NeighborFood Privacy Statement

Personal Identifiers: Information that identifies you, such as your full name, postal address, telephone number, and email address. We collect this information when you create an account or place orders. Email addresses are verified via a 5-digit code to ensure authenticity.

Authentication Data: If you choose to enable biometric sign-in (e.g., Face ID or fingerprint authentication) on your device for accessing the App, we will utilize your device's built-in biometric authentication services. Note: NeighborFood itself does not receive or store your biometric identifiers (fingerprint or facial data); the authentication check is performed by your device's operating system. By enabling this feature, you consent to the use of your device's biometric data for login purposes.

Location Data: With your permission, we collect precise GPS location data from your device to provide location-based Services. This includes real-time geolocation tracking when you are using the App (for example, to show nearby home chefs, restaurants, or farmers, or to track deliveries to your address). We may also collect location in the background if you enable location services for the App (for instance, to update delivery status). You can disable location access at any time in your device settings, though certain features (like finding local sellers or delivery tracking) will not function without location information.

User Content: We collect any content you upload or create on the App, such as photos of food, profile pictures, and other files you choose to submit. This includes access to your device camera and/or photo library (with your permission) to take or upload images. For example, if you are a seller, you might upload photos of your dishes; if you are a customer, you might upload a profile image or share photos in a chat. By granting camera or photo access, you consent to our collection of images or files you choose to share. In-app chat messages and call logs between you and other users (e.g., delivery drivers or sellers) are also collected and stored to facilitate communication and for safety and support purposes. We may monitor or review communications if necessary to prevent fraud, abuse, or violations of our terms.

Account and Transaction Information: When you use our Services, we collect information related to your orders and transactions. This includes details of the food orders you place or fulfill, delivery instructions, payment amounts, and dates/times of transactions. If you are a food seller (such as a restaurant, home chef, or farmer), we may collect additional business information such as your food business license or permits, insurance documentation, and any other credentials you provide to verify compliance with food safety laws.

Payment Information: We use a third-party payment processor, Stripe, to handle payment transactions. When you provide payment card details to make a purchase, that information is transmitted directly to Stripe. We do not store your full credit or debit card numbers on our own systems. However, we may receive limited payment information from Stripe such as your card type, expiration, billing address, and a transaction confirmation. All payments are processed pursuant to Stripe's services agreements; by making payments through NeighborFood, you consent to Stripe's collection and use of your payment information as governed by Stripe's Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.

Device and Usage Information: We automatically collect certain technical information about your device and how you interact with our App. This may include your device type and model, unique device identifiers (e.g., advertising ID or device ID), operating system and version, mobile network, IP address, App version, and analytics information about your usage of the App (such as features used, pages viewed, links clicked, and session duration). We collect this information to improve the functionality and user experience of our Services (for example, by diagnosing performance issues or analyzing usage patterns). We may use cookies or similar tracking technologies in the App or in emails to collect engagement information (for instance, to remember your preferences or track delivery status updates).

Location of Data Storage: All user data collected through NeighborFood is stored on secure servers provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Hostinger. These third-party hosting providers are employed to store and manage data on our behalf in the United States. We implement measures (described below) to secure the data stored on these servers.

To Provide and Improve the Services: We use your personal information to operate NeighborFood and deliver the Services you request. This includes processing your registrations and logins, verifying your identity (including via email verification codes or biometric login if enabled), facilitating food orders and deliveries, and enabling features like real-time order tracking, in-app chat, and calls. We also use data to maintain and improve the App's functionality, quality, and user experience (for example, to debug software issues, optimize route calculations, or refine our UI based on usage patterns).

Order Fulfillment and Communications: Your information is used to enable transactions and communications on the platform. For example, we use your name and address to send orders to your chosen restaurant or chef and to guide drivers to your delivery location. We use your contact information (phone and email) to send order confirmations, updates, and receipts, or to contact you if there's an issue with your order. If you are a seller, we use the information you provide (including license documents) to verify your eligibility and to communicate orders to you. In-app chat and call data may be used to connect you with drivers or sellers for coordination and support.

