Move Restaurant from Chain to Standalone

Member termination and exit is an unavoidable part of franchise operations. Franchise agreements expire, owners choose to go their own way, or holding companies divest units. Vendion supports this via a controlled detachment process.

Typical scenarios

1. Franchise agreement ends: Franchisee chooses not to renew; unit operates standalone
2. Unit sale: Holding sells a restaurant to new owner outside chain
3. New chain: Restaurant changes chain (requires detach from old + attach to new)
4. Temporary separation: Rare, but some chains want to temporarily isolate a unit (e.g. ownership change)

How the process works

In MVP (April 2026), detach happens via Vendion support. Chain owner or restaurant owner contacts us to request exit.

Step 1: Legal clarification

Before detach:

• Chain owner and restaurant owner must agree
• Outstanding economic flows (intercompany transactions) should be regulated
• Gift card balances should be considered (see below)
• Any royalties should be paid

Vendion may ask for written approval from both parties.

Step 2: Detach execution

Vendion support detaches the restaurant from the chain. This means:

• Restaurant's chain link is cleared
• All previous locks from the chain are removed
• Chain gift cards keep their scope (logic discussed below)

Step 3: System consequences

For menu items:

• All menu items previously copied from the chain template are preserved locally
• Template link isn't broken automatically – but future publishes don't reach the unit
• Local admin can now freely edit previously locked fields
• "Classic burger" stays, but no chain changes pushed

For gift cards:

• Existing local cards (scope=NULL) unaffected
• Chain gift cards previously redeemable here: can NO LONGER be redeemed
• Cards the unit issued with chain scope: remain valid (scope preserved)

For loyalty:

• Local loyalty continues unchanged
• Pooled loyalty (when feature ships): unit's guests leave pooled program; migration path TBD

For brand lock:

• Locks cleared → all restaurant fields become editable
• Local admin can now change logo, colors, name, slug freely
• Any restaurant logo pointing to chain's CDN URL needs swapping by new owner

For chain members:

• Chain admins automatically lose access to this restaurant (inherited rights break)
• Local restaurant members unaffected

Step 4: Financial final settlement

Detach doesn't affect accounting automatically. Chain owner and restaurant should:

1. Reconcile all intercompany transactions
2. Pay any outstanding receivables/payables
3. Mark as "reconciled" in system (or send closing invoice)
4. Generate SIE exports for last month

From detach point, no new intercompany transactions arise between unit and chain.

Example: Franchise end after 3 years

Scenario: "Burger & Co Uppsala" has been franchise for 3 years but agreement expires 2026-06-30.

Process:

1. June 15: Restaurant and chain sign termination agreement
2. June 28: Last publish of menu template to unit
3. June 30, end of day: Last Z-report. All daily revenue settled.
4. July 1, 00:01: Vendion support contacted
5. July 1: Vendion support runs detach. Unit becomes standalone.
6. July 1: Local admin builds own brand: new logo, new name ("Uppsala Burgers AB")
7. July 1: Unit can now price freely, have own menu, own loyalty

During June 30 - July 1:

• All intercompany transactions settled
• Chain owner and restaurant pay each other outstanding amounts
• Chain gift cards issued before June 30 are still redeemable at the unit until their expiry dates (per agreement)

Edge case: Outstanding chain gift cards

Big issue: customer bought 1,000 SEK chain card at HQ. Can redeem at Uppsala. But Uppsala leaves chain.

Alternatives:

1. Keep validity: card can still be redeemed at Uppsala, but unit sends invoice to HQ for amount
2. Let expire: card can only be redeemed at remaining member restaurants; Uppsala no longer part
3. Buyback: HQ buys remaining balance back from Uppsala with final settlement

Decision made in termination agreement between chain and franchisee.

Edge case: Guests in pooled loyalty

When pooled loyalty is live: guests who qualified for Gold tier based on Uppsala consumption lose Uppsala from pool. Their tier may drop at next nightly recompute.

Guests typically informed via email by chain owner or Uppsala (or both).

Can detach be undone?

Not automatically. If it was a mistake, chain owner and restaurant can jointly contact Vendion support to re-attach. Then:

• Chain link is restored
• Brand lock and menu templates must be applied manually again (data preserved but locks must be re-set)
• Gift card scope doesn't change (cards that lost scope remain lost)

This is more manual than first attach.

Can a restaurant switch chains directly?

Technically: detach from old + attach to new. In practice requires coordination between both chain owners (since data from old chain's brand lock is cleared).

Example: "Burger & Co Uppsala" leaves "Burger Buffet Holding" and joins "Nordic Restaurants Group":

1. Detach from Burger Buffet Holding
2. New ownership formalized
3. Attach to Nordic Restaurants Group
4. Nordic's brand lock applied (new logo, new name, new AI)

Takes typically 1-2 business days.

Legal implications

Vendion stores no data rows transferring ownership. We don't move money. All financial settlements happen outside Vendion – between companies directly.

Vendion's role: administrative access control + providing data for final settlement.

Next step: Chain – First-Time Setup (Checklist) – summary of the whole setup process.