Setting up

A new business lands in setup, which takes the whole screen. It shows only eight steps, in two groups: The basics and What you sell. That is everything you need to take an order. Finish them and press Get started.

Everything else (vans and drivers, working hours and holidays, getting paid automatically and your customers) waits under Finish setup in the sidebar, for when you are ready. None of it stops you taking orders.

Each step shows the real screen for it, the same one the rest of Bottle uses, so you can see what is already there and add, change or remove it. A step ticks itself off when the business has the thing it is about: add a product on the Products page and the step is done just the same.

The steps

The steps are listed down the side. At the top of the page is one line saying how many are done.

The basics

1. Your business. Your business name, company number (for a limited company), registered address and logo. The name, address and logo print at the top of every invoice.
2. Invoices. The bank details customers pay into, how many days they have to pay, and how invoices are numbered. Happy with the defaults? Press Continue.
3. VAT. Whether you charge it, and the rate new products start at. Not registered is an answer too: leave it off and press Continue.
4. Your yard. At least one base, where rounds start and stock is kept.

What you sell

5. Gas types. The gases you sell, like Propane or Butane, and whose cylinders they are. Products and cylinder charges are set up on these.
6. Products. The sizes of each gas you sell, and anything else on your price list. Already selling through Shopify or WooCommerce? Connect the shop here and pull your products in.
7. Cylinder charges. What customers pay for the cylinder itself: a deposit, or rent. Add them here, then choose what happens when cylinders come back. If you do not charge for cylinders, press We do not charge for cylinders.
8. Delivery options. At least one: how soon you deliver and what it costs, in your own words (“Next day”, “2 to 3 days”).

Get started

When all eight are done, press Get started (the last step’s Continue says Get started too). Bottle opens on Your day and shows you round: where to take orders, your customers, rounds, products, and where to find Finish setup. Press Next to move on, or Skip tour to stop.

Until those eight steps are done, owners and admins are brought back to setup whichever page they open.

Finish setup

At the bottom of the sidebar, Finish setup lists the sections still to do, with how many steps of each are done. Press one to open that section on its own. Back to Bottle leaves it whenever you like, and the last step’s Finish does too. A section drops off the list once every step in it is done or skipped, and Finish setup goes when they all have.

Vans and drivers

1. Your vehicles. What you deliver in, and the base each one leaves from.
2. Your people. Invite drivers and whoever does the books.
3. Delivery patches. The areas each driver covers.
4. Shift patterns. Which days your drivers work, and their hours.

Working hours and holidays

1. Closed days. Bank holidays, and days you do not deliver.
2. Time off. How much holiday your drivers get, and whether they need a yes to take it.
3. Your working day. When the day starts and ends, and how long each stop takes.

Closed days and time off have Not yet instead of Skip for now. Press it to move on. The step stays on your list, marked Still to finish, until you do it, because every yard needs both sooner or later.

Getting paid automatically

1. Getting paid. Connect Stripe to take card payments.
2. Your accounts. Connect Xero.
3. Invoice reminders. Bottle emails customers when an invoice is overdue.

Your customers

1. Your customers. Add them, or let Xero bring them in.
2. Regular deliveries. Customers who have the same delivery every week or month.
3. Your online shop. Connect WooCommerce or Shopify.

Every step in these later sections can be skipped with Skip for now, apart from closed days and time off.

On the settings steps, Continue saves what you have entered and moves on: there is no separate Save. On steps that need something to exist, like a base or a delivery option, Continue waits until there is one.

Awards

Bottle gives you an award when you finish a group of steps, and for firsts like your first order, your first round sent to a driver and your first card payment. When you earn one, wherever you are in Bottle, a card appears at the top right to say so. Press Brilliant to put it away. Each award is shown once.

To see the awards you have earned, open the menu under your name and choose Your awards.

Tours

Most pages have a tour: a short walk round the page. The first time you open a page, a card offers it, and the ? beside the page’s title starts it again any time. See Tours for how they work and every tour, step by step.

Coming back later

The address bar follows the step (/setup?step=vat), so a link can open any step directly.

Only owners and admins see setup, awards and tours. Drivers never do.