Privacy Policy

This policy explains what information the ChifChef mobile app and this website collect, why, who it is shared with, and the choices you have. ChifChef is operated by Minwa Bentley, an individual trading as Gallium Labs, based in Kenya ("we", "us"). We are the data controller for the personal data described here, and we handle it in line with the Kenya Data Protection Act, 2019.

The short version

• We collect what the app needs to work: your account, your kitchen data and the photos you choose to add.
• We don't sell your data, show ads, or use third-party analytics or tracking tools.
• Receipt photos are read once to suggest pantry items and are not stored on our servers.
• You can delete your account, and everything in it, from inside the app at any time.

Information we collect

Your account

• Email address and password. Your password is handled by our authentication provider and we never see it in plain text.
• Google sign-in. If you sign in with Google, we receive your name, email address and Google account identifier from Google.
• Username and profile photo, if you add one.

Your preferences

• Allergies. The ingredients you tell us you're allergic to, so we can flag recipes that contain them. This is health information, which the law treats as sensitive. Adding allergies is optional, and by adding them you consent to us storing and using them, including with the providers below, for this purpose only. You can remove them at any time in Profile → Allergies.
• Household size, measurement system and language, and notification settings.

Your kitchen

• Pantry items, with quantities, storage location and expiry dates.
• Shopping lists, meal plans and favourite recipes.
• Cookbook pages, including any photos and notes you add.

How you use the app

We keep a simple record of a few actions in the app: signing up, adding a pantry item, logging a cook, planning a meal and favouriting a recipe, with the time each happened and which recipe or ingredient it involved. We use it only to understand which features people use, so we can improve them. It stays on our servers, isn't shared, and we don't use third-party analytics tools for it.

Our administrators can also see, for each account, how many of these actions it has taken and when the most recent one was, so they can help you when you contact us and keep accounts safe. They can't see the pantry items, recipes or ingredients involved.

Receipt photos

When you scan a receipt, the photo is sent to our server and passed to Anthropic's AI service to read the item lines. We use the result to suggest pantry items for you to confirm. We don't store the photo on our servers once the scan is done.

If a receipt lists a cooking ingredient our catalog doesn't know yet, we keep its generic name (for example “coconut milk”) and a count of how often it's been seen, without any link to your account, so we can add it.

Device and notification information

• If you allow notifications, a push notification token for your device and its platform (Android or iOS).
• The notifications we've sent you and whether you've read them.
• Basic technical information that any internet service receives, such as your IP address, in our server logs.

The waitlist

If you join the waitlist on this website, we store your email address and use it only to tell you when ChifChef launches.

How we use your information

• To provide the app: keeping your account, pantry, plans and cookbook in sync and matching recipes to what you have.
• To send the notifications you've turned on, such as items about to expire or meals planned for today.
• To keep the service secure and working, and to answer you when you contact us.
• To understand which features are used, so we can improve the app.
• To email waitlist members about the launch.

We process this data because it's needed to provide the service you asked for, because you consented (for notifications, allergies and the waitlist), or for our legitimate interests in running a secure service, supporting you, and understanding how the app is used so we can improve it. You can withdraw consent at any time in the app's settings or by contacting us.

Who we share it with

We share data only with service providers that run parts of ChifChef for us:

• Supabase: account sign-in, database and photo storage.
• Anthropic: reading receipt photos when you scan one.
• Google: sign-in with Google, if you use it.
• Expo, Google Firebase Cloud Messaging and Apple Push Notification service: delivering push notifications.
• Our website and server hosting providers.

These providers may store or process data outside Kenya, including in the European Union and the United States. Where that happens we rely on their contractual data protection commitments to keep your data protected. We may also disclose information if the law requires it.

How long we keep it

We keep your data while your account is open. When you delete your account, we delete your profile, preferences, pantry, shopping lists, meal plans, cookbook and photos straight away. The record of how you used the app is unlinked from your account at the same time, so what remains can no longer be connected to you. Copies may remain in our providers' backups for a short time until those backups expire. Waitlist emails are deleted once launch emails have gone out or when you ask us to.

Your rights

Under the Kenya Data Protection Act you have the right to:

• be told how your data is used, which is the purpose of this policy;
• access the personal data we hold about you;
• have inaccurate data corrected;
• have your data deleted;
• receive your data in a portable, machine-readable format;
• object to processing, and withdraw consent you've given.

You can edit most of your data, or delete your account, directly in the app (Profile → Edit profile → Delete account). For anything else, email us at support@chifchef.com. If you're unhappy with how we handle your data, you can complain to the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (odpc.go.ke).

Security

Data is sent over encrypted connections, and access to it is limited to what's needed to run the service. No system is perfectly secure, but we work to protect your information and will tell you if a breach affects you.

Children

ChifChef is meant for adults. In Kenya anyone under 18 is a child, and under-18s may only use ChifChef with the consent of a parent or guardian. We don't knowingly collect a child's data without that consent. If you think a child has given us information, contact us and we'll delete it.

Changes to this policy

If we change this policy we'll update the date at the top. For significant changes, we'll also let you know in the app.

Contact

Minwa Bentley, trading as Gallium Labs, Kenya. Email: support@chifchef.com.