DineNGo: Quick Start Guide

This guide walks a new merchant from "I just heard about DineNGo" to a live, ordering-and-printing restaurant in under an hour. It mirrors the original product flow: everything starts with Clover. Your Clover merchant account is the source of truth for items, taxes, employees, and payments; DineNGo connects to it via Clover's OAuth, then layers register, KDS, kiosk, table-ordering, online ordering, loyalty, and reporting on top.

The order of operations matters. You will:

1. Set up (or sign in to) your Clover merchant account and copy your Merchant ID.
2. Register a DineNGo account using that Merchant ID.
3. Authorize Clover from DineNGo so the two systems can talk.
4. Verify the menu sync, then add devices and fire a test order.

Skipping any step (or doing them out of order) is the most common cause of "my menu is empty" or "the OAuth screen failed." Follow this guide top-to-bottom the first time through.

0. Before you start

You will need:

• An email address you can receive verification on.
• A working Clover merchant account with login credentials (owner-level access is required for the OAuth step — employee logins cannot grant app permissions). If you do not have one yet, that's fine — section 1 below walks you through creating one.
• A laptop or desktop for the initial setup (mobile works, but the Clover authorization screen is easier on a larger viewport).
• A credit card for the DineNGo subscription (only entered after you've confirmed everything works).
• About 30–45 minutes of uninterrupted time. Once you start the Clover OAuth flow, do not close the browser tab mid-redirect — your shop will sit in a half-paired state if you do.

1. Set up your Clover merchant account

DineNGo is a Clover-first platform. Before you can register a DineNGo account, Clover needs to exist on your side — either as a brand-new merchant account you create now, or as an existing account you already use to take payments.

Option A — Brand-new Clover merchant (most new merchants)

1. Open clover.com in a new browser tab.
2. Click Get Started (or Sign Up in the top right).
3. Pick a Clover plan. Important: DineNGo requires API access, which means you need Clover Register or higher. Register Lite and Payments-only plans will NOT work — the Clover OAuth screen will refuse to grant DineNGo the inventory/order permissions it needs.
4. Fill in your business information:
5. Legal business name (this must match what's on your bank/tax records).
6. Business type (restaurant, café, food truck, bar, etc.).
7. Owner name + SSN/EIN for underwriting.
8. Bank account for deposits.
9. Clover will run underwriting in the background — usually approved within minutes for restaurants, occasionally a same-day call for additional documents.
10. Once approved, Clover sends a welcome email with a link to Clover Web Dashboard. Sign in.

🎬 Video — full Clover sign-up walkthrough: Clover merchant signup

Option B — Existing Clover merchant (skip if you already use Clover)

If you already process payments on Clover, you are most of the way there. Just sign in at clover.com with your owner-level credentials.

If you only have an employee-level login, contact whoever owns the Clover account and have them either (a) elevate your role to Admin/Owner inside Clover, or (b) be available to perform step 3 of this guide (the OAuth grant). DineNGo does not need their password — it only needs them to click "Authorize" on the Clover screen.

Find your Clover Merchant ID

Whichever path you took, you now need your Clover Merchant ID — DineNGo asks for it during registration so it knows which Clover account to authorize against later.

1. In Clover Web Dashboard, click your business name in the top-left corner.
2. Go to Account & Setup → Business Information.
3. The Merchant ID is a 13-character alphanumeric string (looks like 7Y8K2M9PQRSTU). Copy it and keep the tab open.

🎬 Video — finding your Clover Merchant ID: Clover Merchant ID lookup

Double-check the ID. A typo here means the Clover authorization in step 3 will succeed against the wrong merchant, and the menu sync will land on a Clover account you don't actually own. (DineNGo cannot detect this mismatch — Clover just hands back items for whichever merchant the OAuth was granted on.)

Confirm your Clover plan includes API access

While you have the Clover dashboard open:

1. Go to Account & Setup → Plan.
2. You should see Register or Register Light Plus or higher. Register Lite and Payments Plus do NOT include API access and will block the DineNGo authorization in step 3.
3. If you're on a too-low plan, click Upgrade — the upgrade is instant and is pro-rated for the current billing cycle.

Once your Merchant ID is copied and your plan is confirmed, you're ready to register DineNGo.

