Privacy Policy

Who we are and what this policy covers

Menu Tools is a product of Beertender LLC, a Washington limited liability company. In this policy, "we", "us", and "our" mean Beertender LLC. "You" means the person reading it, whether you run a venue that uses our product, you are thinking about it, or you scanned a QR code and landed on a menu we render.

This policy covers two things we operate. The first is this marketing website at menu.tools. The second is the Menu Tools application at app.menu.tools, which includes the public display pages and QR menus it publishes on behalf of our customers.

This policy does not govern how our customers run their own businesses. A venue that uses Menu Tools decides what goes on its menus. Its own relationship with its customers is its own to manage.

Information you give us

On this website

The only way to give us information on this site is the form on our contact page. That form requires your name, your business name, your email address, and a message, because we need all four to understand what you are asking and to reply to it. It also offers optional fields for your phone number and the number of locations you run. We use what you send to answer your question, and we may email you about the product afterwards. Section 17 explains that second use and how to stop it.

In the Menu Tools app

If you open an account, we collect the information needed to run it. That includes your name and email address, the credentials you use to sign in, your venue and location details, and the email addresses of any team members you invite.

We also store the content you create, which is your menus, your item catalog with descriptions and pricing, and any media you upload such as logos, images, and video. We store that content so we can render your displays and QR menus. We do not use it for anything else.

Information we collect automatically

On this website

When you submit the contact form on this website, our server records the IP address the request came from and the user agent string your browser sends. We keep both to detect and block spam and abuse, and to investigate security problems. We do not use either one to build a profile of you or to track you anywhere else.

Beyond that, this marketing website sets no cookies. It runs no analytics, it embeds no third party scripts, fonts, or trackers, and it loads nothing from an outside content network. The only script on the entire site is the one that submits the contact form. If we ever add analytics or any other outside service to this website, we will update this policy in the same change that adds it.

In the Menu Tools app

The app does set a cookie. Signing in requires one, because that cookie is how the app remembers who you are as you move between pages. It is strictly necessary to deliver a service you asked for. It carries no advertising function, it does not follow you to other websites, and deleting it simply signs you out.

The app also keeps ordinary server logs. Those records include the IP address a request came from, the user agent your browser sends, the time of the request, and which page or endpoint it reached. We use them to keep the service running, to diagnose faults, and to investigate abuse and security problems. We do not use them to build a profile of you or to advertise to you.

The app loads fonts from Google, as section 5 describes for published menus.

Payment information

Stripe processes payments for Menu Tools. When you subscribe, you enter your card details with Stripe directly. Stripe holds them. We never receive or store your full card number, and we could not retrieve it if you asked us to.

What we see is the information we need to run your account. That includes your plan, your billing status, your billing contact details, and the last four digits and card brand that Stripe reports back to us. Stripe handles the card data you give it under Stripe's privacy policy.

People who view your menus

This section is for the people who see a menu we render, including customers who scan a QR code in a venue.

Published menus are public by design. A TV display URL and a QR menu URL both work for anyone who has the link, and neither sits behind a login. That is the point of them. It also means you should never put personal information about a real person into menu content.

Published menus load fonts from Google Fonts. Menu Tools lets each venue choose the typography for its templates, and the browser fetches those font files from Google's servers when the menu loads. As part of that request, Google receives the viewer's IP address and browser user agent. Google handles what it receives under the Google privacy policy. We do not send Google anything about the venue, the menu, or the viewer beyond what the font request itself carries.

We set no cookies on people who view a menu. We do not follow them across other websites. We do not build advertising profiles of them.

How we use your information

We use the information described above for these purposes and no others.

• We answer your questions and follow up on enquiries you send us.
• We tell you about Menu Tools by email, which you can stop at any time. Section 17 explains how.
• We operate the service, which means rendering your displays and QR menus, keeping your account working, and letting your team sign in.
• We bill you for the plan you chose and keep the records that billing requires.
• We provide support when you ask for it, which sometimes means looking at your account to work out what went wrong.
• We keep the service secure by detecting spam, abuse, and attacks against it.
• We meet legal obligations, such as tax records and lawful requests we cannot refuse.

