Opening a new place means making dozens of decisions at once, and the till affects many of them. The good news: setting up a modern restaurant POS does not have to take two weeks. With the right order, you can get the core setup done in an afternoon.
Step 1 — start with the devices you already own
You don’t need to buy a locked-in terminal to open. A modern restaurant POS runs in the browser on the iPads, Android tablets or computers you already have — one device at the counter is enough to start, and you add more as you need them. Open the browser, sign in, and that’s your register.
Step 2 — build your menu and modifiers
This is where most of your setup time goes, and it’s worth doing properly once. Add your categories (coffee, pastries, mains…), then the items with prices. Then add the part that saves time on every order: modifiers — sizes, milk options, extras, “no onions”. Mark which are required and which are optional, so a server can’t skip a choice. Add a photo where it helps. Build it once and it drives the register, the kitchen and your guest QR menu from the same place.
Step 3 — lay out your floor plan
If you run table service, draw your room: halls, tables, and how many each seats. A live floor plan lets staff tap a table to open it, see its running total, and spot what’s waiting on a bill at a glance. Counter or takeaway only? Skip it — the POS works fine without a floor.
Step 4 — connect a printer and cash drawer (optional)
Plug in what you have. A receipt printer for guests, a kitchen printer or kitchen display so orders fire straight to the pass, and a cash drawer that pops on cash payments. None of it is mandatory to start — you can run entirely on one device and add hardware later — but it’s only a few minutes to connect each from Garivio.
Step 5 — add your staff and their roles
Add your team and give each person the right access: a server takes orders; a manager can void, discount and see reports. Roles keep the day clean and your numbers honest, and everyone signs in with their own PIN, so the till always knows who did what.
Step 6 — run a test service before you open
Don’t let opening night be the first real test. Ring up a few orders, send them to the kitchen, split a bill, take a card payment and a cash payment, open and close a table, and run a Z-report. Twenty minutes of pretend service surfaces anything you missed — while it’s still cheap to fix.
Go live the same day
That’s the core setup, usually an afternoon. Your QR menu can go live from the same menu you built in Step 2, so there is no separate PDF to maintain. You can do all of this free for 1 month, no card required, on real services before you decide anything. Still weighing options first? Our guide on how to choose a restaurant POS covers what to look for.
Want a hand setting up? Book a 20-minute walkthrough and we’ll load your menu and floor live in the browser, on a device in your venue — or see Garivio POS and the included QR menu first.