> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.maple.inc/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# How Maple is organized

> Organizations, merchants, and locations: how a partner account is structured and who can do what.

If you bring restaurants to Maple, you work inside a partner **organization**. This page explains how an organization, its restaurants, and their locations fit together.

## The hierarchy

```
flowchart TD
  Org[Organization: your partner account] --> M1[Merchant: a restaurant business]
  Org --> M2[Merchant: another restaurant business]
  M1 --> L1[Location]
  M1 --> L2[Location]
  M2 --> L3[Location]
  M1 -.-> LE1[Legal entity]
  M2 -.-> LE2[Legal entity]
```

### `Organization`

your partner account

The account Maple creates for you as a partner. It contains your merchants. People on your organization’s team can manage every merchant and location under it.

### `Merchant`

a restaurant business or brand

One restaurant business. A merchant has one or more locations, and one owner. Payment and billing setup for a merchant is held by its legal entity.

### `Location`

one physical restaurant

A single restaurant site. Each location has its own phone number, agent, menu, hours, and POS connection. A location is the unit Maple prices and bills: every location has a plan.

### `Legal entity`

the company that is billed

The company that is billed and that receives payments. A merchant usually has one. A merchant with several companies can have a different legal entity for different locations.

A merchant belongs to one organization, and a location belongs to one merchant. Locations don’t move between merchants.

## Who can do what

| Role                         | Where it applies       | What it can do                                                                                  |
| ---------------------------- | ---------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Organization team member** | Your organization      | Switch into any merchant and location under the organization. Works as an admin on all of them. |
| **Owner**                    | A merchant             | The restaurant owner. Each merchant has one owner.                                              |
| **Admin**                    | A merchant or location | Full management of that merchant or location, including its users.                              |
| **Manager**                  | A merchant or location | Runs the location day to day. Has fewer permissions than an admin.                              |
| **Staff**                    | A merchant or location | The most limited role.                                                                          |

Roles are set per person. People you invite to a single location only see that location.

## Contract terms and product terms

If you read the reseller agreement, here is how its terms map to what you see in the dashboard:

| In the agreement  | In Maple                  |
| ----------------- | ------------------------- |
| Partner           | Organization              |
| Customer          | Merchant                  |
| Customer location | Location                  |
| License           | A location on a paid plan |

## Next steps

- [Get your partner account](https://docs.maple.inc/partners/partner-account.md): How your organization is created and how to add teammates.
- [Add a restaurant](https://docs.maple.inc/partners/add-restaurant.md): Create a merchant or add a location.
- [Set up a location](https://docs.maple.inc/partners/location-setup.md): The checklist from profile to go live.
- [Billing](https://docs.maple.inc/partners/billing.md): How plans and billing work.

Building an integration with the Developer API? See [Organizations, merchants, and locations](https://docs.maple.inc/developer-api/concepts/entities.md).