The restaurant opening technology checklist

Opening day is the worst day to discover that the Wi-Fi drops at the kitchen pass or that your card processing has not been approved. Most opening-week technology problems are not technical at all. They are lead times nobody started early enough.

This checklist covers what a new restaurant needs before the doors open, in the order to start it. Each section gives the general answer first, then how that step works with Opero.

Start with lead times, not gadgets

Start with the items that take weeks, not the ones that take minutes. Internet installation and merchant approval for card payments both run on someone else's timeline, so start them as soon as you have a lease and a legal entity.

• ✓As soon as the lease is signed: order business internet and a backup connection, and get the install date in writing.
• ✓As soon as the business entity and bank account exist: apply for card processing.
• ✓A few weeks out: choose the POS, order tablets and card readers, and map where every screen goes.
• ✓Two weeks out: build the menu, set up staff accounts and print counter or table QR codes.
• ✓The week before: run full test services with staff, then fix what broke.

Internet, with a backup connection

Get a business internet line plus a second, independent connection that takes over when the first one drops. Most current POS systems are cloud-based, and many can only take orders and payments while they are connected.

• ✓A primary line from a provider that can install before your opening date.
• ✓A backup connection on a different network, such as a cellular router, ideally one that switches over automatically.
• ✓Wi-Fi coverage tested at every spot a screen will sit: the counter, the kitchen pass, the kiosk wall, the patio.
• ✓A separate guest Wi-Fi network, so guests streaming video do not share bandwidth with your registers.
• ✓A small battery backup for the router and switch, so a power blip does not take the network down.

POS and payments: apply early

Choose the POS and apply for card processing first, because merchant approval goes through underwriting and is not instant. Underwriting checks the business, its owners and its bank account, and a missing document can add days.

• ✓Legal business name and tax ID.
• ✓Owner details and identification.
• ✓The business bank account that deposits will go to.
• ✓Your expected card volume and average ticket.

Ask any POS provider how processing is priced, how long approval usually takes for a business like yours, which hardware you must buy from them, and what happens when the internet drops.

With Opero

Each location applies as its own merchant account from inside Opero through a hosted application form, so settlement stays separate per location. A location can take real cards only once that application is approved, and approval depends on underwriting time, so start it as soon as your entity and bank account exist. Before real card processing is on, you can try the kiosk flow with a simulated payment. To begin, request a quote and the Opero team will set up your account; processing is quoted for your business rather than published as one rate.

Devices

Plan one screen for every job, counted by station rather than by guess.

• ✓Registers at the counter or host stand.
• ✓A kitchen screen or printer at each station.
• ✓Kiosks or table QR codes if guests will order for themselves.
• ✓A card reader for every place that takes payment.
• ✓Stands, mounts, cable management and a power outlet where each screen goes.
• ✓A spare tablet, so one dropped device does not close a station.

With Opero

Opero runs on Android tablets you own; it is Android only. A dedicated Opero kiosk unit is available by conversation but never required, since any Android tablet in a stand runs the same software. You add every screen on the Devices page with a role and a location. Kiosks, customer displays and menu boards open from a link or QR code with no login, while registers and kitchen displays sign in with their own device login or a six-character pairing code. The Opero Android app is installed from a link your account owner approves, not from the Play Store, and the same screens also run in Chrome. Billing is per location, never per device, so a spare tablet adds nothing to the bill.

Taking cards in person needs a card reader bought from Opero for each register or kiosk that takes cards. Each register or kiosk is paired to its own reader on the Devices page, and the guest at a kiosk pays on the reader standing at that kiosk.

Kitchen display or printers

Decide how orders reach the kitchen before you buy anything: a kitchen display, ticket printers, or both. A display handles bumping, ticket timing and routing to stations; printers are simple and familiar. Many kitchens run a display on the line and a printer at the counter for receipts.

• ✓One screen per station that cooks from its own tickets.
• ✓Placement away from direct heat and grease, at a height the cook can read without stopping.
• ✓A receipt printer and cash drawer at each register that takes cash.
• ✓A plan for expo: who sees the whole order before it leaves the kitchen.

With Opero

Opero's kitchen display runs on an Android tablet or panel, and kitchen tickets can go paperless to it. For paper, Opero prints receipts and kitchen tickets on supported printers and opens a cash drawer on a cash sale. Get your printers spec'd with Opero before you buy, because only supported models work and a generic receipt printer will not. If the kitchen Wi-Fi blips, bumps made on the kitchen display are kept in order and sent when the connection returns, but new orders still need the connection. Our guide to choosing kitchen display hardware covers screen size and placement.

