BentoBox Online Ordering: How to Use The Clover POS Integration

When using our Clover POS integration for BentoBox Online Ordering, your menu items from Clover will sync with BentoBox, the online order will print to your Clover POS system, either immediately or when prep is required, and your inventory will stay in sync between the two platforms. With order data in your Clover POS system, reporting is centralized and your team does not need to actively manage orders in the BentoBox platform; they can be all managed from your Clover POS system.

Note: When setting up this integration, we recommend to turn off your store temporarily or going through these steps outside of your operating hours. Once you connect Clover, any Online Ordering menus previously set on BentoBox will disappear and your Clover menus will sync with the platform and the synced items from Clover will need to be added to newly created menus within BentoBox.

To set up Clover POS Integration in the BentoBox platform, there are a few prerequisites and several settings that must be configured in both BentoBox and Clover.

Below are the prerequisites required to enable and successfully use the Clover POS Integration.

• You must have a BentoBox online ordering account setup

• You must have a BentoBox payments method setup & enabled

  • Click here to learn how to enable the Stripe Integration to your BentoBox Account

  • Click here to learn how to enable the Square Integration to your BentoBox Account

• For initial setup, you must have your BentoBox credentials to log into your BentoBox account

• (Optional) If you are using BentoBox fees, you must have your fees set up in the BentoBox platform  

• You must have a Clover POS system installed

• You must have one of the following software plans that includes online ordering: Counter Service, Table Service

• For initial setup, you must have your Clover POS system credentials to log into your Clover account
  

One major benefit that BentoBox offers is the ability to set up various fees based on the needs of the restaurant.  These fees are optional in the BentoBox platform and are not a requirement for Clover POS Integration.

IMPORTANT: please note that with Clover POS Integration and fee structure, both Flat and percent based fees are supported. Upon activating the integration, the fees from your BentoBox platform will be created as a Fee and Item within the Clover dashboard. These items will not display on the actual BentoBox online ordering site, but are necessary for processing the relevant fees across the two platforms. Please do not edit or remove them from within Clover.

This is an important step to ensure your customers are able to successfully place orders leading up to, and at the end of, your desired operation hours. BentoBox and Clover handle scheduled orders and the relationship with prep time differently. Integrated accounts should manage their service hours in the Bentobox platform, which overrides hours set in Clover. 

If you are using DoorDash delivery, you will need to set your Bentobox service hours to account for the delivery time:

• Store opens for business at 11 a.m. Bentobox assumes orders can be fulfilled at this time.

• Prep time is set to 30 minutes in Bentobox, and DoorDash delivery takes an additional 30 minutes.

• Diners can begin placing orders for ASAP delivery fulfillment starting at 10 a.m.

Visit our Help Site to learn more about operation hours and prep time in BentoBox

Visit the Clover Help Site for more details on setting up operational info within Clover

Through the Clover POS Integration, the ability for a diner to schedule an order from your BentoBox online ordering website is still possible, however you must have a specific setting in your Clover Online Ordering Hub. Scheduled orders must be set to 7 Calendar Days within your Clover Dashboard.

•  Setting up scheduled orders in Clover

• Log in to your Clover account

• Select your desired Clover location for integration with BentoBox

• Under the Accounts & Setup section, select Online Ordering, and then the Manage tab

• Under Restaurant Information and Menu, select Operational information

• Under Scheduled Orders, press the Pencil icon to edit this section

• Enable Customers can place orders in advance

• In the dropdown How far out would you like to accept scheduled orders? select 7 calendar days

• It is suggested that you select an option to print the ticket based on a food preparation time, however the rest of the settings are not required by BentoBox

• Press Save to lock in these settings

Clover Online Ordering Hub for Scheduled Orders setup

Below are the steps required to connect your Clover POS system to your BentoBox online ordering location(s):

• Log in to your Clover account 

• Select your desired Clover location for integration with BentoBox

• Under the Accounts & Setup section, select Online Ordering

• Under the Sign Up tab, in the Our Partners section, click Get started on the BentoBox partner tile

Clover Online Ordering Hub and selecting BentoBox

• After clicking Get started, you will be presented with a series of Clover screens providing you insight into the benefits of the integration

• On the How do you plan on using BentoBox Online Ordering screen, it will offer you options to turn on In-store pickup or Delivery; enable these for your desired BentoBox settings

Clover POS Integration enablement options for BentoBox

• Once you select I have a BentoBox account the next screen will direct you to Connect your BentoBox account. Press Connect and it will open a new tab for you to log in to your BentoBox account. On the existing Clover tab, instructions are provided on how to navigate the BentoBox connection.

• On the new BentoBox website tab, log in to your account

• After logging in to BentoBox, navigate to SETTINGS > Integrations > Clover, and press Connect

• From here, in the pop-up screen, use the dropdown menu to select the correct BentoBox location that you wish to integrate with your Clover POS system

BentoBox Online Ordering settings for Clover POS Integration

• Once you select the BentoBox location, press Connect Restaurant

• After pressing this, you will be redirected to select the corresponding Clover Merchant; click the link to make your selection (Note, this screen will display if you have more than 1 location to select from, otherwise, you'll be redirected to the BentoBox Clover dashboard as seen below). 

Clover “Select a Merchant” screen for BentoBox integration

• After clicking the correct Clover Merchant, you will be redirected back to the BentoBox dashboard and to the Clover Manage Integration page. Press Enable to confirm final enablement of the online ordering integration.

BentoBox integration for Clover to activate the connection

• When you press the Enable toggle, a pop up screen will appear. On this screen you will see instructions on your store.  Press Confirm to continue.