We do not sell your personal information

We have never sold personal information and we do not intend to start. We do not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising, which is the term California law uses. We do not use it for targeted advertising. We do not run advertising on this site or in the product at all.

We also do not profile you in any way that produces legal effects or similarly significant effects. We make no automated decisions about you.

Who we share information with

We share information with three service providers, each of which does a specific job for us. We name them so you can read their policies yourself.

• Amazon Web Services hosts this website and the Menu Tools app, stores the data behind both, and delivers our email. Your data sits on AWS infrastructure that we control.
• Stripe processes payments, as section 4 describes.
• Google Fonts serves the typography on published menus, which means Google receives the IP address of anyone who views a display or a QR menu, as section 5 describes.

Beyond those three, we disclose information only in two situations. We disclose it when the law compels us, such as a valid subpoena or court order. We tell you when we are permitted. We would also transfer it as part of a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets. In that case this policy continues to apply until we give you notice of a new one.

You own your data

Your menus, your items, your pricing, and your media belong to you. We store them for one reason, which is to render your displays and QR menus. We claim no ownership of them. We do not license them, mine them, or use them to build anything else.

You can edit or delete any of it yourself, at any time, from inside the app. That covers menus, items, media, locations, and team members. Nothing requires our permission and nothing requires you to ask us first.

You can also close your account entirely. Ask us using the contact details in section 21, and section 11 explains how quickly we then delete everything.

Your privacy rights

We extend the following rights to everyone who deals with us, wherever you live, rather than checking your address against a list of states first.

• You can ask what personal information we hold about you and get a copy of it.
• You can ask us to correct anything that is wrong.
• You can ask us to delete it.
• You can ask for it in a portable format you can take elsewhere.
• You can ask us to stop using it for a particular purpose.

To make a request, email privacy@menu.tools or use the contact form. Tell us what you want and enough detail for us to find you. We verify requests against information we already hold, because we will not hand your data to somebody claiming to be you. An authorized agent may act for you if you give them written permission and we can confirm it.

We respond within 45 days. If a request is genuinely complicated, we may take another 45 days. We will tell you before the first period runs out. Exercising any of these rights costs you nothing. We will never degrade your service or charge you a different price because you did.

If we refuse a request, we will tell you why. You can appeal by replying to our decision or writing to privacy@menu.tools with the word "appeal" in the subject. A different person reviews the appeal. We respond within 45 days of receiving it.

How long we keep information

We keep each kind of information only as long as we have a reason to.

• Contact form submissions reach us in two places. Our database holds one copy and expires it automatically at 24 months. The form also emails your enquiry to us.
• Account and menu data stays as long as your account is open. When you close your account or ask us to delete it, we remove it within 30 days.
• Billing records stay as long as tax and accounting law requires, which is generally seven years. We keep the record of the transaction, not your card details.
• Encrypted backups lag behind the live data by up to 35 days. Deleted information disappears from backups within that window.

How we protect information

Every connection to this website and to the app runs over TLS. We encrypt data at rest in our databases and file storage. The files behind this website live in private storage that only our content network can reach, never directly from the internet. Our systems grant each component the narrowest permissions it needs to do its job.

No method of transmitting or storing data is perfectly secure. If a breach ever affects your personal information, we will notify you. Section 13 sets out the specific timeline we follow in Washington.

Washington residents

Beertender LLC is a Washington company, and Washington law applies to how we handle your information.

We do not collect consumer health data. The Washington My Health My Data Act (RCW 19.373) regulates data that identifies a consumer's past, present, or future physical or mental health status. We collect none of it, we infer none of it, and we sell none of it. We maintain no separate consumer health data privacy policy. Menu content that describes food or drink, including allergen notes a venue chooses to publish, describes products rather than any identified person.

