How to Set Up Deelo for Your Restaurant (Quick Start Guide)

This is the no-fluff version of standing up Deelo for a restaurant. One operator, one afternoon, fully operational by close. The whole flow takes 90-180 minutes depending on menu size and how organized your existing data is.

What you'll have at the end: a working POS taking orders, a connected payment processor, a complete menu with modifiers and pricing, configured floor sections and tables, a trained team that can run service tonight, and a Marketing + CRM layer ready to start collecting guest data.

What you'll need before you start: a laptop, an iPad or Android tablet, a card reader (Stripe Terminal, Square Reader, or an existing one tied to your processor), a thermal receipt printer if you do paper checks, your current menu (PDF, Google Sheet, or printed), and 1-2 hours of focused time.

When you finish signup, you land on your Desktop. Think of it as an OS for your business — each app is a tile. Anything you don't see today, you can install from the App Store (Apps icon in the dock).

If the onboarding installed them already, skip this step. Otherwise, open the App Store and install:

- POS — core orders + payments. Required. - Inventory — ingredient and recipe tracking. Required if you want food cost discipline. - CRM — guest records, dietary preferences, loyalty. - Bookings — reservations and private events. - Marketing — email + SMS to your guest list. - Time Tracker — staff clock-in/out and labor cost. - Helpdesk (optional) — guest feedback after a meal. - Invoicing — catering deposits, private dining contracts.

Each app installs in seconds. After install, drag the icon to your dock so it's always one click away.

If you already have a merchant account with a different processor — Square, Clover, or a traditional ISO — Deelo also supports those via direct integration or a virtual terminal model. Most operators end up on Stripe because the setup is instant and the rates are competitive without negotiation. Use whichever your accountant prefers.

This is usually the longest step. Plan for 30-60 minutes for a typical restaurant menu of 40-80 items.

You have three import paths, ranked by speed:

Whichever you choose, before you finish:

- Group items into categories. Appetizers, Mains, Sides, Desserts, Beverages, Cocktails, Wine. Categories drive the POS button layout. - Set modifiers. Cooking temperatures (rare/MR/medium/MW/well), sides (substitutions), additions ($2 add bacon, $4 add avocado). - Mark allergens. Big 9 (milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soybeans, sesame). This shows up on receipts and kitchen tickets. - Add photos for at least your top 20 items. Photos matter when you turn on online ordering and CRM upsells. - Set up combos and bundles. If you offer 'add a side and a drink for $4', create the combo here.

This is the optional step that almost every operator skips at first — and regrets six months later when food cost variance is 12% and nobody knows why. If you want any chance at food cost discipline, do this on day one.

Once inventory is wired up, every sale rung at the POS deducts ingredients from on-hand stock. Your food cost % becomes live — visible on the dashboard, not retroactive on a spreadsheet at month-end.

If you've ever stood up a new POS during a service shift, you know how a poorly trained team can destroy a Friday night. Train the team before you flip the switch.

The minimum training sequence (20 minutes per staff member, total):

Run a 30-minute mock service. Set up two fake tables, take fake orders, hit pay, run a void. Every server should run a check from open to close without help before the doors open.

You spent week 1 stabilizing service. Week 2 is when Deelo starts paying back its monthly fee.

Once you're stable at day 30, the next layers are the ones that compound: deeper marketing automation, a loyalty program, integration with delivery aggregators, dietary preference tracking that powers personalized menus, and the Helpdesk app for capturing post-meal feedback before it hits Yelp.

Deelo is intentionally an OS-style platform — every additional app you install adds capability without adding a separate vendor, login, or per-app fee. The work you did in this guide is the foundation. The next 60 days are about turning on the loops that turn one-time diners into 4-visits-a-month regulars.

Questions during setup? Open the in-app AI Assistant — it's available 24/7 and can walk you through any step, troubleshoot a specific issue, or run setup actions for you directly.