Getting started

First-hour setup checklist

Everything a new owner should do in their first hour, from business details to a paired device.

When you create your account, Mavos walks you through a short setup wizard. This checklist follows the same steps, plus what to do once the wizard is done. Every step can be skipped and finished later — use Save & finish later at the top of the wizard at any time, and the admin dashboard will show a Finish setting up checklist that takes you straight back to whatever's left. You can also step Back at any point, or click a completed step in the progress bar to revisit it.

Before you start, it helps to have handy: your ABN, your bank details (for payments), a menu or product list (photo, PDF or spreadsheet), and your logo.

1. Tell us about your business

The first screen asks for the basics:

• Business name — shown on receipts and your apps.
• ABN — your business number (11 digits).
• Timezone — pick yours from the searchable list; it drives your trading day, reports, opening hours and booking times.
• GST rate — 10% is standard; confirm it before your first sale.
• Contact email and phone — shown on receipts and customer emails.
• Your details — your name and mobile on the owner account.
• Logo & brand colours (optional) — upload your logo and pick a primary and accent colour; these seed your receipts and app themes.

2. Add your first location

Every order, device, and menu belongs to a location, so you need at least one:

1. Enter the Location name (e.g. "Main Street").
2. Add the Address and Phone.
3. Confirm the Timezone for this site — it's pre-filled from your business timezone.
4. Set your Opening hours as one or more named service windows (e.g. Lunch and Dinner) — pick the days each window applies to and its open/close times. Days in no window are closed, and a close time before the open time trades past midnight. You can fine-tune these later under Settings → Hours.

More venues? You can add them any time — see Working with locations.

3. Connect Stripe to take payments

Mavos uses Stripe Connect Express for card payments, so you keep ownership of your own Stripe account and payouts go straight to you.

1. Choose Connect with Stripe.
2. Complete Stripe's identity and bank details form.
3. You'll return to the wizard with a Connected badge.

You can choose Skip for now, but you won't be able to take card payments until this is complete. Card readers are registered later under Settings → Payments — see Payments and the till.

4. Choose your services

One screen to switch on what your venue needs — everything explained in plain English, everything changeable later in Settings:

• How your venue runs — counter service, table service, bar, or mixed; this presets tabs, tables and the looks we suggest.
• What you'll sell — standard items and gift cards are on by default; add tickets, sessions, multi-day passes or memberships. Picking a bookable type includes bookings automatically.
• Order types — dine-in, pick-up, take-away, delivery, and which is the default.
• Tipping — on or off, preset percentages, custom amounts.
• Loyalty — a points program customers earn on every purchase.
• Add-on modules — optional extras like stock control, staffing, automations, forms, a website builder and a wiki, each with a description of what it does.

5. Add your products

Pick whichever is fastest — whatever you choose can be edited later:

• Use a template — a curated starter menu (QSR, restaurant, or bar).
• AI import — upload a photo or PDF of your menu and review what the AI extracts (names, prices, categories, dietary tags and more) before anything is saved. Best for standard menu and retail products — not sessions or tickets. AI features run on your own OpenRouter key, and the wizard walks you through connecting one.
• Import a spreadsheet — a CSV with as much detail as you like: prices, categories, tags, calories, prep times, alcohol flags, availability and SKUs, with automatic column matching and a preview before import.
• Skip for now — add products by hand later.

Once products exist you can also bulk-add photos: upload images named after your products (for example flat-white.jpg) and they attach automatically.

For the full options see Importing products.

6. Choose your look

Pick a starting style for each of your customer and staff screens. The wizard shows three rows of designs — Online ordering & kiosk, Menu screens, and POS register — and any card can be expanded to a full-size preview before you commit.

• The Your brand panel shows the logo and colours you set earlier, and can also import your brand from your existing website, read a brand guideline PDF (with an AI key connected), or store a short written brand brief.
• Previews use your own products, so what you see is what customers get.
• Applying your choice also creates your first apps: a POS register, a published online ordering page, and a published menu, all pre-filled from the products you just added.
• Skip for now applies a sensible default look — you still get your starter apps either way.

You can change looks any time under Settings → Themes — see Choosing a look with theme templates.

7. Your apps & devices

The final setup step shows the apps the wizard created, explains what each kind is for, and lets you add more — for example a self-service kiosk app or an attract screen.

Below that, create your first devices — one for each physical screen:

1. Choose Staff POS or Self-service kiosk and give it a real name (e.g. "Front counter POS", "Kiosk 1"), optionally choosing the app it runs.
2. The wizard shows a one-time pair code and a QR code. Codes expire after 10 minutes (you can issue a new one any time).
3. On the device you want to use, open the pairing address shown on screen and enter the code — or scan the QR code with that device, which pairs it straight away without any typing.
4. The wizard detects the pairing automatically.

You can also skip this and pair devices later from Settings → Devices — see Managing devices.

Finish up

The final screen summarises what you completed and what you skipped, and offers two quick wins:

• Place a test order — open your new ordering page, order something, and watch it land in Orders (and on your paired POS). You can void or refund it afterwards.
• Invite your team — enter emails and a role; fine-grained roles and per-location access live under Settings → Users & roles.

After the wizard: next steps

See Users & roles, Branding, and Integrations for details. If you get stuck, contact support.