Breach notification. If a breach exposes your personal information as Washington defines it, we will notify you without unreasonable delay and no later than 30 calendar days after we discover it, as RCW 19.255.010 requires. We will also notify the Washington Attorney General when the law requires it. Our notice will describe what happened, what information was involved, and what we are doing about it.

Consumer protection. Nothing in this policy limits your rights under the Washington Consumer Protection Act, RCW 19.86.

California residents

What we collect. We collect identifiers such as your name, email address, phone number, and IP address. We collect commercial information such as your plan and billing status. We collect internet activity information, meaning the user agent string your browser sends and the request records in our server logs, as section 3 describes. We collect the content you create in the product. We collect no biometric information, no geolocation beyond what an IP address implies, no sensitive personal information, and no information about your race, religion, health, sexuality, or union membership.

Where it comes from. We collect personal information from three sources. You give us most of it directly, through the contact form or your account. Your browser sends the rest automatically when it makes a request to us, which is the IP address and user agent described in section 3. Stripe reports your billing status back to us, as section 4 describes.

Who receives it. Amazon Web Services, Stripe, and Google Fonts, as section 8 sets out. We disclose personal information to no other category of third party.

Reviewing and changing your information. You can edit most of it yourself in the app. For anything else, follow the process in section 10.

Do Not Track. Some browsers send a Do Not Track signal. We do no cross site tracking of any kind, so there is nothing for that signal to turn off. If we ever introduce anything that could be described as tracking, we will honor Global Privacy Control signals and we will say so here first.

Shine the Light. Under California Civil Code section 1798.83, you may ask whether we disclosed personal information to third parties for their own direct marketing. We do not.

Residents of other states

A growing number of states have passed comprehensive privacy laws, including Virginia, Colorado, Connecticut, Texas, Oregon, and Montana. Rather than maintain a list that goes stale every legislative session, we simply grant everyone the rights in section 10, including the right to appeal a refusal. Use the same process wherever you live.

Children's privacy

Menu Tools is a business tool, and we do not direct it to children. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 13, which is the threshold the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act sets. We do not knowingly collect it from anyone under 16 for the purposes of state laws that use that age instead.

If we learn that a child gave us personal information, we delete it promptly. If you are a parent or guardian and you believe that happened, contact us using section 21 and we will take care of it.

Email from us

We send transactional email that the service itself requires, such as password resets, billing receipts, and notices about your account. You cannot unsubscribe from those while your account is open, because they are part of the service you are paying for.

We may also send you email about Menu Tools itself, such as a new feature, a product update, or a follow up to an enquiry you sent us. Every one of those messages carries an unsubscribe link. We act on an opt out promptly. You can also email privacy@menu.tools and ask.

Unsubscribing from product email changes nothing else. You keep receiving the transactional email described above, and your service continues exactly as before.

Where we process information

We store and process everything in the United States, in Amazon Web Services. We offer Menu Tools to businesses in the United States, and we do not currently market it elsewhere. If you use it from another country, understand that your information travels to the United States and that United States law governs it here.

Links to other sites

This site links to places we do not control, including Stripe, Google, and whatever we happen to cite in a blog post. Those sites run under their own privacy policies. We take no responsibility for what they do. Read their terms before you hand them anything.

Changes to this policy

We reserve the right to change this policy at any time, at our discretion. The version posted on this page is always the one in force.

We update this policy when our practices change. We post the new version here with a new effective date at the top. When a change materially affects how we handle your information, we email account holders before it takes effect rather than relying on you to check this page.

We will never apply a materially different practice to information we already hold without telling you first.

How to contact us

For anything about privacy, including any request under section 10, email privacy@menu.tools. That address reaches the people who can actually act on it.

For anything else, use the contact form. Both reach us, and the email address exists so that a privacy request never depends on a web form working.

Beertender LLC
A Washington limited liability company
privacy@menu.tools