Installation

The script runs on any standard PHP and MySQL hosting. There is no command line, framework or build step - upload the files, edit one configuration file and run the installer.

Server requirements

• PHP 7.4 or newer (PHP 8.x recommended)
• MySQL or MariaDB with utf8mb4 support
• PHP extensions: PDO MySQL, cURL, GD, mbstring
• Apache with mod_rewrite if you want search-engine-friendly URLs (optional)
• HTTPS is strongly recommended, and required by Stripe webhooks and PayPal in live mode

Install in five steps

1. Upload the files. Copy the whole script folder to your hosting - to the web root (public_html) or to a sub-folder such as /restaurants.
2. Create an empty database in your hosting control panel (or let the installer create it if your MySQL user is allowed to).
3. Edit config.php. Set your domain name, the database host, user, password and database name. The table prefix (restaurants_) can stay as it is.

   $DOMAIN_NAME = "www.yourdomain.com";
   $DBHost = "localhost";
   $DBUser = "your_db_user";
   $DBPass = "your_db_password";
   $DBName = "your_database";
   $DBprefix = "restaurants_";

4. Run the installer. Open https://www.yourdomain.com/install.php in the browser. It creates all tables, the default settings, the first administrator, cuisines, listing plans, pages and the FAQ. You can optionally add demo restaurants.
5. Delete install.php from the server when it has finished.

Folder permissions

PHP must be able to write to these folders: uploaded_images/, thumbnails/, languages/ and locations/. On most hosting this is permission 755 (or 775) with the correct owner.

First login

Installing in a sub-folder

If the script is not in the web root, set $DOMAIN_NAME with the folder, for example www.yourdomain.com/restaurants. When you turn on search-engine-friendly URLs, make sure the RewriteBase in .htaccess matches that folder.

Optional: Stripe webhook

For reliable online payments add a Stripe webhook that points to https://www.yourdomain.com/webhook_stripe.php. See Stripe setup.

Last updated 1 November 2026