The first time you sign in to Papaya, a setup wizard walks you through creating your business, your first outlet, and everything you need to take your first order. It takes about 10 minutes — and the bigger steps (menu, inventory) can be skipped and finished any time later.
As you go, the preview on the right is your actual dashboard filling in live: the outlet name, menu items, and inventory you enter are real, not samples.
Step 1 — Let's set up your business
Merchant name — your brand name, shown to guests when they order online.
URL — suggested automatically from the name; this becomes your online ordering address.
Business type — restaurant, cafe, bar & nightlife, quick service, food truck, catering, or other.
Country — sets your currency, billing, and the revenue ranges below.
Monthly revenue — a range in your local currency (pick Not sure yet if you're just starting out).
Step 2 — Create your first outlet
Name your first location and confirm its country. Everything in Papaya — menus, channels, plans — belongs to an outlet, and you can add more locations later (see Plans for Multiple Locations).
Step 3 — How would you like to run your business?
Choose POS (orders, tables, payments, daily service), Inventory (ingredients, recipes, stock and purchasing), or both. This choice tailors the remaining steps and which plans are recommended at the end. They also work better together — with both, every sale automatically updates your stock.
Step 4 — Choose your ordering channels
Pick how customers order: Dine-in, Prepay dine-in, Takeaway, Visual menu, Delivery, and delivery apps (Grab, LINE MAN, Foodpanda, ShopeeFood, Robinhood). Nothing is final — you can add or change channels any time from Channels, so it's fine to Skip.
Step 5 — Create your menu with Copilot
Upload your existing menu — a photo, PDF, or spreadsheet (up to 10 MB per file) — and select Generate menu. Copilot reads it and builds your menu with categories and prices; within a minute the preview shows your real items. You can fine-tune everything later under Menu.
Step 6 — Create your inventory products
If you chose Inventory, upload a CSV or Excel file of the ingredients and stock items you track (up to 500 rows). Use Download example file for the exact columns — name, type (raw/prep), unit, yield, par level, shelf life, reorder point, and category. The upload is checked first: any problem rows are listed before anything is created, so you can fix the file and try again. Created products show up in the preview immediately. More in Getting Started with Papaya Inventory.
Step 7 — Select plan
Finally, pick your plan. The POS / POS & Inventory tab matching your earlier choice is pre-selected, with a Recommended tag on the tier that fits. Choose monthly or annual billing (annual saves 15%), then start your 30-day free trial. For tiers, pricing, and how the trial and billing work, see Papaya Plans & Packages: Overview and How to Subscribe.
After setup
You land in your dashboard, where a Get started checklist in the sidebar tracks the last few steps to your first order — see Your Free Trial & the Get-Started Checklist.
FAQ
Can I skip the menu or inventory steps?
Yes — both have a Skip button. You can build your menu under Menu and upload inventory under Inventory whenever you're ready.
Can I go back to a previous step?
Yes — use Back in the top-left corner.
Can I set up in Thai?
Yes — switch the language from the selector in the top-right corner of the wizard.
I have several locations — do I set them all up now?
Set up your first location in the wizard, then add the rest afterwards, each with its own plan: Plans for Multiple Locations.