FeastFlow Documentation

1. Log in to your cPanel.
2. Search for and open MultiPHP INI Editor.
3. Select your domain from the dropdown menu.
4. Set memory_limit to 256M (or 512M).
5. Set max_execution_time to 120 (or 300).
6. Set max_input_time to 120.
7. Click Apply to save.

1. Log in to your DirectAdmin dashboard.
2. Navigate to Account Manager → PHP Configuration or Select PHP Version → Options.
3. Change max_execution_time from 30 to 120.
4. Change max_input_time from 30 to 120.
5. Change memory_limit to 256M.
6. Under Extensions, ensure psr is unchecked.

Upload all files and folders located inside the Files/ directory directly into your web server's document root (e.g. public_html/ on shared hosting or domain folder).

In cPanel or DirectAdmin, open MySQL Databases. Create a database, create a database user with a strong password, and assign ALL PRIVILEGES to the user on that database.

Open your browser and visit your site URL: https://your-domain.com/install

The wizard will automatically:

• Verify all PHP extensions and directory permissions.
• Test your MySQL database connection.
• Execute database migrations and populate default restaurant settings, currency tables, and demo accounts.
• Create your primary Super Admin user credentials.

Ensure the following directories have write permissions (CHMOD 775 or 755):

chmod -R 775 main/storage
chmod -R 775 main/bootstrap/cache
chmod -R 775 assets/restaurants
chmod -R 775 assets/menu-items
chmod -R 775 assets/qrcodes

Upload all files and directories located inside the Files/ directory of your downloaded package directly into your web server's document root (e.g. public_html/ on cPanel or your domain directory on VPS/DirectAdmin).

In cPanel or DirectAdmin, open MySQL Databases:

1. Create a new database (e.g. cpaneluser_feastflow).
2. Create a database user with a strong, secure password.
3. Add the user to the database and assign ALL PRIVILEGES.

FeastFlow includes the full pre-built database schema and default records in database.sql (located in the root directory or main/database/database.sql):

1. Open phpMyAdmin from your hosting control panel.
2. Select your newly created database in the left sidebar.
3. Click on the Import tab at the top.
4. Click Choose File, select database.sql, and click Import / Go.

Navigate to the main/ directory. Rename .env.example to .env (or edit the existing .env file) and update strictly your database credentials and website domain URL:

APP_NAME="FeastFlow"
APP_ENV=production
APP_DEBUG=false
APP_URL=https://your-domain.com

DB_CONNECTION=mysql
DB_HOST=127.0.0.1
DB_PORT=3306
DB_DATABASE=cpaneluser_feastflow
DB_USERNAME=cpaneluser_dbuser
DB_PASSWORD=your_secure_password

Ensure that storage and upload folders are writable by the web server (CHMOD 775 or 755):

chmod -R 775 main/storage
chmod -R 775 main/bootstrap/cache
chmod -R 775 assets/restaurants
chmod -R 775 assets/menu-items
chmod -R 775 assets/qrcodes

Navigate to https://your-domain.com/admin/login and sign in using the default Super Admin credentials:

• Email: admin@feastflow.com
• Password: password

Once logged in, navigate immediately to Super Admin Profile / Settings to update your administrative email and password.

In cPanel under Cron Jobs or DirectAdmin under Cronjobs, add the following command to run once per minute:

/usr/local/bin/php /home/yourusername/public_html/main/artisan schedule:run >> /dev/null 2>&1

* Replace /home/yourusername/public_html/main with your server's exact path to the main/ directory.

On shared hosting environments without a daemon supervisor, add this second cron job every 5 minutes to process queued background jobs:

cd "/home/yourusername/public_html/main" && php artisan queue:work --stop-when-empty >> /dev/null 2>&1

How Live Rates Synchronization Works

Clicking "Sync Live Rates" in the Admin Currencies console or running the automated daily cron job queries open global currency exchange feeds:

• Tier 1: Open Exchange Rates API (open.er-api.com) — Fast real-time JSON rates.
• Tier 2: ExchangeRate-API (api.exchangerate-api.com) — Redundant secondary backup feed.
• Tier 3: Fawaz Ahmed Global Open Currency Feed (CDN cached global daily JSON).