BentoBox integration for Clover to confirm the activation

• Lastly, press the Sync Now button and this will pull in any fees you set up in Clover.

BentoBox integration for Clover to Sync fees from Clover to BentoBox

Congratulations! At this point, your Clover POS Integration is activated and will begin importing various settings and menu items for you to set up your BentoBox Online Ordering menus and website.

As part of the Clover POS integration with BentoBox, BentoBox pulls various settings from your Clover Online Ordering Hub.  For these settings, whenever you encounter those in the BentoBox platform, the ability to edit those will be grayed out and in a read-only state. This is an indication that it can only be edited or adjusted from your Clover POS system and its various settings.

In general, for any help in your Clover POS, click here, to view the different options and settings.

• Menu Items and Modifiers: listed under the Online Ordering section,  Restaurant Information and Menu: Online menu in your Clover POS System By default, your standard menu items will pull over into this section, but Clover allows you to customize the items that will only be available for online ordering partners if you do not wish to pull over all items.  In the BentoBox platform, these will be viewed using various UI tags of the Clover location and the term POS.

• BentoBox partner fulfillment services: offered as In-store Pickup and Delivery. These will show up in your BentoBox location settings under Store: Online Ordering, Manage Menus: Locations, edit the location mapped to your Clover POS system using the Pencil Icon, under Fulfillment Methods. You will notice these are grayed out and cannot be edited from BentoBox; these are only edited in the Clover Online Ordering Hub.

• Default Order Prep Time: listed under the Online Ordering section,  Restaurant Information and Menu: Operational Information section, under Food Preparation Time in your Clover POS system, and displayed in your BentoBox platform under Store: Online Ordering, Manage Menus: Locations, edit the location mapped to your Clover POS system using the Pencil Icon, under Default Order Prep Time.

• Fees setup as Items: As set up in the above section, these will sync with your BentoBox settings during initial setup.  These can be viewed under Store: Online Ordering, Manage Menus: Locations, edit the location you have mapped to your Clover POS system using the Pencil Icon, and scroll towards the bottom of the Edit Location screen. 

After you have set up the Clover POS Integration, a menu will be created and moved into BentoBox based on your Clover Inventory Categories. Learn more about Clover Categories here.

Here is another BentoBox help article that shows you how to set up your location with the settings you need to get your Online Ordering store back up and running.

Here’s How Automated Menu Creation works:

• The Clover Automated Menu will be read-only, which means you cannot change it in the BentoBox platform. It is designed to be managed from your Clover POS system and will stay in sync with your Clover POS. If you want to reorganize this menu, you can do so by adding, removing, reordering, or renaming your categories in your Clover POS. If you want to edit the details of the items, you can do this from the Clover POS Inventory Items section.

• This menu can be used for your BentoBox online ordering, just like any menu you already have. Make sure to assign it to the hours and fulfillment methods representing its corresponding BentoBox location.

• If you want to create additional menus in the BentoBox system, you can do so by creating a new menu and starting from scratch or by cloning the new Clover POS Menu and using the clone as a template for another menu.  However, the Automated Menu will be the only menu that stays in-sync with Clover.  This allows you to create your own menus using the Automated Menu as a template and benefit from BentoBox allowing multiple menus.

In many instances, there are still some settings you can edit or tweak in your BentoBox platform to add value to your BentoBox online ordering website. These settings will remain editable in BentoBox, allowing you to make changes, as needed. 

BentoBox encourages you to review all these settings, but below are some main settings that we highly recommend you edit, adjust, or tweak that will create and add value to you and your diners.

• Photos attached to items: You can find instructions here, on how to attach photos

• Descriptions to Items: For items, you can add an item description

In some instances, changes to your operational settings and information in your Clover POS system will not alway sync up to BentoBox (non-Menu items settings).  In these instances, if you make what is considered an operational data change, you should perform a manual sync on the BentoBox platform to verify you have the correct settings in your BentoBox system.

• Log in to your BentoBox account

• Navigate to SETTINGS > Integrations > Clover, and press Manage. From here you will press the SYNC NOW button, which will manually refresh all Clover settings.

BentoBox POS settings to manually sync Clover POS data

In the event you need to Deactivate or Remove Connection to your Clover POS Integration, you can do so in the BentoBox platform.  This does not affect your settings in Clover, and if you wish to remove BentoBox as a partner in Clover, you must do so from your Clover POS system.

By performing the Deactivate function, you will turn off the active connection between BentoBox and Clover, but BentoBox will maintain your Clover menu items, your POS merchant ID, and associated details, however you will no longer be able to see them or use them. Allowing this action, you can reactivate and enable the integration at a later time and BentoBox will hide your non-POS details and display your POS details.

• Log in to your BentoBox account

• Navigate to SETTINGS > Integrations > Clover, and press Manage. From here you will press the DISABLE toggle

• Press the CONFIRM button on the pop-up, confirming you wish to perform this action, which will leave the various data points, hiding them from display, and redisplay your previous manually created data (items, settings) and allow you to operate without a POS connection

BentoBox POS settings to Deactivate Clover POS Integration

By performing the Remove Connection function, you will turn off the Clover POS Integration entirely, deleting the data from the BentoBox system.  This no longer allows you to toggle data on and off and you must recreate the connection for your POS data to display in the BentoBox platform.

• Log in to your BentoBox account

• Navigate to SETTINGS > Integrations > Clover, and press Manage. From here you will press the Remove Connection link

• Press the DISCONNECT button on the pop-up, confirming you wish to perform this action, which will delete all POS related data, remove the associated merchant ID, and redisplay your previous manually created data (items, settings), putting you back in a completely un-integrated state

BentoBox POS settings to Remove Connection for Clover POS Integration