Payments and Account Billing: We use transaction and payment information to facilitate payments for orders through Stripe. This includes charging your payment method for purchases, transmitting billing information to Stripe, and verifying successful payment. If there are payment issues or disputes, we will use relevant information to resolve them (for example, by checking Stripe's transaction confirmations or refunding a charge when appropriate).

Location-Based Services: We use location data to tailor the Service experience. For instance, the App may use your precise location to display nearby participating home chefs, restaurants, and farmers, or to determine which vendors deliver to your area. During an active delivery, location data is used to update you on the driver's route and estimated arrival, and to assist drivers in finding your drop-off point. We may also use location history in an aggregate way to improve service coverage or logistics (such as optimizing delivery zones or matching you with the closest courier).

Safety, Security, and Fraud Prevention: We are dedicated to keeping the NeighborFood community safe. We may use your data to detect, investigate, and prevent fraudulent transactions, spam, abuse, security incidents, and other harmful activity. For example, we might use information about devices and accounts to identify multiple accounts or suspicious behaviors, verify user identities, confirm that sellers have valid licenses, or monitor chats for scam attempts. If you use biometric authentication, the fact that you enabled it may be used as a security indicator (not the biometric data itself). We may also use and disclose information as needed to enforce our Terms of Use, to protect our rights and the rights of users, or to comply with applicable laws.

Customer Support: When you contact us for help or to resolve an issue, we will use the information we have about you (such as your account or order details and any communications history) to assist you. This may include reviewing your chat communications or order records, or asking for additional information like photos (for example, a photo of an incorrect order) to resolve a complaint. We may also use your contact information to reach out to you with follow-up communications about your support case.

Personalization and Marketing (with consent): We may use your information to personalize your experience. For example, we might remember your favorite restaurants or past orders to suggest re-orders, or highlight new farmers' market offerings near your location. We may also send you promotional communications about new features, special offers, or partnerships that we think could interest you. We will only send marketing emails or texts with your consent or as permitted by law, and you can opt out of these messages at any time (see Your Rights and Choices). Note that we do not share your personal information with outside third parties for their own marketing purposes without your explicit consent.

Legal Obligations and Compliance: We may process and retain your information as necessary to comply with our legal obligations and regulatory requirements. For example, we might keep transaction records to fulfill tax and accounting rules, or use personal information to respond to lawful requests by public authorities (such as subpoenas or court orders). If required by law (for instance, certain jurisdictions have laws regarding biometric data or consumer privacy), we will take steps to comply, such as obtaining any necessary consents or providing disclosures (which this Policy is part of).

Business Transfers: In the event that NeighborFood undergoes a business transition, such as a merger, acquisition by another company, or sale of all or part of its assets, your personal information may be among the assets transferred. We would use your information in the same manner and for the same purposes by any successor entity, and will notify you (for example, via an in-app notice or email) of any such change in ownership or control of your personal information, should it occur.

Food Sellers (Restaurants, Chefs, Farmers): When you place an order, we share the necessary details with the third-party food provider fulfilling your request. This typically includes your first name and last name initial (or full name for some orders), delivery address, order details (the items you ordered), and in some cases your phone number (to assist with order questions or coordination). If you include special instructions or notes for the seller, those are also shared. These providers use your information solely to prepare and, if applicable, have your order ready for pickup or delivery. They are independent entities and are responsible for their own compliance with privacy laws; however, we contractually require that they only use customer information for fulfilling orders and not for other purposes without consent.

Delivery Couriers: If your order involves delivery, we share information with the independent delivery driver or courier assigned to bring you your food. This includes your name (to confirm identity), delivery address and geolocation for navigation, and your phone number or in-app contact (so the driver can reach you if needed for directions or drop-off). We may also share relevant order details that help the courier (e.g., "leave at door" instructions or size/weight of the package). Couriers are only permitted to use this information to complete the delivery and are bound by confidentiality obligations.

Payment Processor (Stripe): As noted, we use Stripe to process payments. We share information with Stripe to the extent necessary for payment processing, fraud prevention, and related financial services. This includes transmitting your payment details securely to Stripe when you make a payment, and Stripe in turn provides us confirmation or error codes. Stripe may also receive identifying information about you (like name, email, and billing info) along with payment details to process transactions and comply with anti-fraud and anti-money laundering regulations. Stripe is authorized to use this information as needed to provide payment services and to comply with applicable law, but they are not permitted to use your personal information for other purposes. Please review Stripe's Privacy Policy for more details on their practices.