Platform vs Restaurant Coupon Scope

• Platform-Wide Coupons: Super Admin creates global promo codes funded across all restaurants to drive customer acquisition campaigns.
• Restaurant-Specific Coupons: Individual restaurant owners create exclusive discount codes applicable only to items ordered from their kitchen menu.

How Commission & Payout Work

1. Automated Split Calculation: Whenever a diner completes an order, FeastFlow automatically calculates the platform commission based on the restaurant's subscription plan percentage (e.g. 10%).
2. Vendor Digital Wallet: The net earnings (Order Total minus Platform Commission) are credited to the restaurant's available wallet balance.
3. Payout Withdrawal Request: The restaurant owner submits a payout withdrawal request through their dashboard with their bank details or PayPal address.
4. Super Admin Approval: Super Admin reviews the request under Admin → Payouts, processes the transfer, and marks it as Approved / Paid with a reference transaction code.

How Restaurant Owners Use the AI Writer

When creating or editing a dish in the Restaurant Owner Portal, vendors simply input the basic dish name (e.g. "Truffle Mushroom Burger") and click the "Generate with AI" button. FeastFlow prompts the configured AI engine to return:

• Sensory Culinary Description: Mouthwatering descriptions highlighting taste, aroma, and mouthfeel that entice hungry diners.
• Allergen & Dietary Identification: Automatically flags common ingredients and dietary profiles.
• Smart Upsell Pairings: Suggests complementary drinks, artisanal sides, or signature sauces to increase average ticket size.

1. Log in to the Super Admin Dashboard and navigate to Settings → AI Configuration (/admin/settings/ai).
2. Select your active provider:
   • Google Gemini: Fast, economical, and creative culinary output (supports gemini-flash-lite-latest, gemini-1.5-flash, gemini-2.0-flash).
   • OpenAI: ChatGPT models (gpt-4o-mini, gpt-4o).
   • Groq: Ultra-fast hardware LPU inference using open-source models (llama-3.3-70b-versatile).
3. Enter your API Key into the corresponding provider box.
4. Click the "Test AI Connection" button — FeastFlow performs a live test generation to verify your API credentials.
5. Click Save Configuration to activate AI across the platform.

Complete 6-Stage Order Lifecycle

1. Pending — New order placed by diner; waiting for restaurant confirmation.
2. Confirmed — Restaurant accepts order; sends ticket to the kitchen.
3. Preparing — Kitchen chef begins cooking (displayed on KDS screen).
4. Ready — Food packaged; ready for customer pickup or driver pickup.
5. On The Way — Driver picked up package; live GPS tracking active.
6. Delivered — Meal handed to customer; payment settled to restaurant wallet.

1. Subscription page or currency sync shows HTTP 500 or unstyled partial page

Cause: Low PHP max_execution_time or low memory_limit on shared hosting causing PHP to time out mid-render.

Fix: Increase your PHP settings in cPanel (MultiPHP INI Editor) or DirectAdmin to:

memory_limit = 256M
max_execution_time = 120
max_input_time = 120

2. Logger error mentioning Declaration of Monolog\Logger::emergency... must be compatible with PsrExt (or missing laravel.log)

Cause: The server has the outdated PECL C-extension psr (psr.so) enabled in PHP 8.3 extensions. Because its old PHP 7-era signatures clash with modern Monolog 3 and PSR-3 typehints, PHP halts with a fatal compile error whenever logging is triggered, causing HTTP 500 errors on subscriptions, failure to generate laravel.log, and currency sync failures.

Fix: Apply either of the following 1-click solutions:

• Option A (Recommended for PHP 8.3): In DirectAdmin or cPanel under Select PHP Version → Extensions, find and UNCHECK / DISABLE psr, then click save. Modern Laravel bundles its own complete PHP-based PSR-3 logging suite in Composer, making the C-level extension redundant and harmful.
• Option B: Switch your domain or web root to PHP 8.4 in DirectAdmin / cPanel, where this outdated extension is not active.

