Whether you want to keep real-time collaboration open for corporate-owned stores or limit communication for franchise-owned locations, this update puts control and compliance back in your hands.
How to Enable or Disable Chat Between HQ and Location Staff
Release Date: November 6, 2025
Type: Enhancement
Module: Messaging & Communication
1. What Changed
A new feature flag allows you to turn chat on or off between HQ and location staff.
This can be set:
Your Delightree Customer Success Manager can toggle this for you.
This feature brings back the HQ-to-location chat option, but now with stronger compliance controls so franchisors can manage communication more safely.
2. How This Impacts Your Organization
With this update, franchisors and HQ admins can:
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Decide whether HQ staff can chat directly with location teams
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Adjust settings for each location based on ownership structure
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Maintain oversight and auditability for all chat conversations
Examples:
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Corporate-owned locations: Chat can be turned on to support quick, real-time coordination.
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Franchise-owned locations: Chat can remain off if the brand needs stricter governance or wants to avoid joint-employer risk.
This gives franchisors flexibility without compromising compliance.
Note: Future updates will allow you to choose which user roles can use chat within those locations.
3. What You Need to Do
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Let your CSM know your preference:
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Enable chat for all locations
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Enable chat only for select locations
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Keep chat disabled entirely
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Be aware that chat is two-way communication.
If you need to send one-way updates from HQ to multiple locations, continue using Announcements.
No additional setup is required once the feature flag is turned on.
4. How This Affects Your Current Workflows
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Turning on chat does not replace Announcements or Tasks.
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Chat provides a faster communication channel when HQ needs direct contact with location teams.
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All chat history is archived and auditable, which protects both franchisors and franchisees from compliance risk.
Locations with chat enabled will see a “Chat” option to communicate with HQ. Those without it will not see chat at all.
5. Recommended Communication Guidance
When rolling this out internally or to franchisees:
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Position it as a controlled HQ-to-location communication channel
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Clarify that each brand/location may have different chat permissions based on governance needs
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Reinforce that Announcements remain the tool for broadcast-style messages
If you’d like chat enabled for your brand or want to pilot it at a few locations first, just reach out — we can turn it on immediately.
Ready to customize your communication flow? Check out Setting Up Advanced Chat Permissions next