Square eyes bars, restaurants with Open Tickets

Payments service Square is making a push to get behind the bar.

The San Francisco-based company is introducing a new feature called Open Tickets to its Square Register platform, targeting bars and restaurants that work regularly with open tabs.

Open Tickets would allow a business to start a tab, add drinks or other items throughout the customers' visit, then close the tab when they're ready to leave.

Several businesses, including Aeronaut Brewery and Taproom in Somerville, Mass., have been testing Open Tickets as part of a preview program. Owner Dan Rassi says when customers would open a tab, they would write down orders and keep credit cards in a box until the tab closed.

"It was pretty annoying," says Rassi, noting the system slowed down businesses as bartenders would line up to update tabs through the evening. Rassi says Open Tickets has "smoothed out things."

"It's just really intuitive," he says. "We're able to train people really quickly. We have a ton of new bar staff all the time, and there's almost no training required."

Square says the tool will start rolling out this week.

Follow Brett Molina on Twitter: @brettmolina23.