Docs · v3.4

The manual you'll read once and search forever.

Setup, onboarding, every module, every API. Written for the GM, the chef, the developer integrating against us — in that order.

Docs/Getting started/Setting up your first restaurant

Setting up your first restaurant

In 45 minutes, on the iPad that's currently the spare. We'll set up a restaurant, import your menu, draw the floor, add four staff, and run a fake ticket end-to-end.

Onboarding included

If you're on Pro or Scale, the section below mirrors what your dedicated onboarder walks through with you. You can either follow this, or book a Sunday-morning session — same outcome.

1 · Create the restaurant

Sign up at app.chefcommand.com with the email you use for the business — this becomes your Owner account. You'll be asked for the restaurant's legal name, GST number (optional during trial), and address. None of this is shown to your guests; we use it for invoicing and tax presets.

What you'll need

  • An email address you check (Owner account)
  • The restaurant's GST number, or N/A for the trial
  • An iPad, tablet, or PC with a modern browser

2 · Bring your menu

Three ways:

  1. Upload a PDF or photo of your printed menu. Our OCR pulls categories, items, prices, and modifiers; you confirm in a 5-minute review screen.
  2. Import from another POS. CSV or direct connector for Petpooja, Posist, Toast, Square.
  3. Type it in. Slower, but full control. The menu editor is good enough that some restaurants prefer this.
# If you want the API approach:
curl -X POST https://api.chefcommand.com/v4/menu/items \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $CC_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "category": "Pasta",
    "name":     "Cacio e pepe",
    "price_inr": 420,
    "modifiers": ["extra pepper", "no pecorino"],
    "daypart":   ["lunch", "dinner"]
  }'

3 · Draw your floor

Open Tables → Floor plan. Drag tables from the palette onto the canvas. Group them, label them, set capacity. Multiple rooms (Terrace, Private, Bar) are supported and switchable per service.

Hospitality-native tip

Don't try to draw the room to scale. Match the topology — which table is next to which — and the spatial reasoning of your floor team will fill in the rest.

4 · Add your team

Under Staff, add each person with a role: Owner, Admin, Waiter, Kitchen. Each role unlocks a different set of screens; nobody sees a screen they don't need. PINs are 4 digits, set per person.

What each role sees

  • Owner — everything. The dashboard is the first screen they hit.
  • Admin — menu, staff, settings, and the bill side of orders. No floor view.
  • Waiter — tables, orders, billing for their own tickets. No menu edit, no staff.
  • Kitchen — the queue, and only the queue. Dark mode forced.

5 · A dry-run service

Walk a fake table: sit it, send a ticket, watch it land in the kitchen, bump it ready, settle. The whole loop in three minutes. If anything is unclear, that's where to ask your onboarder — or chat us from the bottom-right of any screen.