Create your account and set up your first location

Before you start

Who should do this. The restaurant owner, or the person who will run RestaurantMate for the business. Whoever creates the account becomes the owner of the workspace. Your workspace is your business's account in RestaurantMate. It holds all your locations, the people you invite and your billing. Owners can do everything, including inviting people and adding a payment method.

Were you invited by someone? Then skip this article. Open the invitation email and use its link. You join their workspace with the access they picked for you.

Someone else can fill in the vendor details. Filling in a location's welcome screen (step 6) needs Full access to Location settings. Owners have it, and so do the built-in Admin and Location manager roles. See Give each person only the pages they need.

What it costs. Free for your first 60 days. Then $99 a month per location. Each location's 60 days start when we've set it up and it's live, and we let you know that day. You don't need a card to start, and setup is free.

What to have ready. Creating the account and adding locations takes about 5 minutes. The vendor details take longer, and you can come back to them.

• The address of each location.
• The vendors you buy from, and how you order from each one: on a website, by email, or by phone and paper.
• Your logins for every vendor website you order on. Use the username and password you use today.
• If you have them: your inventory sheet or order guide, and any recipes or menus you'd like us to set up.

Step 1: Create your account

1. On the RestaurantMate website, click Get started. The Create your account page opens.
2. Sign up with your email address and a password, or with your Google account. If you'd rather talk to us first, click Book a demo first under the form instead.
3. If you signed up with email, we send you a confirmation email. Open it and click the link. You're signed in and taken to the welcome dialog.

Step 2: Answer three quick questions

Your answers help us plan your setup call. Only you and the RestaurantMate team see them.

1. In the Welcome to RestaurantMate dialog, click Start. To skip, click Skip the questions. You still name your restaurant in step 3.
2. How many vendors do you buy from? Count everyone you order food, drinks or supplies from. Pick a range, or Not sure.
3. How big is your restaurant? Pick a range for People on staff and one for Locations.
4. How did you hear about us? If you pick Other, a box appears where you can tell us where.
5. Click Continue after each question. Click Back to change an answer.

Step 3: Name your restaurant

1. Under What is your restaurant called?, type the name in Restaurant or group name. If you run more than one restaurant, use the group name. The owner of the two Juniper Kitchen restaurants types "Juniper Hospitality".
2. Click Continue.

This creates your workspace, with you as its owner.

Step 4: Add your locations

A location is one restaurant at one address. Each location has its own vendors, counts, invoices and free trial.

1. On Add your locations, fill in one row per restaurant: Location name, Street address, City, State, ZIP code and Time zone. If you told us you have 2 to 3 locations, two rows are ready for you. With four or more, the form starts with three rows. Add the rest now or after your setup call.
2. Check the time zone. It's filled in from your computer's settings. RestaurantMate checks your vendors' prices overnight in each location's local time, so the time zone needs to be right.
3. Click Add another location for each extra restaurant. Juniper Hospitality adds "Juniper Kitchen · Main Street" and "Juniper Kitchen · Riverside".
4. Click Save locations.

You can add more locations later. Our team sets up each one, and each gets its own 60 days free from the day it goes live.

Step 5: Book your setup call

After you save, you land on Your setup. It lists each location with its status and has a card for booking your call.

1. On the Book your setup call card, click Pick a time.
2. Choose a time that suits you. The call is 30 minutes with our team. Together we connect your first vendors, check your prices and go through how ordering works.

On the call we also arrange the RestaurantMate device. It's a small box that plugs into your router and does the vendor website sign-ins with your logins. Vendor websites block sign-ins from cloud servers, so the device signs in from your restaurant's own internet. You don't need it for the call. It has a $300 refundable deposit, which we charge within your first month, when we ship the device. One device covers up to two locations.

Under While we set things up you'll find the live demo and articles about how RestaurantMate connects to your vendors and how ordering works.

Step 6: Tell us about each location

Each location has a welcome screen. This is where you list your vendors and send us what we need to connect them. Until a location is set up, all its pages open on this screen.