Service Providers: We employ other trusted third-party companies and individuals to help us operate, analyze, and improve NeighborFood. These service providers may need access to certain personal information to perform tasks on our behalf, and they are contractually obligated to safeguard your data and use it only for the purposes we specify. Examples of such third parties include:

Business Partners: With your consent, we may share limited information with third-party partners for joint offerings or promotions. For example, if we partner with a local community event or another app for a special discount, we might share a list of promotional code recipients or work with a partner to deliver a cross-service feature (like showing your NeighborFood orders in another app you use, if you authorize linking accounts). In such cases, we would inform you and obtain your agreement to any such data sharing.

Legal and Safety Disclosures: We may disclose your information when we believe in good faith that such disclosure is necessary to: (i) comply with a legal obligation, applicable law, or governmental request (such as a subpoena, court order, or law enforcement demand); (ii) enforce our Terms of Use or other agreements; (iii) address or investigate fraud, security, or technical issues; or (iv) protect our rights, property, or safety, or those of our users, sellers, drivers, or the public. This could include sharing information with law enforcement or regulators, or pursuing remedies to prevent harm or illegal activity. We will carefully evaluate all such requests and only provide the minimum information necessary in each case.

Corporate Transactions: If NeighborFood is involved in a merger, acquisition, financing due diligence, reorganization, bankruptcy, receivership, sale of company assets, or transition of Service to another provider, your information may be disclosed to the parties involved (e.g., a potential acquirer and its auditors or legal advisors) as part of the transaction. We would require any such successor to handle personal information in a manner consistent with this Privacy Policy or notify you if it will be handled differently.

Access and Update Your Information: You can access and update much of your account information by logging into the NeighborFood App and visiting your account profile or settings. Here, you may edit your personal details such as name, phone number, email, and delivery addresses. It is your responsibility to keep your information current, and we encourage you to promptly update any inaccurate or outdated personal information.

Device Permissions: In most cases, you have the ability to control what information your device shares with us via the App. You can disable or adjust the App's access to certain device features or data through your device's privacy settings. For example, you can revoke permission for location services, camera access, photo library access, microphone (for calls), or biometric authentication at any time. Please note that if you disable required permissions, certain features of the Service may no longer function (for instance, disabling location will require you to manually enter addresses for deliveries, and disabling camera access will prevent photo uploads).

Marketing Communications: If you have subscribed to receive promotional emails or text messages from NeighborFood, you can opt out at any time. To unsubscribe from emails, click the "unsubscribe" link at the bottom of any marketing email, or adjust your notification settings in the App if available. To opt out of SMS messages, follow the instructions provided in the text (such as replying "STOP" to a promo SMS). Transactional and service-related communications (like order confirmations and updates, receipts, or customer support messages) are not subject to these opt-out mechanisms as they are necessary for providing our Services.

In-App Notifications: We may send push notifications or alerts to your mobile device to notify you of order updates or important account information. You can control push notifications in your device's settings (usually under the App permissions or notifications section). Disabling push notifications may impact your awareness of time-sensitive updates (like a driver's arrival), so we recommend keeping them on for a better experience.

California Privacy Rights: If you are a California resident, you have specific rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and its amendments (such as the CPRA). These include the right to request: (i) Disclosure of Information – you can request that we disclose to you the categories of personal information we have collected about you, the categories of sources of that information, the business or commercial purpose for collecting or sharing it, the categories of third parties with whom we share personal information, and specific pieces of personal information we hold about you; (ii) Deletion – you can request that we delete personal information we have collected from you (subject to certain exceptions allowed by law, such as if the information is required to complete transactions or for legal compliance); and (iii) Correction – you can request that we correct inaccurate personal information about you. California residents also have the right to opt out of any "sale" of personal information or "sharing" of personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising. However, NeighborFood does not sell personal information to third parties for monetary value, nor do we share personal information for targeted advertising without consent. We also will not discriminate against you for exercising any of these rights (for example, we won't deny you Services or provide a different level of quality just because you made a privacy rights request).

