What is a House Account?

A house account is defined in a Point of Sale system as a feature of a restaurant that can allow customers to charge purchases to their respective stored accounts rather than having to pay for their purchases at the time of the purchase. Additionally, records kept within the customer's house account will allow for later periodical settlements of all transactions recorded to that customer's account. Typically equipped with such features, POS systems will enable the restaurant to easily keep records of the purchases completed under its House Account for a variety of regular customers.

How Does a House Account Operate?

A house account operates through associating transactions with an individual consumer account within the POS system. When a consumer who has a house account requests to place an order, the staff can choose the consumer's house account as the purchaser rather than charging them via cash or credit card at that moment.

The POS system will record the order under that account and keep a running balance for that particular account. After a given period (usually after one month), the restaurant will create an invoice or statement to show the consumer all of the transactions for that account during that billing cycle. The consumer will then pay off the entire amount due using whatever payment method they choose. This creates a convenience for the restaurant in serving, tracking its repeat customers & maintaining the transaction history via the POS system.