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Network setup for a new restaurant — what you actually need | HospoDoc
New Venue Guide

Network setup for a new restaurant —
what you actually need

Publish: 1 June 2026

Your venue’s network is the foundation everything else runs on — POS, EFTPOS, kitchen printers, online ordering, QR menus. Get it wrong and you’ll be chasing the same problems every week. Get it right once and you barely think about it again.

HospoDoc technician configuring network router at Brisbane restaurant
A properly set up venue network means your POS, EFTPOS and printers stay up when it matters.

Why most new venue networks fail

The typical new venue setup looks like this: the ISP installs a modem, someone plugs in a cheap router from Officeworks, and everything gets connected to the same Wi-Fi network — POS tablets, EFTPOS terminal, kitchen printer, and 40 customers on their phones all competing for bandwidth at 12:30pm on a Saturday.

That’s not a network. That’s a problem waiting to happen.

The most common opening-week callout we get: POS or EFTPOS drops out during the lunch rush. Nine times out of ten it’s because the venue network wasn’t set up to handle the load — and it’s entirely preventable.

What a proper venue network looks like — layer by layer

1
Your internet connectionThe pipe everything runs through

Business-grade NBN or fibre — not a residential plan. Business plans come with faster fault resolution and priority support, which matters when your connection drops on a Friday night.

  • Get it installed at least 2–3 weeks before opening — lead times in SEQ can be long
  • Ask for a static IP if you’re running remote monitoring or cloud POS with strict network requirements
  • Minimum 25Mbps down / 10Mbps up for a single-site café — more if you’re running multiple terminals and online ordering simultaneously
2
Failover routerThe most important piece of hardware in your venue

A failover router has a 4G/5G SIM as a backup. When your main internet drops, it automatically switches to mobile data in seconds — your EFTPOS and POS stay up and your service doesn’t miss a beat. This is not optional for any venue doing real trade.

  • Dual-WAN routers handle this automatically — no manual switching required
  • 4G data usage during a failover event is minimal — usually only a few GB per incident
  • The cost of one lost service from an internet outage far exceeds the cost of a failover router
3
Separate networks for systems and guestsThe rule most new venues ignore

Your POS, EFTPOS terminal, and kitchen printers should be on a completely separate network from your customer Wi-Fi. When a venue puts everything on the same network, customer devices — phones, laptops, tablets — compete for bandwidth with the systems you depend on to trade.

  • Operations network: POS terminals, EFTPOS, kitchen printers, order tablets
  • Guest Wi-Fi: customer devices — separate SSID, bandwidth-limited if needed
  • A managed switch or VLAN-capable router handles this cleanly
4
Fixed IP addresses for all venue systemsStops 80% of recurring connectivity problems

By default, devices pick up an IP address automatically — and that address can change when the device or router restarts. Your POS connects to your kitchen printer by its IP address. If the printer’s address changes overnight, the POS can’t find it in the morning.

  • Assign static IP addresses to: kitchen printer, receipt printer, EFTPOS terminal, POS server (if applicable)
  • This can be done in the router’s DHCP reservation settings — no need to configure each device individually
  • One setup, never touch it again
5
Wired ethernet for fixed devicesMore reliable than Wi-Fi under load

Wi-Fi is fine for tablets and handheld devices that move around. For fixed devices — kitchen printers, receipt printers, EFTPOS terminals — a wired ethernet connection is always more reliable, especially during peak service when Wi-Fi is under load from multiple devices.

  • Run ethernet cable during fit-out — it’s far cheaper to do before walls are finished
  • At minimum: ethernet to kitchen printer and EFTPOS counter terminal
  • A small network switch lets you run multiple ethernet connections from one wall point

How much internet speed does a café actually need?

Venue typeMinimum recommendedComfortable
Single-terminal café, counter service25/10 Mbps50/20 Mbps
Multi-terminal café with table ordering50/20 Mbps100/40 Mbps
Full-service restaurant, QR ordering, online orders100/40 Mbps250/100 Mbps
High-volume venue with kiosks and delivery integrationBelow 100 will struggle250/100 Mbps+
Speed isn’t everything: A slow but stable connection beats a fast but unreliable one for hospitality. Consistency matters more than peak speed — a connection that drops for 2 minutes during a lunch rush causes more damage than a slow-but-steady 25Mbps line.

When to get someone in to set it up

If you’re opening a new venue and you’re not confident configuring routers, VLANs, static IPs, and ethernet runs yourself — get someone in to do it properly before you open. It costs far less than a week of service disruptions while you troubleshoot it under pressure.

HospoDoc does pre-opening network setup for new venues across Brisbane, Gold Coast, and the Sunshine Coast. We’ll design the network for your specific layout, configure every device, test it under load, and hand it over with a simple document showing exactly what’s set up and why.

Opening a new venue and want the network done right?We’ll come in before you open and set it up properly.

Call 1300 467 761