Other U.S. State Privacy Rights: Residents of certain other states (such as Virginia, Colorado, Connecticut, and others with privacy laws) may have similar rights to access, delete, or correct personal information and to opt out of certain data processing activities. NeighborFood will honor valid privacy rights requests in accordance with applicable state laws. You may contact us to inquire about your rights under your state's laws and how to exercise them.

Withdraw Consent: In cases where we rely on your consent to process personal information (for example, if you explicitly consented to optional data collection or to receive marketing communications), you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time. You can do so by changing the relevant settings in the App or contacting us. Note that withdrawal of consent will not affect the lawfulness of processing based on consent before its withdrawal, and in some cases, may mean that certain services can no longer be provided (e.g., if you withdraw consent for location data, we cannot provide location-based recommendations).

Account Deletion: You have the option to delete your NeighborFood account. You may do this through the App (if such feature is available in your account settings) or by contacting customer support with a request to delete your account. Deleting your account will remove your profile information from active use, and you will no longer be able to log into the App or use the Services. However, note that we may retain certain information after account deletion as required or permitted by law (see Data Retention below).

Do Not Track: Some web browsers or devices may transmit "Do-Not-Track" (DNT) signals. Because there is not a common standard for how to interpret DNT signals in the context of mobile apps and online services, we do not respond to DNT signals. Instead, we adhere to the privacy standards described in this Policy and provide the controls outlined here for you to manage data collection.

Encryption: We use encryption protocols (such as HTTPS/TLS) to protect data transmitted between your device and our servers. Sensitive communications, particularly payment data handled by Stripe, are encrypted during transmission. For data stored on our servers, we rely on AWS and Hostinger security features which include encryption at rest for stored data and regular backups.

Access Controls: We restrict access to personal information to authorized NeighborFood employees, contractors, and service providers who need to know that information in order to perform their duties and provide our Services. All such personnel are bound by confidentiality and are subject to disciplinary action (including termination and legal consequences) if they fail to meet these obligations.

Monitoring and Testing: We regularly monitor our systems for possible vulnerabilities and attacks. We employ up-to-date security software and tools, maintain firewalls, and use intrusion detection systems to guard against unauthorized access. Periodically, we conduct security assessments and penetration tests of our applications and infrastructure to identify and fix potential weaknesses.

Secure Development Practices: Our development and operations follow best practices for security, including regular software updates, code reviews with a focus on security, and secure credential management. We also ensure that any third-party libraries or SDKs integrated into our App are vetted for security and privacy.

Incident Response: In the event of a data breach or security incident, we have a response plan to investigate and mitigate the issue. If a breach involving your personal information occurs, we will notify you and the appropriate authorities as required by law, and we will take all reasonable steps to minimize harm and prevent recurrence.

Active Accounts: For as long as you maintain an active NeighborFood account, we will keep your profile information, preferences, and transaction history. This allows us to provide you with your order history, favorites, and for customer support and accounting purposes.

Orders and Transactions: We retain records of your orders and payments to facilitate any post-order support, refunds, or disputes. Even if you delete your account, we may preserve order information (stripped of direct identifiers when possible) for internal record-keeping, such as financial reporting and compliance (e.g., tax obligations or to honor chargebacks and refunds).

Communications: In-app chat logs or call records are generally retained for a limited duration, which is reasonably necessary for order fulfillment, safety, and support. For example, we might keep communications for a few months after an order in case of disputes or investigations, then delete or anonymize them unless needed for an ongoing issue.

Legal Compliance and Protection: If we are under a legal obligation to retain information (for instance, certain jurisdictions require retaining sales records for a number of years, or we have to keep data related to an investigation or litigation hold), we will retain the information for as long as mandated. Similarly, we may retain information as necessary to enforce our agreements or protect our legal rights (e.g., to resolve any disputes, or if we are owed any fees).

Deleted Accounts: When you request account deletion, we will remove or de-identify personal information in our active databases. However, law or legitimate purposes may require that we keep certain data for a period of time. For example, we might retain basic information about a closed account to prevent fraud or identity theft (e.g., to note that the user requested deletion and verify if the same identity tries to re-register), or keep transaction records for financial compliance. Where data is retained, we will continue to treat it in accordance with this Privacy Policy and only for the purposes justified. When it is no longer necessary to keep the data, we will securely dispose of it.