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A legal entity on CaterCow is the business behind your Stripe account — the entity that gets verified, holds your bank account(s), and receives your tax documents (like your 1099-K). Each of your kitchens pays out to a bank account on one of your legal entities, and until that legal entity is verified with Stripe, the kitchen can’t take CaterCow marketplace orders or get payouts from us. Your own in-house orders aren’t affected.
Most restaurants need only one legal entity. If you run several locations or brands as separate businesses, you’ll need more than one. The video above walks through adding one.
When one legal entity is enough
If all of your kitchens are operated by the same business (the same LLC or company, filing under the same EIN), you only need one legal entity. You can still add multiple kitchens and even multiple brands under it. They all share its verification status, and each kitchen pays out to whichever of its bank accounts you assign.
When you need more than one
Set up a separate legal entity for each business that gets paid and taxed separately:
- Each separate business gets its own. If each of your locations is its own registered business, such as a separate LLC per location (common for franchises and multi-unit groups), give each one its own legal entity. That way, each one’s 1099-K shows only that business’s income.
- Splitting payouts doesn’t need one. You don’t need a second legal entity to send payouts to different bank accounts. One legal entity can hold several bank accounts, and each kitchen pays out to the one you assign it. See How do I add and manage my bank accounts?
A legal entity can cover a single kitchen, an entire brand, or your whole restaurant group — whichever matches how your business is actually structured. One you add yourself covers every brand and kitchen your account can reach. If it should cover only one kitchen or brand, reach out and we’ll set that up.
Adding a legal entity
1. Go to Legal & Bank Accounts, under Finance in the menu. You’ll see each legal entity on your account.
2. Each legal entity shows its Legal Name, Access Restrictions, and Financial Contact Email, and whether it Can Accept Orders? and Can Receive Payouts? Both are checked once Stripe has verified the business.
3. Click Add Legal Entity.
4. Enter the business’s Legal Name exactly as it’s registered, and the Financial Contact Email of the person who handles its finances. You can’t change either one here later; they’re updated through Stripe from the ID Verification tab.
5. Click Add Legal Entity. Your new legal entity opens on its own page, with tabs for its Fields, Bank Accounts, ID Verification, and Documents.
6. To tell your legal entities apart, enter a Nickname, then click Save Details. The nickname shows in place of the legal name across your dashboard.
7. Before this legal entity can receive payouts, it needs a bank account. Click Bank Accounts, then click + New Bank Account to add the account its payouts go to. See How do I add and manage my bank accounts?
8. Click ID Verification, then click Update via Stripe to verify the business on Stripe’s secure page. Until it’s verified, its kitchens can’t take CaterCow marketplace orders or get payouts from us. Your in-house orders aren’t affected.
9. Once Stripe has verified it, Can Accept Orders? and Can Receive Payouts? are both checked on its card. See How do I verify my identity with Stripe to get paid?
How this connects to bank accounts and payouts
Each legal entity holds its own bank account(s), and each of your kitchens is assigned to one bank account (and therefore one legal entity). That assignment determines where orders from that kitchen pay out. A kitchen can take CaterCow marketplace orders only once its legal entity has completed Stripe verification; your in-house orders aren’t affected. See How do I verify my identity with Stripe to get paid? for that step. For how to add accounts and assign kitchens to them, see How do I add and manage my bank accounts?.
If you stop using a legal entity
Click Archive on its card on the Legal & Bank Accounts page. It moves to the Archived tab, where you can click Unarchive to bring it back.