FAQ
Short answers to the questions franchisors ask most often — each one points to the full page when you need the detail. New here? The Set up guide walks you through getting the console ready, and the Overview explains how the pieces fit together.
Getting started
What is BuddyStall for Franchisors, and how does it relate to BuddyStall?
They are two connected products. BuddyStall is the store app your franchisees run day to day — POS, inventory, time clock, expenses. BuddyStall for Franchisors is the console you run the network with: brand presets, your StockHouse and supply orders, the sales dashboard, and compliance alerts. The two exchange data automatically, so you never chase reports. See the Overview; the store app has its own documentation.
Do my franchisees need their own BuddyStall account?
Yes. Each franchisee signs up for a separate, self-contained owner account that pays for its own subscription — you never create accounts on their behalf. What your signup link does is connect that new account to your brand and load your preset into it. See Invite franchisees.
I run more than one brand — how do I move between them?
The franchises home lists every brand as a card; click one to open its workspace. Once inside, the franchise switcher in the header jumps you to another brand and lands you on the same screen you were viewing. Each franchise is self-contained — its own preset, StockHouse, orders, stores, and settings — so check the switcher before you change anything.
Bringing franchisees on board
How does a franchisee actually join my brand?
They create their BuddyStall account through your franchise's signup link. Every brand gets its own link when you create it, ready to copy from the Profile card on Branding & settings. Signing up through it connects their business to you and applies your published preset automatically. See Invite franchisees.
Someone opened my link and was told the franchise was not found.
The link's Link is live switch is still off. A new brand's link starts off, and while it is off nothing resolves — the person would sign up unconnected. Turn it on beside the link on Branding & settings. Switching it back off has the same effect on every copy already in circulation.
If I rename the brand, do the links I already shared stop working?
No. The identifier is fixed when the brand is created and renaming does not change it, so a link you handed out months ago keeps working whatever you have called the business since.
A franchisee signed up without my link — is it too late?
No. They can join from their own side afterwards: Settings → Franchise Connections → Connect new, which runs the same compare-and-load review before anything is written. It is still worth insisting on the link, since it makes the connection at signup with nothing to review. Their side is documented in Connect & sync a franchise.
Presets and how changes reach stores
Where is the publish button?
There isn't one. Every edit to a preset saves immediately, and your preset is current from that moment — what it also does is mark the franchise as having an update available. A connected store's own catalog does not change until that store pulls it. See How updates reach stores.
I changed a preset price and the store is still selling at the old one.
Because a reload is the store's to run, and value changes — names, prices, costs, recipe quantities — arrive in their review dialog as unticked checkboxes. Left alone, the store keeps what it has and you can raise it again on the next reload. The mark only says something changed, so tell your stores separately when a change matters.
Which changes reach stores without waiting for a reload?
Two, both on a preset inventory item. The Franchisor-exclusive switch applies the moment you save it, and Cost per Unit — the price charged on orders to you — is read fresh each time a store opens your catalog or places an order. Raise it today and tomorrow's order is billed at the new figure. See Preset inventory.
Can a store simply refuse a change I make?
For the values it lives with day to day, yes. Structural changes are applied for them — which sizes and add-on groups an item carries, what a combo is made of, and the units on the items only you supply. Removals are always the store's to accept.
I deleted something from a preset — what happens to stores using it?
If no connected store holds the row, it is deleted outright with everything under it. If a store does hold it, it is archived instead — it leaves your active list for the collapsible Archived section, keeps a Restore button, stops going out to new stores, and the stores that already have it are asked on their next reload. Accepting archives their copy: it leaves their working lists while past sales and reports keep referring to it. Recipes are the exception — a deleted recipe line is simply gone on the next load, with no approval step. See How updates reach stores.
Do I need a preset expense item for every inventory item?
No. Every preset inventory item arrives in each store with a paired Material expense item already wired to its stock, so a purchase recorded against it restocks that store's inventory. Keep the preset expenses catalog for what is not tied to inventory — gas, packaging, fees.
Franchisor-exclusive items
What does marking an item Franchisor-exclusive actually do?
It ties that item's supply to you. The item carries an amber Franchisor Only badge, stores can restock it only by ordering from you (recording a direct expense against it is disabled), its unit, pack content, and cost are locked on the store side, and it cannot be edited, deleted, or archived there. It also becomes required to set a Cost per Unit, registers itself in your StockHouse so it is orderable straight away — and switches on the monitoring that tells you whether the rule holds. See Presets overview.
Which items should I mark exclusive?
