Multi-outlet: set up a head office

Run several stores or restaurants from one head office - add outlets, link businesses you already run or a franchisee's, and see what each outlet keeps and what it gets from the head office.

How it works

Your head office is one of your POS businesses. Each outlet is a POS business of its own, with its own address and bills. The head office links them into one group:

Each outlet keeps its own	The head office gives every outlet
Bills, bill numbers and receipts	The central menu: products, categories, variations, add-ons, taxes and combos
Registers, opening cash and day close	Offers, happy hour, price lists and loyalty settings
Stock, purchases and expenses	Points and store credit customers can use in any outlet, if you choose
Tax number and its accounting books	The head office dashboard and reports across all outlets
Staff and their roles	Stock transfers between outlets
Printers, kitchen stations and tables	The plan: every outlet runs on the head office's plan

It works the same for restaurant chains, cloud kitchens with several brands or kitchens, franchise groups and retail chains. The head office is an outlet too: it bills like any other.

Before you start

Multi-outlet is part of the Professional and Business plans. The plan page shows how many outlets each plan includes and the most a group can have. You can try it during the free trial.
Only an Admin can switch it on, add outlets or remove them.
Pick the business that will be the head office. It is usually your main store or restaurant, or the one where the owner works. An outlet of another head office can't be a head office.

Switch it on

In the head office business, go to Settings › Billing Settings › Features.
Tick Multi-outlet (head office) and click Save.
A Head Office section appears in the menu with Dashboard, Outlets, Central Menu, Offers to Outlets, Reports and Stock Transfers.

Switched off, nothing changes anywhere. You can switch it off again only when no outlets are linked.

Add outlets

Open Head Office › Outlets. There are three ways to bring an outlet in.

A new outlet

For a new store or restaurant that isn't on Ellibo yet.

Click Add outlet.
Type the Outlet name, for example Spice Hub - Oak Park, and its address. The address prints on its bills.
Under People from the head office who can work there, tick the people who should also sign in to the new outlet.
Click Add outlet.

The outlet is made as a new business with the head office's country, currency and time zone. It has its own bills, registers, day close and stock from the first day.

A business you already run

If you already run another POS business with Ellibo, where you are an Admin:

Under Link a business you already run, find it in the list.
Click Link as outlet and confirm.

Its bills, products and stock stay as they are. From now on its plan comes from the head office.

Paid time is not lost

If the business you link had its own paid plan, the unused time is worked out and credited to the head office's plan. You see it under Credits from businesses that joined on the Outlets page.

Another owner's business (franchise)

For a franchisee or partner who runs their own Ellibo POS business:

On the Outlets page, under Another owner's business (franchise), click Make a join code. The code lasts 7 days.
Send the code to the other owner.
Their Admin goes to Settings › Billing Settings › Features, clicks Join a head office, types the code and clicks Join.

Their business becomes your outlet. Their bills and stock stay as they are. Their plan, central menu and offers now come from your head office, and you see their sales in your reports.

Open an outlet

On Head Office › Outlets, each outlet shows today's sales and bills, whether its day is Open or Closed, and its plan status. Click Open to switch to that outlet. You can also switch from the business menu at the top, as with any of your businesses.

Inside an outlet, the menu shows Head Office › Stock Transfers and My Head Office, which says which head office the outlet belongs to.

Plan and Extra outlet add-on

Every outlet runs on the head office's plan. Outlets don't buy a plan of their own.
The plan includes a number of outlets. For more, buy the Extra outlet add-on on the head office's Upgrade Plan page, one for each extra outlet. It is available on Professional and above.
The Outlets page shows how many outlets you have, how many the plan covers and the most this plan allows.

If the plan covers fewer outlets than you have

This can happen when the plan or an Extra outlet add-on ends, or after a move to a smaller plan.

The head office always keeps billing.
Outlets inside the paid number keep billing as usual.
Outlets beyond the paid number keep billing for a few grace days (3 unless the Outlets page says otherwise). Their badge shows Stops in … days.
After the grace days they show Stopped - not on the plan. They can't open the day, save bills or take online orders until you pay for them. Nothing is deleted, and their reports can still be seen.
Choose which outlets keep billing first under Which outlets keep billing first: move them up or down and click Save order. The outlets at the top keep billing.

As soon as the plan or add-on is paid again, the stopped outlets bill again.

Remove an outlet

On Head Office › Outlets, click Remove next to the outlet and confirm.
The outlet leaves the group. Its bills, products and stock stay. It stops getting the central menu and offers, and needs its own plan from then on.

An outlet can't leave by itself: its Admin asks the head office to remove it.

Change the head office

The head office is not fixed. You can make any outlet the head office, for example when the central kitchen or the main store moves.

Make sure the outlet that becomes the head office has its own plan with Multi-outlet (Professional or Business, or a running free trial). Open that outlet and buy it under Plan & Billing if needed. Outlets run on the head office's plan, so the plan moves with the head office.
If the current head office pays by card with automatic renewal, turn the renewal off first (Plan & Billing › Manage billing). After the move it is an outlet and its own plan isn't used.
In the head office, open Head Office › Outlets and click Make head office next to the outlet. You need to be an Admin of both businesses.
Read what will happen, type MOVE and confirm. Ellibo opens the new head office.

What happens:

The chosen outlet becomes the head office. The Multi-outlet switch, the Head Office menu and the group move to it. The old head office becomes an ordinary outlet of it.
Products, offers, price lists and raw materials sent from the central menu stay linked: the next send comes from the new head office. Anything the new head office doesn't have a copy of is simply unlinked in the other outlets (nothing is deleted).
Lock price and Send to settings move to the new head office's products.
Every outlet's bills, stock, day close, reports and books stay exactly as they are. Open transfers carry on.
The old head office's unused paid time is credited to the new head office.
Extra outlet add-ons stay with the business that bought them. If the new head office's plan covers fewer outlets than you have, buy the add-ons again there; outlets beyond the paid number stop billing after the grace days.

You can move the head office back the same way.

Switch Multi-outlet off

Remove every outlet first (finish or cancel their open transfers).
In the head office, untick Multi-outlet (head office) in Billing Settings › Features and save.

The business then leaves its group and is a single business again. It can later join another head office as an outlet with a join code, or switch Multi-outlet on again to be a head office.

Who can do what

Admins of the head office switch the feature on, add, link and remove outlets, choose which keep billing, and move the head office (they must be Admin of the new head office too).
Managers of the head office see the dashboard and reports, and send the menu and offers, for every outlet.
People in an outlet work there as usual. They don't see other outlets' bills.