3. Uploaded food images or QR codes return 404 Not Found

Fix: Ensure write permissions are set on assets/menu-items/, assets/restaurants/, and assets/qrcodes/ (chmod 775). Also ensure APP_URL in main/.env matches your exact domain with https://.

4. Stale view changes after upgrading files

Fix: Delete all files inside main/storage/framework/views/ so Laravel recompiles fresh Blade views.

5. White screen error: Composer detected issues in your platform: Your Composer dependencies require a PHP version ">= 8.3.0"

Cause: Your server or domain is currently running PHP 8.2 or lower. FeastFlow is built on modern Laravel 13, which requires PHP 8.3.0+.

Fix: Upgrade the active PHP version for your domain to PHP 8.3 (or higher):

• cPanel: Navigate to MultiPHP Manager (or Select PHP Version), select your domain, and switch to PHP 8.3.
• DirectAdmin: Navigate to Domain Setup → PHP Version Selector and choose PHP 8.3.
• Cloud / VPS (Ubuntu/Debian): Run sudo update-alternatives --config php and select PHP 8.3, or ensure your Nginx / Apache site configuration points to php8.3-fpm.sock.

Q1: Do I need to edit the .env file to configure payment gateways, Google Gemini / OpenAI, or SMTP?

Answer: No! FeastFlow was engineered with a comprehensive administrative interface. All third-party service credentials (Stripe, PayPal, Razorpay, Paystack, Flutterwave, Google Gemini, OpenAI, Groq, SMTP mail servers, Twilio SMS, WhatsApp, and Google Maps) are configured visually through the Super Admin Dashboard UI under /admin/settings/*. The .env file is used strictly for database connection parameters during manual installation.

Q2: Why am I getting an HTTP 500 error or partial unstyled page on subscription or currency sync pages?

Answer: FeastFlow synchronizes live exchange rates for over 160 global currencies, performs automated PDF invoice generation, and handles multi-tier restaurant usage tracking. On standard shared hosting, default PHP settings (often max_execution_time: 30 and memory_limit: 128M) cause PHP to time out mid-render. Increasing your PHP limits in cPanel (MultiPHP INI Editor) or DirectAdmin to memory_limit = 256M and max_execution_time = 120 permanently solves this.

Q3: Why was laravel.log not created automatically on a fresh installation?

Answer: If your server has the outdated PECL psr or psrext C-extension enabled in your hosting control panel's PHP Selector, it conflicts with Monolog 3. Simply open your hosting control panel's PHP Selector → Extensions, find and uncheck / disable `psr`, and click save. Laravel bundles its own PHP-based PSR logger, and laravel.log will automatically generate normally.

Q4: Is an SSL Certificate (HTTPS) required to run FeastFlow?

Answer: Yes. Modern web browsers strictly mandate HTTPS for mobile camera access (used when diners scan contactless table QR codes), HTML5 Geolocation (used for delivery driver turn-by-turn routing), and secure payment gateway webhooks. Free Let's Encrypt SSL certificates are provided with virtually all modern cPanel and DirectAdmin hosting plans.

Q5: Can restaurants connect their own payment gateways?

Answer: Yes! FeastFlow features a plan-gated dual payment architecture. Super Admin can enable "Direct Payment Gateways" on higher-tier SaaS subscription plans, allowing restaurant owners to connect their own Stripe or PayPal accounts to receive 100% of customer order funds directly into their merchant accounts with zero platform delay.

Q6: How often are multi-currency exchange rates updated?

Answer: With your 1-minute server cron job active (* * * * * php artisan schedule:run), FeastFlow automatically queries verified global currency feeds once per day. Platform administrators can also trigger an instantaneous rates recalculation anytime by clicking the "Sync Live Rates" button in the Super Admin Currencies console.