The proprietary ones that genuinely have to come from your StockHouse. For anything a store can reasonably buy locally, leave the switch off: stores keep control of their own cost and sourcing, and you avoid becoming the bottleneck on a bag of sugar.
Does an exclusive item need a recipe?
It needs one to be worth watching. If an exclusive item is used in no menu-item or add-on recipe, a sale never deducts it from a store's stock, so the sales-driven signals have nothing to track. The Preset Recipes screen shows an amber banner naming every exclusive item no recipe uses yet, and clears itself once they are all in use.
Supply orders
A store says it can't find an item to order.
It is not registered in your StockHouse. An unregistered item does not appear in a store's order catalog at all, even when the preset lists it — registration is the deliberate gate that stops a store ordering something you have no way to ship. Register it from Central inventory. Exclusive items register themselves, at quantity 0.
When is my StockHouse stock actually deducted?
At Shipped, one line at a time. Accepting an order only commits you to filling it — no stock moves. See How orders flow.
Why won't an order ship?
Because a line has more ordered than you have on hand. Shipping is refused and names the item, and nothing is deducted until every line clears — so restock that item, or revise the order down first. On Pending and Accepted orders the item table shows your current stock beside each line, turning red where you are short.
Can I change the price on an order?
No. Unit prices come from your preset catalog and are fixed on the line when the order is created, so changing a preset cost affects future orders only. What you can change is quantities: Revise Quantities on a Pending order. On a store or partner order the change goes On hold for the buyer to approve or reject; on a public-form order it applies immediately. See Accept & fulfill orders.
The customer received less than I shipped — how do I bill it?
The order is flagged as a Discrepancy and you settle it when you invoice: the invoice bills only what actually arrived. Per short line, enter the units to return to StockHouse — those never shipped — and leave it at 0 for units lost or damaged in transit. Enter the delivery fee gross; the invoice already bills less for a short delivery, so netting the shortfall into the fee would double-count it.
A buyer isn't on BuddyStall — can they still order?
Yes, through your public order form: one login-free page per franchise, built from your registered StockHouse items. Submissions land on the same board with a Form badge. Because there is no account on the other side, they get no status emails, you mark the order Delivered yourself, and a revision applies immediately instead of going for approval — so call them before you ship.
Who can cancel an order, and until when?
A store can withdraw its own order right up until you accept it. The moment you accept, cancelling is yours alone — on a Pending or Accepted order. Once an order has shipped, stock has moved and there is no cancel from your side. You can also move an Accepted order back to Pending if you accepted too soon.
StockHouse stock and money
What does the amber "Not counted" pill mean?
The item has never had a stock count, so there is no expected-versus-actual figure to check a physical count against. Use Set opening stock on its row as soon as you register it — variance tracking starts from that first count. See Stocktake & waste.
Should I log waste or take a stocktake correction?
Log waste when you know stock was destroyed, expired, or thrown away — it is
dated, costed against the item, and leaves a linked Waste: {item} expense
record. Use a stocktake correction when stock is simply missing and you
cannot explain why: it fixes the count without claiming a cost, which is more
honest than logging waste for a loss you cannot account for.
What's the difference between Wholesale Price and Default Purchase Cost?
Wholesale Price comes from the preset item — it is what stores pay you when they order it. Default Purchase Cost is yours: it prefills the unit cost when you record a purchase, values waste against the item, and stands in as the Dashboard ranking's unit cost (badged Std) when no purchase falls in the period. Changing one never changes the other. See Central inventory.
My Net Profit looks wrong for the month.
It is Revenue (completed orders, counted by their completion date) minus Cost (purchases and expenses in the period), and it does not track the value of stock sitting in the warehouse. A month you stock up heavily looks unprofitable even though the stock is still on the shelf. Read it as a cash-flow indicator for the period, not accounting profit. See the StockHouse dashboard.
An item is missing from the item profit ranking.
It has neither a purchase in the period nor a Default Purchase Cost, so it drops into the separate unpriced table rather than being counted as pure profit. Set a Default Purchase Cost to bring it into the ranking. Note too that unregistering an item removes it from the ranking for past periods as well.
Partner suppliers
What is a partner supplier, and do their orders come to my board?
A partner supplier is a third party you bring into the franchise who sells to your stores directly, from their own supplier app. Those orders run between them and the store — they never reach your board. What you control is the link: you register the partner and approve, reject, or revoke each store owner who asks to buy from them. A partner buying from your StockHouse is the other case, and that order does appear on your board with a Partner badge. See Partner suppliers.
A partner lost their password — can I look it up?
No — passwords are never stored in readable form, so a plain resend can only repeat the sign-in link and their login email. Open the partner's page and use Resend Invite Email with a new password: the account is reset to what you type and the new password is included in the mail.