2. Create your DineNGo account (New User Registration)

Open the DineNGo registration page at app.dinengo.com/register and click Sign Up.

Fill in:

• Restaurant / business name — exactly as it should appear on customer receipts.
• Owner name — the legal name of the person on the Clover account. This must match Clover or the OAuth step will fail.
• Email — this becomes your primary login. We send a confirmation link here.
• Phone — used for order alerts and the password reset flow.
• Password — minimum 8 characters; mix of letters, digits, and one symbol.
• Clover Merchant ID — the 13-character ID you copied in step 1. Paste it exactly; no leading spaces.

Click Create Account. You will be redirected to a "Check your inbox" screen.

Open the verification email (subject: Confirm your DineNGo account) and click the verification link. The link is valid for 24 hours; if you miss it, sign in and use Resend verification.

🎬 Video — full registration walkthrough: New User Registration

After verifying, you land on the DineNGo dashboard with a yellow banner: "Connect Clover to finish setup." That's your cue for step 3.

3. Authorize Clover (the OAuth handshake)

This is the step that links the DineNGo account you just made to the Clover account you set up in step 1. DineNGo cannot show menu items, accept payments, or create orders until Clover has explicitly granted it permission on your behalf.

This is a two-step OAuth handshake — there is a redirect out to Clover, you authorize there, and Clover redirects back to DineNGo with a token.

Step 3a — Start the authorization

On the dashboard banner, click Connect Clover. DineNGo will redirect you to Clover's OAuth consent screen. You will see a Clover-branded page with text similar to:

DineNGo wants permission to:
- Read & write inventory
- Read & write orders, payments, and refunds
- Read employees, customers, taxes, and merchant info

If you are not already signed into Clover, sign in now with your owner-level credentials (the same login you used in step 1). Employee-level Clover accounts do not have OAuth grant rights — Clover will show a "you don't have permission" error if you try.

🎬 Video — Clover authorization, part 1 (start of redirect, choosing the merchant, signing in): Clover auth part 1

Step 3b — Complete the authorization

On the consent screen, review the permission list and click Authorize.

Clover will:

1. Issue a one-time OAuth code,
2. Redirect your browser back to https://app.dinengo.com/clover/callback?code=...&merchant_id=...,
3. Show a brief "Connecting your shop…" loading screen on DineNGo while we exchange the code for a long-lived access token.

You'll see one of two outcomes:

• ✅ "Clover connected. Syncing menu now." → success. DineNGo starts pulling your Clover categories, items, modifiers, taxes, and employees. Initial sync takes 30–120 seconds depending on catalog size.
• ❌ "Authorization failed." → most common causes are:
• You authorized with an employee Clover login instead of the owner. Sign out of Clover, sign back in as the owner, retry.
• The Clover Merchant ID you entered during sign-up does not match the merchant you authorized. Go to Settings → Account in DineNGo and update the Merchant ID, then retry.
• Your Clover account doesn't include API access in its plan (Register Lite and below do not — you need Register or higher). Upgrade the plan in Clover, then retry.

🎬 Video — Clover authorization, part 2 (consent screen + return to dashboard + first menu sync): Clover auth part 2

After the menu sync finishes, the yellow banner on your dashboard turns green: "Clover connected. Last sync: just now."

4. Confirm the menu sync

Before adding anything DineNGo-specific, verify the import.

Go to Inventory → Categories. You should see every category from Clover — appetizers, entrées, drinks, etc. — listed with the same names and the items grouped underneath them.

Click into one item (say, a burger). You should see:

• The item name and base price (from Clover).
• Modifier groups (e.g., "Toppings", "Cheese", "Doneness") if you set them up in Clover.
• Tax rates pulled from Clover's tax settings.
• An empty image slot — DineNGo does not import item photos from Clover (they are usually not present anyway). You'll add these in step 6.

If a category or item is missing, hit Sync now in the top right of the Inventory page. The sync runs every 15 minutes automatically, but a manual sync forces a full re-pull.

🎬 Video — category and item images workflow: Updating category and item images

5. Create your owner login on DineNGo

You're already signed in as the owner, but the role you signed up with is intentionally minimal. Now you'll create your "operational" role with full permissions.

Go to Staff → Users. Click Add User.