Ordering channels

Pick the channels you will run on day one and add the rest later. Each one adds setup, testing and training, so open with the ones your concept needs.

• ✓Counter or table service at the register.
• ✓Self-order kiosks, for counter service with a lot of walk-in traffic.
• ✓QR ordering at the table or counter.
• ✓Online ordering for pickup.
• ✓Delivery, with your own drivers or a marketplace.
• ✓Phone orders keyed in at the register.

With Opero

The POS, kitchen display, self-order kiosk, QR ordering and online pickup ordering are on every plan, including the $149 Opero plan. Table service, meaning the floor plan, reservations, waitlist and tableside ordering, is on Opero Full-Service at $249 per location per month. Kiosk and QR orders are pay-first: an order reaches the kitchen only after its payment succeeds. Online ordering is pickup, and marketplace ordering is marked coming soon. Our kiosk setup guide and floor plan guide walk through those two steps.

Menu build

Build the menu in the system once, carefully, before staff training starts, and have the kitchen check how tickets read.

• ✓Item names short enough to read at a glance on a ticket.
• ✓Modifier groups with required choices and limits.
• ✓Combos and their prices.
• ✓Tax set up for your location.
• ✓Photos for kiosk and online ordering.
• ✓Allergen and dietary tags, if you show them to guests.

With Opero

Opero keeps one catalog and one menu per location, and the POS, kiosk, QR and online ordering and kitchen display all read that same menu. You can build by hand, start from a prebuilt template, or import a spreadsheet export from a previous POS, reviewing every item and price before anything goes live.

Staff accounts and permissions

Set up every staff member before training, with the right role and the least access they need. Managers need refund and override rights; most staff do not.

• ✓A personal PIN or login for each person, never shared.
• ✓Roles that keep refunds, voids and reports with managers.
• ✓Pay rates entered, if the system tracks labor.
• ✓A decision on who can see sales and wage figures.

With Opero

Each employee gets a PIN, and you need at least one manager with a PIN, because kiosk staff access asks for one. Owners invite their team with a link that stays valid for seven days, and roles control who sees sales, payments and labor figures. On Opero Full-Service the same PINs clock staff in and out on a shared Android tablet.

Testing

Test every path a real order can take, with real staff, before guests arrive. A friends-and-family service is the cheapest place to find problems.

• ✓Ring up an order through every channel and confirm it reaches the right kitchen station.
• ✓Take a card payment on every reader and process a refund.
• ✓Print from every printer and open every cash drawer.
• ✓Unplug the main internet line and confirm the backup takes over.
• ✓Restart every tablet and confirm it comes back to the right screen.
• ✓Run a full mock service at the speed of a real rush.

In Opero, the Devices page shows which screens are online and when each was last seen, which makes a pre-opening walk-through quick. After a Wi-Fi drop or a restart, the Android app returns to the screen it was showing.

Day-one plan

Write down who to call and what to do for each failure before the doors open, and put it where staff can find it.

• ✓Support numbers for internet, payments and the POS, posted by the register.
• ✓What staff do if the main internet drops: check the backup is live before anything else.
• ✓What staff do if a card reader fails: send card payments to another reader if you have one, or take cash at the register.
• ✓A paper fallback and a cash-only policy for the rare case where both connections fail.
• ✓A shorter menu for the first days, so the kitchen learns the tickets on a smaller set.
• ✓One manager whose only job on day one is fixing problems, not running a station.

How it works with Opero, and where it does not fit

Opero runs the register, kitchen display, kiosk, QR and online ordering and payments on Android tablets you own, billed per location. It will not suit every opening, and these are the limits to plan around.

• ✓No offline mode. Without internet, Opero cannot take an order or a payment, so the backup connection is not optional.
• ✓Android only. You supply your own Android tablets.
• ✓Card payments start only after the location's merchant application is approved, which is not instant.
• ✓Card readers are bought from Opero: one for each register or kiosk that takes cards. Tap to pay on a phone is not supported.
• ✓Printers must be supported models, spec'd with Opero before you buy.
• ✓Table service, scheduling, the time clock and inventory are on Opero Full-Service ($249), not the $149 Opero plan.
• ✓Getting started goes through the Opero team: request a quote and they reply and help set up the account.