The Multi-Location Playbook for Delivery Disputes

One location can wing disputes. A motivated manager checks the dashboard, files what looks wrong, and recovers a decent share. Ten locations cannot wing it. Habits vary by store, dashboards multiply by platform, and nobody sees the total.

Recovering refunds across a footprint is not a bigger version of the single-store task. It is a different task. Here is the playbook.

Why disputes break at scale

• Access is scattered. Logins live with whoever set up each platform at each store.
• Habits are inconsistent. One GM disputes weekly, another never has. Same brand, different recovery.
• Nobody owns the number. Error charges sit below the lines anyone reviews on the P&L, so the total leak stays invisible.
• Deadlines do not scale. Short dispute windows are manageable for one store and brutal across twenty.

The playbook

1. Centralize statement access

One shared, documented set of merchant portal logins for every platform and location. This step alone usually reveals charges nobody was seeing.

2. Standardize one weekly cadence

Same day, same routine, every store. Local flexibility is good for menus and bad for dispute deadlines.

3. Give the number one owner

A single person or team accountable for recovery across the footprint beats twenty part-time owners.

4. Set shared evidence standards

Sealed bags, labeled multi-bag orders, and photo rules should be brand standards, not store preferences, because evidence is what wins disputes.

5. Run a per-location scoreboard

Error charges and recovery rate, by store and by platform, on one page. Outliers jump out immediately, and so do the stores whose process is worth copying.

Staff it or hand it off

At multi-location volume, disputes are a real workflow with real hours attached. Some operators build the role internally. Others route the whole thing to a partner and keep their managers on the floor.

That second path is our entire business. Restaurant Logistics handles disputes and refunds across locations and platforms on pure performance: no setup fees, no contracts, no minimums.