Removing the Trial Data Before You Go Live in Meztezz
When you first set up Meztezz, it comes pre-loaded with sample data — a practice menu, a few demo tables, some made-up customers and suppliers, and any test bills you punched in while learning the ropes. That’s on purpose: it lets you click around and learn without staring at an empty screen.
But the day comes when you’re done practising and ready to open for real. You don’t want your first genuine bill to be order number 87 because of all the test orders you rang up. You don’t want a demo “Paneer Tikka” sitting next to your real menu. This is the moment to start fresh — and Meztezz has one button built exactly for it.
This post explains what that “fresh start” tool removes, what it keeps, and how to use it without any nasty surprises. Set aside about ten minutes, and read it through once before you touch anything — this is a one-time action that cannot be undone.
💡 A quick word on names. Inside the app this feature is called Remove Starter Data, and it lives in a section called the Danger Zone. “Starter data” just means the sample/practice data that came with your fresh setup. Don’t let the scary names worry you — used properly, it’s a safe, deliberate cleanup, and the app asks you to confirm twice before anything happens.
What this is for — and what it is not
| Remove Starter Data (this post) | A full terminal reset | |
|---|---|---|
| What it clears | Your sample menus, tables, customers, suppliers, and test bills | Everything — the entire app, back to a blank install |
| What it keeps | All your settings, staff logins, tax setup, printer setup, licence | Nothing |
| When you’d use it | Once, when moving from practice to real business | Rare recovery situations, handled with our help |
| Who runs it | You, the owner/manager | Our support team walks you through it |
This post is about the first column only — the clean, everyday “I’m ready to go live” cleanup. If you ever think you need the second kind (wiping the machine completely), stop and email us first at bazimat@gmail.com. That path is for emergencies and we’ll guide you through it safely.
What gets removed — and what stays
Here’s the part most owners worry about: “If I press this, do I lose my restaurant name, my tax rates, my staff logins?”
No. Remove Starter Data only clears the practice content — the menus, tables, and bills you were experimenting with. Everything you spent time setting up is left completely untouched.
Stays exactly as it is:
- Your restaurant name, address, and profile
- All tax and charge settings (GST, service charge, and so on)
- Printer setup and station routing
- Staff accounts, roles, and the manager PIN
- Your licence and cloud dashboard link
Gets cleared (you choose which):
The cleanup is split into bundles, and you tick only the ones you want. You’ll see a live count next to each, so you know exactly how much you’re removing.
| Bundle | What it clears |
|---|---|
| Menu, Items & Stock | All menu items, stock items, recipes, and stock movements |
| Raw Materials | Your raw material list (needs Menu ticked too) |
| Tables | All table definitions |
| Customers | The saved customer list |
| Suppliers & POs | Suppliers and their purchase-order history |
| Order History | Every past order, KOT, payment, and refund |
💡 Why “Order History” is special. If you remove any of the bundles above, Meztezz also removes Order History automatically — and it won’t let you uncheck it. The reason is simple: an old test bill that points at a menu item you just deleted would be broken and confusing. Clearing them together keeps your records honest. That’s why the Order History box ticks itself the moment you pick anything else.
The big one: your numbering restarts from 1
This is the headline reason most owners use the feature. Once the cleanup finishes, your order numbers, invoice numbers, and KOT numbers all restart from 1. Your very next real bill becomes invoice number 1 — a clean ledger from day one, with none of your practice runs mixed in. (A couple of small housekeeping items reset too: coupon and offer usage counts go back to zero, and any logged-in captain or kitchen-display devices will simply ask staff to sign in again.)
Where to find it — Settings → Danger Zone
Open the terminal, tap the gear icon to open Settings, and look down the list of tabs on the left for Danger Zone.
A few things to know about getting here:
- The Danger Zone tab only appears on your Primary terminal — the main machine that owns your data. If you run extra “client” terminals around the floor, you won’t see it there, and that’s by design. The cleanup must happen on the one machine that’s the source of truth.