• Name, Email (you can use the same email — DineNGo supports multiple roles on one identity), PIN (4–6 digit numeric, used at the register for clock-in and override approvals).
• Role → choose Manager (or Owner if your install includes that tier — see Staff Roles).
• Assigned devices → leave blank for now; you'll assign devices in step 7.

Click Save. The system creates the user and shows their PIN one more time — write it down. It is hashed in the DB and we cannot show it again.

🎬 Video — creating and editing users: Create / edit user

🎬 Video — login flow and role selection at the register: User login and role select

6. Add item photos (optional but recommended)

A kiosk menu with photos converts at roughly 2× the rate of a text-only menu. Adding photos takes minutes if you batch it.

Go to Inventory → Items. Click the camera icon next to an item.

Three options:

1. Upload a file — JPG or PNG, square crop preferred (the kiosk shows items in 1:1 tiles), 1200×1200 minimum.
2. AI Menu Builder — DineNGo can generate a photo from the item name. This works well for staple items ("Cheeseburger", "Iced Latte") and poorly for proprietary names ("The Founder Special"). Review every AI-generated image before saving.
3. Photo gallery — DineNGo ships a curated library of open-source food photography (cheeseburgers, pizzas, salads, etc.). Best when the AI route hallucinates.

When you save, the image lands on Clover too (DineNGo pushes images back to Clover so any other Clover-aware POS terminal also sees them).

7. Provision your first device

Devices are how DineNGo earns its keep — kiosks, KDS screens, table-side tablets, cashier registers. Each one gets paired to your account with a one-time code.

Go to Devices → Add Device.

Pick a type:

• Kiosk — customer-facing self-order screen. See Kiosk Setup.
• KDS — kitchen display. See Kitchen Display System.
• Table — staff-handheld for table service. See Table-Side Ordering Device.
• Cashier — front-counter register. See Cashier Register Setup.

DineNGo generates a 6-character device code (e.g., BX4ZP9). Codes are single-use and expire after 30 minutes — generate one immediately before you start setting up the device.

On the physical device, open the DineNGo app (Android, iOS, Windows, or kiosk-mode Chrome — depends on the device type). Enter the code. The device pairs in 2–3 seconds and registers itself against your shop.

🎬 Video — provisioning Kiosk + Table + Manager devices: Provision devices

After pairing, the device shows the menu you synced in step 4. You're done with setup.

8. Fire a test order

Before the first real customer, run an end-to-end test.

At the Cashier or Table device:

1. Open a new order.
2. Add 1–2 items (one with modifiers if you can).
3. Tap Send to Kitchen.

On the KDS:

• The order should appear within 1 second.
• The ticket shows the items + modifiers + a 0:00 timer that counts up.
• Tap Bump when "done" — the ticket disappears from KDS and the order goes into "ready" state on the cashier/table side.

If you have a receipt printer connected (see Cashier Register Setup), it should fire one customer receipt + one kitchen ticket. If you have the Raspberry Pi Print Helper, tickets route through that for instant local printing.

🎬 Video — KDS order flow demo: Orders display demo

9. You're live — what's next

You now have a working DineNGo install: Clover-connected, menu-synced, at least one device, one staff role, and a verified order-to-kitchen-to-bump flow. Real customers can order.

Recommended follow-ups, in priority order:

1. Set up payment processing — confirm Clover's payment device pairs to your DineNGo register and runs a $0.01 test charge. See Clover Payment Integration.
2. Add staff — bring on real servers, cashiers, kitchen staff with the right roles. See Staff Roles & Permissions.
3. Configure tax + tipping defaults — confirm taxes pulled from Clover are correct, set tipping suggestions for kiosk and table. See Cash & Card Tender Flow.
4. Turn on online ordering — public-facing menu URL for QR codes and the OrderFriendly add-on. See Order Lifecycle.
5. Set up rewards — punch-card-style loyalty for repeat customers. See Rewards & Promotions.

For day-to-day operation refer to the rest of this Customer Guide. If anything in this Quick Start does not match what you see on screen — typically because we shipped a UI refresh between guide versions — open a support ticket from your dashboard and we'll fix the doc. The Clover OAuth handshake itself has not changed since DineNGo launched and is the most stable part of the system; if Clover throws you an error there, it is almost always a permissions or plan-level Clover issue.