--- title: "Going live in one day: the honest first-day setup | GoSufra" description: "What you actually need before the first real order, what to skip on day one, the order that does not fight itself, and the two mistakes that waste the afternoon." url: "https://gosufra.com/en/blog/going-live-in-one-day/" language: "en" source: "https://gosufra.com" --- # Going live in one day: the honest first-day setup What you actually need before the first real order, what to skip on day one, the order that does not fight itself, and the two mistakes that waste the afternoon. 2026-08-11 · 7 min read ![Illustration of a till and a short checklist on a counter](https://gosufra.com/blog/going-live-in-one-day.svg) ## Key points - A live restaurant on day one is a till, a menu, tax and a printer — not every module filled in. - Do the wizard in order. Skipping tax and coming back to it is how the first receipt is wrong. - Buy one tablet and one printer. Prove them with real orders before you buy the rest. - Recipes can wait a week. A price that does not match the board cannot. “Same-day go-live” is true for a specific, small definition of live: a guest can order, pay and leave with a receipt, and the kitchen can see the ticket. It is not true if you try to finish HR, loyalty, white-label apps and a year of recipes before lunch. Here is the order that actually fits in a day. ## Morning: identity, tax, menu The onboarding wizard exists to stop you inventing an order. Follow it. 1. **Account and branch.** Name, address, currency. The currency is the one the till will speak forever — pick it once. 2. **Tax and service charge.** Rate, inclusive or exclusive, registration number on the receipt. Ring a test item *before* you type the whole menu. If that receipt is wrong, every later one will be. 3. **Categories, then items.** Twenty dishes that sell beat sixty that might. Sizes and modifiers on the items that actually have them — not on everything “in case”. 4. **One image per section, or none.** A half-photographed menu looks unfinished. Finish photos later. Skip recipes this morning if they are not written. You can sell without a bill of materials. You cannot sell with yesterday’s prices. ## Midday: people and the till - **You as Admin.** One login that owns the account. - **One cashier login**, named after a person, never “cashier1”. - **One kitchen login** if you are turning the kitchen screen on today; otherwise the till is enough and the tickets print. Install the POS on the tablet you will actually use, not on a laptop you will put away. Pair or address the printer. Print one ticket and open the drawer. If that fails, nothing else you configure today matters. Hardware, in this order: one tablet, one printer, then the rest. ## Afternoon: one real service Do not open the doors to a full room. Take **ten real orders** — staff meal, a neighbour, a quiet first hour. Watch for the only things that break a first day: | What goes wrong | What it usually is | | --- | --- | | Price on the receipt ≠ price on the board | Tax mode, or an old price still on the item | | Kitchen never saw the ticket | Wrong station, or the screen is on another branch | | Drawer will not open | Kick cable in the printer, not in the tablet | | Card payment fails, cash works | Expected. Cash is local; a gateway is not | Fix those four and you are live. Everything else is week two. ## What you should not do today - **Do not build the branded app.** Store review is a week, not an afternoon. A web ordering page and a QR menu cover the same flow with nothing to install. - **Do not import last year’s spreadsheet of 400 items.** Type the twenty you will sell tonight. The rest can wait until they have a recipe and a price you still believe. - **Do not create a second Admin “for convenience”.** You will not remember who changed the carbonara. - **Do not turn on every module.** Attendance, loyalty and the spin wheel are not what a guest is waiting for at 7 p.m. ## A close that proves the day worked Before you leave: 1. Close the cashier shift and count the drawer. Enter the real number. 2. Look at today’s orders. Every test ticket should be there once — not twice. 3. Write down the two things that confused staff. Those are tomorrow’s training, not a reason to undo the setup. Live, on day one, is a restaurant that took money and can explain it. The operating system is still there in the morning. Fill it in then. - restaurant POS setup - go live restaurant software - POS installation - restaurant opening day ## In the product ### [Point of Sale & Orders](https://gosufra.com/en/features/restaurant-pos/) Explore ### [Tax & Compliance](https://gosufra.com/en/features/tax-and-compliance/) Explore ## Run all of this from one system POS, kitchen, inventory, recipe costing, staff and accounting — connected, and free to start. [Create your free account](https://app.gosufra.com/register?lang=en) ## Related articles ![Illustration of three stacked plan cards with the bottom one unmarked](https://gosufra.com/blog/plans-limits-and-the-free-plan.svg) How it works 2026-08-12 · 7 min read ### [What the free plan actually includes — and when you outgrow it](https://gosufra.com/en/blog/plans-limits-and-the-free-plan/) The Starter plan's real limits, what sits behind a paid upgrade, why there is no trial countdown, and the three walls you will hit first. Read article ![Illustration of a thermal printer pushing out a ticket](https://gosufra.com/blog/thermal-printers-and-hardware.svg) Setup & hardware 2026-08-14 · 7 min read ### [Thermal printers and the hardware you actually need](https://gosufra.com/en/blog/thermal-printers-and-hardware/) What ESC/POS means, the difference between Bluetooth, network and USB printing, which screens you need for which job, and the shopping list for a restaurant going live this week. Read article ![Illustration of a receipt with its tax line called out](https://gosufra.com/blog/tax-service-charge-and-currency-setup.svg) Tax & rules 2026-08-16 · 7 min read ### [Setting up tax, service charge and currency for your own country](https://gosufra.com/en/blog/tax-service-charge-and-currency-setup/) Where the rate, the inclusive-or-exclusive decision, the service charge and your registration number actually live, why they are per branch, and the two settings people get wrong. 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