- You’ll need the manager PIN to finish the job, so have it handy.
If you’ve never set one, you’ll be pointed to
Settings → Securityto create it first.
How to do it — step by step
Take these in order. The first three are about getting ready; skipping them is the most common reason the cleanup gets blocked.
1. Take a backup first (strongly recommended)
This action can’t be undone, so give yourself a safety net. Go to
Settings → Backup (it’s one tab to the left of Danger Zone) and save a
backup. If you ever realise you cleared something you needed, a backup is
the only way to get it back. The confirmation screen will remind you of
this too.
2. Close the day and clear the floor
Meztezz won’t let you run the cleanup while the restaurant is “live,” because clearing data mid-service would be chaos. Before you start, make sure:
- The current shift is closed (do your Cash Declaration / day-close — see End of Day, Day-Close & Cash Reconciliation).
- There are no active or held orders sitting open.
- There are no pending KOTs still waiting in the kitchen. (KOTs that are already marked ready are fine — the kitchen’s done with them.)
If any of these are still open, the app will tell you exactly which one to deal with and stop there. Nothing is removed.
3. Open Danger Zone and choose what to clear
In Settings → Danger Zone, you’ll see the Remove starter data card
with a checkbox for each bundle and a live count beside it (“45 items ·
18 stock items”, “20 tables”, and so on). Tick what you want gone.
You’ll notice the app helping you along: tick Raw Materials and it auto-ticks Menu (raw materials belong to your menu); tick anything at all and Order History ticks itself. This is the app keeping your data consistent — let it. When you’re happy, press Continue →.
4. Confirm — twice
A confirmation box appears titled Confirm — Remove starter data. It lists, in plain numbers, exactly what’s about to go (“45 menu items, 18 stock items”, “20 tables”, and so on) so there are no surprises. To go ahead, the app asks for two things:
- Type
DELETEin the first box (in capital letters — it’s a deliberate speed bump so you can’t do this by accident). - Enter your manager PIN.
Then press the red Remove starter data button. (Get the PIN wrong too many times and Meztezz pauses you for five minutes — a small guard against anyone fiddling with it.)
5. Done — and done for good
You’ll see a “Starter data removed” confirmation, and the Danger Zone card changes to show the date it happened. From now on it reads “This action can only be performed once and is no longer available on this terminal.” That’s the safety design working as intended — you can’t run it twice, so there’s no risk of someone wiping fresh real data by mistake later on.
If you use the cloud dashboard
If your terminal is linked to the Meztezz cloud dashboard, the confirmation screen will show a small note: “Your cloud dashboard will be cleaned within a few minutes of the next cloud sync.” You don’t have to do anything for this. The terminal is the boss; once it’s cleaned, it tells the cloud to tidy up the matching records so your cloud dashboard reflects the same fresh start. Give it a few minutes after your next sync.
Quick troubleshooting
If the cleanup won’t go through, the message on screen tells you the reason. The usual ones:
- “Close the current shift first” — finish your day-close / Cash Declaration, then try again.
- “Cancel or complete active orders first” — clear any open or held bills on the floor.
- “Mark pending KOTs ready or cancel them first” — the kitchen still has tickets in progress.
- “Incorrect manager PIN” — re-enter it; after several wrong tries you’ll be asked to wait five minutes.
- Danger Zone tab isn’t showing — you’re on a client terminal. Do this on your Primary machine.
You’re ready for day one
Once the cleanup is done, your terminal is a blank, professional slate: your real menu and settings intact, your practice clutter gone, and your very first genuine bill numbered 1. If you haven’t built your real menu and lists yet, that’s the natural next step — see Setting Up Your Masters After Installation and Installing & Activating Meztezz.
Still unsure whether you should run this, or want us to check your setup before you do? Drop us a line at bazimat@gmail.com or contact us — we answer real questions from real restaurant owners every day, no jargon.