Merchant Guide

Liquid is a pickup-ordering app for local food and drink spots in College Park, MD. Customers add money to a Liquid wallet, then use it to order ahead and pick up at spots like yours. You run your spot on Liquid from the merchant portal at liquidwallet.co.

• New customers find you

  Your spot, menu and deals appear in the Liquid app, so people already using Liquid can discover you and order in a few taps.

• Deals fill your quiet hours

  Run a flash sale for a slow afternoon, or set off-peak discounts that repeat every week, on your whole menu or on chosen items, including buy one, get one. You choose the discount and the timing. When a deal starts, customers who have turned on deal alerts can get a notification.

• Lock-in turns regulars into prepaid regulars

  Customers can lock money at your spot in return for a standing discount you choose; the more they lock, the bigger the discount. Locked money can be spent only with you, and you're paid as they order.

Payouts are automatic. Every Monday, Liquid pays out your orders that are at least a week old through Stripe, and Stripe deposits the money in your bank account. There's nothing to invoice or request.

For example, if a $20 order uses your 15% flash sale on the whole menu, the customer pays $17 plus tax and tip, and you receive all of it. Liquid charges no fee on your sales.

Payout fee. Stripe charges 0.25% + $0.25 for each payout it sends to your bank, and it comes out of each weekly payout: a week with $100.00 to pay out has a $0.50 fee, and $99.50 reaches your bank. Liquid pays Stripe's monthly account fee.

Buy one, get one. With a buy one, get one free deal on $4 tacos, a customer who orders two pays $4 for the pair, and you receive the $4.

A mixed order. Each item gets its single best deal. Two $4 tacos and a $3 drink, during your 20% off-peak window on the whole menu: the tacos get the buy one, get one deal, which saves more, and the drink gets 20% off. The customer pays $6.40 before tax and tip ($4 for the tacos and $2.40 for the drink), and you receive all of it.

Customers order and pay in the Liquid app, never at your counter. You choose how their orders reach you, and you can change it later.

• Connected to Square

  Liquid orders go straight into Square as paid pickup orders with the customer's pickup code, and they're confirmed for you. Your team makes them like any other order, with no extra tablet. Marking an order ready in Square sends the customer a notification. Your menu, sold-out items and hours can follow Square too.

• The order screen on a tablet

  Not connected? Keep the order screen in the merchant portal open on a tablet at your counter. Confirm each order with a prep time as soon as it rings, mark it ready when it's done (the customer gets a notification), and hand it over when they show their pickup code. If you get busy, pause new orders or add prep time from the same screen.

• Counter tickets, with no tablet

  Don't want a tablet? Customers pay in the app and get a ticket with their items and a code. At the counter, ring the items up as usual, take off the Liquid discount the ticket shows, and pay the total with a "Liquid" payment type in your point-of-sale system; you don't charge the customer. Your cashier slides the ticket on the customer's phone to redeem it. A ticket is final once paid, like any order, and every ticket sold is paid out to you, redeemed or not; one not used by its time expires and isn't refunded. Your owners get an email after each day with the tickets redeemed.

1. 1

   Sign in to the merchant portal at liquidwallet.co/merchant, using the invitation Liquid emails you.

2. 2

   Connect your bank by setting up payouts with Stripe. It takes about 10 minutes.

3. 3

   Add your menu and hours, and any deals you'd like to run.

4. 4

   Choose how orders reach you: connect Square, open the order screen on a counter tablet, or turn on counter tickets.

Liquid then checks your setup and makes your spot live in the app.