastEnders." Could a return for Sean really be on the cards?
