Invite Customers Vendors can invite restaurant customers to Mathership so they can connect with your vendor company and place orders.
Use invitations when you want a customer to create or activate their Mathership account and become connected to your vendor account.
What is a customer invitation? A customer invitation is a connection request from a vendor to a restaurant or customer company.
When the customer accepts the invitation, Mathership can create or activate a vendor-customer relationship.
This relationship allows the customer to:
See your vendor company
Access your products, depending on availability
Place orders with your company
Use customer numbers assigned by you, if available
When to invite a customer Invite a customer when:
The customer is not yet connected to your vendor account
You want the customer to order through Mathership
You want to assign a customer number
The customer needs to set up their Mathership account
You want the customer to activate the relationship themselves
Invitation and customer relationship An invitation is different from a completed customer relationship.
Type Meaning Invitation A pending request sent to a customer Customer relationship An active connection between your vendor company and the customer company
Once the invitation is accepted, Mathership can create or activate the customer relationship.
To invite or add a customer, you usually need customer information such as:
Field Required Example Email Yes customer@example.com First name Yes Anna Last name Yes Keller Business name Recommended Main Restaurant Customer number Optional 4711
Customer numbers are managed by the vendor. They help you identify customers in your own system.
Inviting a new customer To invite a customer:
Go to Vendors
Open your vendor company
Go to Customers
Select Invite Customer or Add Customer
Enter the customer information
Add a customer number, if needed
Send the invitation
After sending the invitation, the customer receives an email and can continue with the account setup or invitation acceptance flow.
What happens after sending an invitation? Depending on whether the customer already exists in Mathership, different things can happen.
Situation Result Customer already has an account The customer can be connected to your vendor account Customer does not have an account The customer can receive an account setup email Customer has a pending invitation The invitation can be activated when the customer accepts Customer verifies their email later Pending invitations can be activated during verification
Accepting an invitation The customer must accept the invitation while logged in as a customer account.
When the invitation is accepted:
Mathership validates the invitation token
Mathership checks that the user is a customer
The vendor relationship is created or activated
The customer can become connected to your vendor account
Invitations can only be accepted by customer accounts. Vendor accounts cannot accept customer invitations.
Email verification and pending invitations If a customer verifies their email after receiving an invitation, Mathership can activate pending invitations for that user.
This helps connect invited customers automatically after account activation.
Customer numbers in invitations If you assign a customer number during the invitation or customer setup process, Mathership can save it on the vendor-customer relationship.
Example:
Field Example Vendor Fresh Food Supplier Customer Main Restaurant Customer email restaurant@example.com Customer number 4711
The customer number helps your team recognize the restaurant in your own systems.
Existing customers If the customer already exists in Mathership, you can connect the existing customer company instead of creating a duplicate.
Mathership checks whether the customer already exists and whether a relationship already exists.
If the customer is already connected, Mathership should not create a duplicate relationship.
New customers If the customer does not exist yet, Mathership can create a customer user and customer company.
The customer may receive an email to set up their password and access Mathership.
Required information for creating a new customer can include:
Email
First name
Last name
Business name
Optional company details
Optional customer number
Duplicate customer numbers Customer numbers should be unique for your vendor account.
If a customer number is already used for another customer relationship, Mathership can reject the new entry.
Avoid assigning the same customer number to multiple customers unless your internal process explicitly allows it.
Vendor emails to customers When a customer is added or invited, Mathership can send an email to the customer.
The email may be used to:
Inform the customer that your vendor was added
Help the customer set up a password
Continue the onboarding process
Connect the customer to your vendor company
Typical workflow A typical invitation workflow looks like this:
Open your vendor account
Go to customer management
Enter the customer email and company details
Add a customer number, if needed
Send the invitation or create the customer
Customer receives an email
Customer accepts the invitation or verifies the account
Mathership creates or activates the vendor-customer relationship
Example: Invite a new restaurant You want to invite a restaurant that is not yet using Mathership.
Field Example Email restaurant@example.com First name Anna Last name Keller Business name Main Restaurant Customer number 4711
After the invitation, the customer can set up their account and become connected to your vendor company.
Example: Invite an existing customer The customer already has a Mathership account.
Field Example Customer email customer@example.com Customer company Main Restaurant Action Connect existing customer Result Customer relationship is created
The customer can then use your vendor company for orders.
Example: Customer accepts invitation A customer receives an invitation email and logs in.
Step Action 1 Customer opens the invitation 2 Customer logs in as a customer 3 Customer accepts the invitation 4 Vendor relationship is activated
Best practices Use the correct email address Use the email address the customer will use for their Mathership account.
This helps Mathership match pending invitations correctly.
Add customer numbers early If you use customer numbers in your own ERP or accounting system, add them during the invitation or customer setup process.
Avoid duplicate customers Before creating a new customer, check whether the customer already exists.
This keeps your customer list clean.
Keep customer data clear Use recognizable customer names and business names.
Examples:
Less clear Better Restaurant 1 Main Restaurant Berlin Kunde Meier Meier Steakhouse Test City Café Hamburg
Ask customers to verify their email If a customer cannot access the invitation, ask them to complete email verification first.
Pending invitations can be activated after verification.
Common problems Customer cannot accept invitation Check that:
The invitation token is valid
The customer is logged in
The user account has the customer role
The invitation has not expired or already been used
Customer was added but cannot order Check that:
The vendor-customer relationship exists
The relationship is active
The customer is using the correct company
Your products are active and available
The customer has delivery locations
Customer number already exists This means the customer number is already used in your vendor account.
Use a different customer number or check whether the customer already exists.
Email belongs to a vendor A vendor email cannot be used to create a customer account.
Use a customer email address instead.
Customer did not receive the email Ask the customer to check:
Spam folder
Correct email address
Mail filters
Whether another person in the company received the invitation
Related pages
Add Customer Add a customer company manually.
Link Existing Customer Connect a customer that already exists in Mathership.
Manage Invitations Review and manage pending customer invitations.
Customer Details View customer information and delivery locations.
Customer Numbers Manage customer numbers for vendor-customer relationships.
Delivery Locations Understand customer delivery locations.
