Setting Up House Accounts

A House Account is a payment type that lets specific customers place orders at a restaurant without paying at checkout, similar to a running tab that is settled later. This article explains what a House Account is, who typically needs one, and links to the steps for setting up and managing House Accounts.

What a House Account Is

A House Account is a payment type that enables specific customers to place orders at a restaurant without immediate payment during checkout. This deferred payment option can be offered as a courtesy to valued customers, allowing them to establish a restaurant tab that they settle on a future date.

Direct Ordering facilitates these transactions by associating only authorized customers with each House Account, allowing those customers to pay with the associated House Account during online checkout. If a customer's email address is not associated with a House Account in the backend, that customer cannot use the House Account as a payment method online.

Once a House Account payment is assigned to an order, the order's Payment Status in Direct Ordering becomes AUTHORIZED. Actual payment collection occurs when the customer settles their House Account balance, which changes the Payment Status to PAID.

It is recommended to establish House Accounts only with trusted customers.

Who Needs a House Account

A customer may request a House Account with a restaurant for several reasons:

• They have team members authorized to order team meals but not authorized to use a company credit card.
• They have only one team member authorized to issue bill payments.
• They have limited bandwidth in their accounting department and cannot process time-consuming expense reports for employees who purchase team meals on their own.
• They are a tax-exempt organization that requires meticulous expense tracking. With a House Account, all tax-exempt meal receipts are available in one location.

Setting Up and Using House Accounts

The following articles cover each step of configuring and using House Accounts, in order:

1. Enabling House Accounts at the Brand and Store Levels: turn on the House Account payment option before it can be used.
2. Creating a House Account: create the House Account itself.
3. Associating a Customer with a House Account: add the customers authorized to use the account.
4. Limiting a House Account to Specific Store Locations: restrict which locations and order types accept the account.
5. How Customers Use a House Account Online: how associated customers confirm, pay with, and settle their House Account.