Does stock a partner supplies count against a store's sourcing?
It counts for it. For items you marked Franchisor-exclusive, deliveries from an authorized partner are an approved channel — so an exclusive item sourced that way reads as compliant, not as a gap. See Sales vs Orders.
Alerts and compliance
My Alerts screen is empty — does that mean the network is clean?
Not necessarily. Every compliance alert is gated on the Franchisor-exclusive switch. If nothing in a franchise's preset inventory is marked exclusive, its compliance screen stays empty forever — not because there is nothing wrong, but because there is nothing being watched. See the Alerts overview.
What's the difference between the Integrity and Data-quality scores?
They are two independent lanes and are never added together. Integrity asks should I investigate? — stock that went missing, corrections that keep reappearing, portions trimmed below your preset. Data-quality asks should someone fix the records? — deliveries entered days late, an impossible portion typed in. Merged into one number, the careless store and the dishonest one would look identical. See the Risk board.
Will I be emailed when an alert fires?
No. There are no emails for compliance alerts — the dot beside a franchise's Alerts entry is how you find out, and it is the Integrity band expressed as a colour: red for High or Critical, amber for Medium (or a brand-new critical alert that has not yet aged into a band), no dot below that. Data-quality never lights it, and neither does Sales vs Orders — which is why that tab is worth a pass every month or so on your own schedule.
An alert disappeared without me doing anything.
Most clear themselves. A negative inventory row drops off the moment the item's balance is back at zero or above, and a recipe deviation clears once the recipe is set back within range. Correction alerts are the exception: a Cumulative signal can dilute as ordinary consumption widens its window, but a Negative-clearing one stays until you Acknowledge it. Note also that a correction waits 72 hours before reaching the board, so a delivery entered late explains itself before you ever see it.
One store's Sales vs Orders percentage is low — is that proof of anything?
No — it is a question, not a finding. The absolute number depends entirely on your margins; what matters is how one store compares with the rest of the network (red below a third of the median, amber below half). Before raising it, widen the period to Lifetime, check days since first delivery in the tooltip, cross-check the Risk board, and consider whether a partner's deliveries are simply not being recorded — that drags every store it serves down at once.
What do the "No Orders" and "No Sales" cards mean?
No Orders is franchise sales with nothing delivered through an approved channel in the period — the most suspicious end of the tab, though a store that stocked up beforehand or whose deliveries went unrecorded lands there too. No Sales means the ratio has no denominator: closed stores, stores not yet open, and stores whose POS is not being used. Their orders are listed anyway, which is often the interesting part.
Sales dashboard and stores map
A store's sales look lower here than what the owner reports.
The dashboard counts only what came from the preset menu. An item the owner added on their own sells on the store side and never reaches your network totals — deliberately, so what you measure is your own menu selling across every store. See the Sales dashboard.
A store is missing from the map.
It has no coordinates yet. Normally the owner sets them when creating or editing the store; until then it shows a Location not set marker in the list with a Set location button so you can fill it in. In that dialog, searching only moves the map — the location is whatever point you click. See the Stores map.
Can I show stores that aren't on BuddyStall yet?
Yes. Add Store records an external store — owner, name, and location — so the map shows the real footprint of the brand while you are still rolling the platform out. They appear as green pins with a Not on BuddyStall badge. Delete the external entries once that owner joins properly, so their real stores take over.
Your account and billing
I can't sign in — how do I reset my password?
The Franchisor sign-in screen has no self-service reset. Contact BuddyStall to have the account reset, then set a new password from Settings › Account. While you are signed in you can change it any time from the Change Password card. See Login & password.
Can I sign in to the Franchisor portal with a store account?
No. The portal accepts Franchisor accounts only — an owner, manager, or staff account is turned away with an "access denied" message. Your franchisees sign in to the store app instead.
How is my monthly amount worked out?
A base plan plus the size of your network beyond an included allowance, following your agreement. Each period runs about 1 month and is billed in advance, at the highest number of active (not archived) stores across your network during the period that just ended. The Billing card always shows your current plan, next billing date, and next amount. See Billing & subscription.
What happens if an invoice goes unpaid?
Payment due starts a 7-day grace period — everything keeps working, and the billing tag at the top of the console counts the days down. After that the account goes Locked: you can sign in and view your data, but not change anything until you pay. Paying returns it to Active. After sending the money, always select I've paid via GCash and enter the reference number from your GCash receipt — that is how we match the payment to your account.
Still stuck?
Didn't find your answer here? Reach out from the contact section of the BuddyStall for Franchisors page and we'll help you out.