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Getting started · 6 min read · By Amaan Tanveer

Set up your venue in an afternoon

Most venues take their first Servio order the same day they start. There is no installer and no hardware delivery to wait for.

A Amaan Tanveer, Founder · · help article

Servio runs in a browser on tablets, phones and laptops you already own. The work is configuration, not cabling. The venues that have the smoothest first week do the same handful of things, in this order.

What “the same afternoon” actually includes

After you start a 30-day Growth pilot or a 14-day trial, we import your menu from a file or a URL. You review categories, prices, modifiers and allergen notes. You create staff accounts and assign roles. You connect Stripe and run one live 10p payment so you know money can settle. You print one QR for one table and walk it as a guest would. Then you open.

That is the whole setup. Growth and Enterprise venues get hands-on migration help, and every founding pilot venue gets guided setup through their first service rather than a link to a guide. Starter venues get the same import tools and email support on working days. See what each plan includes.

Do this before the first live shift

Walk the menu on a phone. A modifier that reads fine in a spreadsheet can be nonsense on a table. Rename items the way guests ask for them. Merge “oat milk”, “Oat Milk” and “oat” into one modifier.

Create staff accounts before the shift, not during it. An owner can reset access from staff settings without waiting for us. Mid-service password chaos is almost always an account that was never assigned a role.

Print one QR first. Table numbering is the thing everyone changes their mind about. Stick one code, order from it, then print the rest. Spares live in the office drawer, not in a reprint panic at 7pm.

Run one quiet service beside the old till. You do not have to switch cold on a Friday. Keep the existing POS available as a fallback while the team confirms the new queue. Founding pilot venues get guided help with exactly this. There is no hardware swap moment that commits you mid-service, because Servio is not wired to a proprietary terminal.

What we cannot do for you

We cannot fix your broadband, your tablet or a Stripe account that is still in verification. We will tell you plainly when the problem sits there. Card payment failures and account access problems are treated as urgent on every plan, because a venue that cannot take money is not having a support query.

If you get stuck, email support@servio.uk with the venue name and where you stopped. The menu import article and the Stripe article cover the two steps that usually take the longest.

Common questions

How long does it take to go live?

Most venues are taking orders the same afternoon. After a short setup call we import the menu, you print QR codes, and you are live, with no installers or hardware deliveries to wait for.

Do I need a free trial or the founding pilot?

Either. The founding Growth pilot is 30 days free, no card, then £109/month for six paid months if you continue. Standard plans include 14 days free, no card. You can also try the live demo without signing up.

What devices do I need?

Anything with a modern browser. There is no Servio till to buy. A dropped tablet costs you a screen, not your sales data.

Written by Amaan Tanveer, founder of Servio. Edited by Youssef Benaida.
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Still stuck?

Email support@servio.uk with your venue name and what you were doing when it failed.