Why Growing Restaurant Franchises Are Choosing Square

TLDR

Opening a new franchise location is exciting. Keeping it connected to every other store is the difficult part. Each opening brings a new team, new customers, and hundreds of daily decisions. If the technology changes from one location to another, training takes longer, mistakes increase, and the brand experience starts to feel uneven. Square’s recent announcement about The Baked Bear shows why growing restaurant franchises are choosing technology that can carry the same operating model into every new market.

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Every New Franchise Location Adds Another Layer of Complexity

A restaurant that works well at three locations may struggle at 30. The menu has to stay accurate. Employees need to learn the same processes. Orders must reach the right store. Prices, promotions, and operating hours need to remain current.

These tasks become harder when individual locations use different tools or follow their own methods.

The problem often appears in small ways. One restaurant may still display an old menu item. Another may handle custom orders differently. A new employee might need several days to understand a complicated point of sale system. Individually, these problems may seem manageable. Across a growing franchise network, they can affect speed, service, and customer trust.

Franchise brands also have to balance central control with local needs. Head office must protect the overall brand, while each operator needs a practical system that works during a busy shift.

That makes repeatability essential. A new store should not have to invent its own way of working. It should be able to open with clear processes, familiar tools, and a setup already proven at other locations.

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The Baked Bear Shows How Square Can Support Franchise Expansion

The Baked Bear has used Square since opening its first location in Pacific Beach, California, in 2013. Today, the dessert franchise operates 36 stores across the United States and plans to open at least five additional locations during the next year, according to Square’s August 2026 announcement.

The brand uses Square Register and Square Point of Sale throughout its network. This gives employees a familiar way to take payments, manage orders, and move customers through the line across every store.

That simplicity is especially useful for The Baked Bear because each order can include several choices. Guests select cookies or brownies, an ice cream flavour, toppings, and an optional warm press. Employees need to enter those details correctly without slowing service.

A shared point of sale system also makes staff training easier. Someone working their first shift sees the same basic process used by experienced team members elsewhere in the business. Franchise operators do not need to introduce a completely different system each time the brand enters a new city.

The Baked Bear now operates across 13 states, including California, Texas, Florida, Georgia, and New Jersey. As that footprint grows, consistent store technology becomes increasingly valuable. Every new opening can begin with an established operational setup instead of building one from the beginning.

Square’s announcement also reflects a wider direction in restaurant technology. Franchise groups are looking for platforms that can work for the first location and remain practical as the network reaches dozens of stores. The goal is clear: make expansion easier without allowing daily operations to become harder.

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A Strong Store Network Creates New Ways to Reach Customers

As a restaurant expands, every new location introduces the brand to another community. It also creates fresh opportunities to turn first visits into lasting customer relationships.

Guests can now engage with a restaurant in several ways. They may find a nearby store online, order through its app, collect rewards during a visit, schedule delivery, or return after receiving a timely promotion.

Bringing these moments together helps the brand feel familiar across its entire network. Customers can choose the most convenient location, find the right menu, earn rewards, and enjoy the same branded ordering experience wherever they visit.

Individual stores can still reflect local preferences through their hours, products, promotions, and delivery areas. At the same time, the wider group can maintain a clear identity across every digital channel.

This balance gives franchise operators room to serve their communities while helping the restaurant group build recognition and loyalty on a larger scale.

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Per Diem Is Growing Alongside Leading Franchise Brands

The same momentum can be seen among the franchise and multi-location brands joining Per Diem. Degani, 7 Leaves Cafe, and several other restaurant groups have started working with Per Diem this quarter to strengthen how customers order, earn rewards, and stay connected.

Degani has grown from a family-run bakery café in Victoria into an Australian network of nearly 70 stores. Its cafés can be found in neighbourhoods, shopping centres, office buildings, and other busy locations.

Each Degani café serves a distinct local community. A shared online platform can bring those communities closer to the wider brand through a familiar app, convenient ordering, rewards, and direct communication.

7 Leaves Cafe has also built an impressive presence. The coffee and tea brand currently lists 40 stores across several US states, with further cafés already planned. Its growth has taken the business from Southern California into markets including Texas, Arizona, Nevada, and Georgia.

Per Diem gives growing brands a central way to manage mobile ordering, web ordering, loyalty, delivery, and push notification marketing. Customers receive a clear experience, while each location can display the menu, operating hours, availability, and fulfilment options relevant to that store.

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Square and Per Diem Create a Connected Path for Growth

Square and Per Diem support two closely connected areas of restaurant expansion.

Square provides the foundation for payments, point of sale activity, orders, menus, and daily restaurant workflows. Teams can use a familiar system as the brand enters new markets and welcomes new franchise partners.

Per Diem extends that foundation into a branded customer experience. Restaurant groups can offer their own mobile app and ordering website while connecting loyalty, delivery, promotions, and customer communication.

Build a Square-integrated restaurant website in seconds and start taking direct orders with Per Diem.

Together, the platforms can support:

• Point of sale and payment processing
• Mobile and web ordering
• Restaurant menus and product choices
• Loyalty programs and customer rewards
• Push notifications and promotions
• Pickup and delivery options
• Customer insights across locations
• Central management for the wider group

This connection makes growth easier to manage. Online orders can move into the restaurant’s existing Square workflow. Menu information can stay aligned with the ordering experience. Customers can engage with the brand directly, while franchisees continue using tools that fit naturally into daily service.

Square helps keep restaurant operations connected. Per Diem helps carry that connection into every customer interaction.

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Final Thoughts

The Baked Bear’s continued expansion with Square and Per Diem’s growing work with chains reflect the same clear direction. Restaurant groups are choosing technology that can support them from their first location through every stage of expansion.

Square gives franchise brands a dependable system for running their restaurants. Per Diem builds on that foundation with branded ordering, loyalty, delivery, and direct marketing. Together, they help each new location open with the tools to operate well, attract customers, and bring them back.

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