1. On Your setup, click Add vendors and details next to a location. The welcome screen opens with the label Getting started and three stages across the top: Your details, We set it up and Ready.
2. Location. Check the address and add a phone number. Under Who should we reach out to?, give the name and email of the person who runs ordering. At Juniper Kitchen · Main Street that's the manager, Dev Patel. Click Edit to change anything.
3. Vendors. Click Add vendor, type the vendor's Name and click Add vendor. Then answer How do you order? for each one.
   • Pick Website or app if you log in to order. Enter the Website and click Add login. Fill in Username or email and Password, then click Save. Login notes is for an account number, the phone that gets verification codes, or security answers.
   • Pick Email if the vendor's invoices arrive by email. Under Invoice emails, list the addresses they come from, one per line.
   • Pick Other for vendors you order from by phone, in person or on paper. You can also add a Rep name and Rep phone. The rep is your contact at the vendor.
4. Email (optional). If vendor invoices arrive in a Gmail or Outlook inbox, click Connect Gmail or Connect Outlook. RestaurantMate gets read-only access. It reads only emails from the addresses you list, and it can't send or delete mail. Choose whether to import past invoices too. If you'd rather not connect your inbox, click Not now. Once you're set up, you can create a RestaurantMate inbox instead. It's an address like juniper-main@mail.rmate.ai that you give to your vendors.
5. Inventory sheet or order guide. An order guide is the list of items you usually buy. If you have one, click Upload. Any format works, including Excel, PDF, a photo or an export from another system. You can also paste a link to a sheet, or click Download template to start one.
6. Anything else? (optional). Upload recipes, menus or other files, or paste a link. Recipes can be in any format. We set them up and ask you only about the unclear ones. To leave us a message, type it in Note for us and click Save note.
7. Tick the box that confirms you understand how your details are stored. Then click Send.

Repeat this for each location.

What the vendor labels mean

What happens next

1. Our team gets an email saying you've sent your details. Your vendor logins aren't included in that email.

2. The label at the top of the welcome screen shows where things stand.

   Label	What it means
   Getting started	You're still filling it in.
   Sent	"Thanks, we have what we need." We email you when the location is ready.
   In progress	We're connecting your vendors and pulling in your prices. The first-time setup takes 2 to 4 days, and we let you know when your data is ready.
   Ready	"You are all set."

3. Once a location is ready, its pages open as normal. For each vendor with a website, RestaurantMate brings in up to 180 days of invoices (about six months) and any order guides you've saved on that vendor's site. After that it checks those vendors' prices every night and picks up new invoices once a day.

4. The first time you open the location, you're asked to name your agent. The agent is the assistant built into RestaurantMate. It answers questions about food cost, purchasing and inventory at that location. In the sample restaurant it's called Basil.

Tips

• List every vendor, including the club store run and the farmer who drops off on Tuesdays. Pick Other for vendors you pay on paper. You can upload photos of their receipts later.
• Use the login you already order with. If the vendor texts you a code when you sign in, put that phone number in Login notes.
• Send what you have. You can still add vendors after sending.
• Book your setup call even if your vendor list isn't finished. We go through your vendors with you on the call.
• Give each location a name your staff will recognise in a list, like "Juniper Kitchen · Main Street" and "Juniper Kitchen · Riverside".

Troubleshooting

The confirmation email didn't arrive

Check your spam or junk folder, and check that you typed your email address correctly. If it still hasn't arrived after a few minutes, send us a message from the contact page.

It says "That name is taken"

Another workspace already uses that name. Add your city to it, for example "Juniper Hospitality Springfield".

You were invited, but you see the welcome questions

You probably created a new account without using the invitation link. Don't name a restaurant. Open the invitation email and use its link to join your team's workspace.

Send stays greyed out

The welcome screen lists what's Still needed above the button. To send, you need:

• the location name and full address (street, city, state and ZIP code)
• at least one vendor
• an answer to How do you order? for every vendor
• a tick in the box above Send

A vendor shows Needs attention

The login didn't work. This often happens when the password was changed recently. Click the vendor and enter the login again.

You can't add more locations

You can add up to 10 locations before your setup call. Book the call and we add the rest with you.

The address or time zone is wrong

Open the location's welcome screen and click Edit on the Location card.

Common questions

Do I need a credit card to start?

No. Nothing is charged when you sign up. Each location is free for its first 60 days, then $99 a month. When you're ready, add a card on the Billing page. You won't be charged until the trial ends. The device deposit is separate and is charged within your first month, when we ship the device.

When does my free trial start?

When the location is fully set up and live: its vendors are connected and RestaurantMate is ready to use. It doesn't start when you sign up or when you add the location. We let you know the day your 60 days start. Each location has its own trial.

Do I have to give you my vendor passwords?

Only for vendors you order from on a website. RestaurantMate signs in as you, from the device in your restaurant, to read your prices and invoices and to fill your cart when you order. Your login is stored privately and used only to sign in to that vendor. Nobody sees it again after you save it. Vendors you order from by email, phone or paper need no password.

How long until I can use RestaurantMate?

Connecting your vendors and pulling in your prices takes 2 to 4 days after you click Send. We email you when your location is ready. While you wait, you can try the live demo.

Do I need the device?

Yes. It's part of the standard setup because vendor websites block sign-ins from cloud servers. The device signs in from your restaurant's internet instead. It has a $300 refundable deposit, which we charge within your first month, when we ship the device. One device covers up to two locations, so both Juniper Kitchen locations share one. If you have more locations, we send more devices. We arrange it on your setup call, but you don't need the device for the call.