The tech provider’s new Neighborhoods on Cash App allows users of the payments app to order pickup and delivery from local restaurants. They can also earn rewards that can be redeemed at any business in the network.
The network will connect restaurants that use Square with the 57 million consumers on Cash App. | Photo courtesy of Square
Customers can now order from local restaurants within Cash App, the payments app owned by Block. Block also owns Square, a provider of POS systems and other technology for restaurants.
The new feature, called Neighborhoods on Cash App, is designed to connect the more than 4 million businesses that use Square with the 57 million active users of Cash App, an app that allows users to send and receive money.
Square said the scale of this network will help lift up small local restaurants that have fewer digital resources than large chains.
Restaurants that join the Neighborhoods network will get a branded mobile ordering channel for pickup and delivery. Cash App users can follow restaurants in the app and use their stored funds to pay. Restaurants pay a processing fee of just 1% per transaction. And they will be able to send marketing campaigns to their followers via Cash App to keep them coming back. It’s free for restaurants to join.
Customers will also earn rewards that can be redeemed at any business in the Neighborhoods network. For every order, they get 10% of the subtotal back in Local Cash rewards. When they redeem the Local Cash, the cost is covered by the business where they spend it.
Square said systemwide rewards will help keep consumer dollars local and strengthen the overall network. Restaurants will never have to spend more on rewards than the amount earned at their business each month, the company said.