Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

WowMenu is a restaurant platform (digital menu, ordering, payments, MenuGPT, loyalty, campaigns, reservations and analytics) operated by Hyve AI Labs FZCO, registered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Our two roles

For information about restaurants and their staff who use WowMenu, and about visitors to this website, Hyve AI Labs FZCO is the controller.

For information about restaurant guests that we process to provide WowMenu to a restaurant, the restaurant is normally the controller and we act as its processor, following its instructions. If you are a guest, the restaurant's own privacy notice applies too; you can contact the restaurant or us, and we will help the restaurant respond.

Contact: support@wowmenu.me

2. Information we collect

From restaurants and their staff

• Account details: name, email address, phone number, business name and address, branches
• Team access: user roles, permissions and an activity log of actions in the Owner Portal
• Billing details: plan, invoices and payment status. Card details are handled by our payment provider and are not stored on WowMenu servers
• Menu content: dishes, descriptions, prices, options, allergens, photos and translations
• Support conversations and usage of the platform

From restaurant guests, through the digital menu

• Session details: the restaurant, branch and table, and the language, theme and currency chosen (stored on the guest's device)
• Orders: items, options, notes, allergies marked on the order, rounds, order status and service requests
• MenuGPT conversations: the questions a guest asks and the recommendations returned
• Payments: payment method, amount, payment reference and split details. Card details are handled by the payment gateway
• Optional guest profile, if the guest signs in: name, email address, mobile number (verified by a one-time code), date of birth if given for birthday offers, allergy alerts, food and dining preferences, order history, loyalty points, tier, rewards and coupons
• Reservations: name, email address, phone number, party size, date and time, occasion, notes, pre-orders and deposits
• Reviews and feedback: ratings, comments and, if given, name and email address
• Company invoice details, if requested: company name, tax registration or VAT number, address and purchase order number
• Marketing consent, recorded per channel (SMS, email, WhatsApp). The consent box starts unticked

From website visitors

• Details sent through our contact and demo forms
• Cookies and similar technologies, described in section 10

3. How we use information

• To provide the service: show the right menu and offers, take orders, send tickets to the kitchen, process payments and issue invoices
• To run the features a restaurant switches on, such as loyalty, coupons, campaigns, win-back messages, reservations, pre-orders, events and memberships
• To send marketing messages on a restaurant's behalf only to guests who opted in, through the channels they agreed to
• To give restaurants reporting, including Revenue Impact and operations insights
• To bill restaurants, provide support and send service notices
• To keep the platform secure and prevent fraud
• To meet legal obligations, such as keeping tax invoices

We do not sell personal data. We do not use guest data to advertise WowMenu.

4. AI features

MenuGPT, the assistant in the guest menu, uses a large language model from a third-party AI provider (currently Anthropic) to generate answers. To answer a question, we send the guest's question together with context from the restaurant's menu and live offers and, for signed-in guests, their loyalty status. We do not send payment card details. Guests should not include sensitive personal information in their questions.

In the Owner Portal, AI features such as AI generate (draft dish descriptions), Auto-translate and AI Suggestions process the restaurant's own menu and sales data to produce drafts and suggestions that the restaurant reviews before using.

5. Legal bases

Where data protection law requires a legal basis, we rely on: performance of a contract (to provide the service); legitimate interests (security, fraud prevention, improving the service and aggregated analytics); consent (for example, marketing messages and optional features where consent is required); and legal obligations (for example, keeping tax records).

For guest data that restaurants control, each restaurant is responsible for having a valid legal basis and for telling its guests how their information is used.

6. Sharing

We share information only as needed to provide the service:

• The restaurant a guest orders from, books with or reviews, and its staff (for example, waiters see a read-only guest profile)
• Service providers that host and run the platform, process payments, send SMS, email and WhatsApp messages, and provide AI features. They act on our instructions under data processing terms
• Systems a restaurant connects, such as its point-of-sale system (for example, Foodics, Square or Lightspeed)
• Advertising platforms, only through the restaurant: WowMenu can prepare hashed customer-list files for Meta, TikTok, Snapchat and Google that a restaurant downloads and uploads itself. WowMenu does not connect to those platforms. The restaurant is responsible for having the consent this requires
• Authorities, where the law requires it
• A buyer or successor, if our business is sold or reorganised, under the same protections

A list of our current service providers is available on request from support@wowmenu.me.

7. International transfers

WowMenu serves restaurants in several countries, so information may be processed in countries other than the one where it was collected. Where the law requires it, we use appropriate safeguards for these transfers.

8. How long we keep information

• Account information: for as long as the account is active, then as long as needed to meet legal, tax and accounting obligations
• Invoices and tax records: for the period the applicable country requires. The country tax profiles in WowMenu range from 4 to 10 years, for example 5 years in the UAE, 6 in Saudi Arabia and the UK, and 10 in Germany
• Guest orders, reviews and profiles: for as long as the restaurant keeps them, and by default up to 3 years after a guest's last activity, unless the law requires longer
• Device identifiers stored on a guest's phone: up to 2 years of inactivity

To ask for deletion, contact support@wowmenu.me (or the restaurant, for guest data). Some records must be kept for legal reasons even after a deletion request.

9. Your rights

Depending on where you are, data protection laws such as the UAE Personal Data Protection Law (Federal Decree-Law No. 45 of 2021), the UK GDPR, the EU GDPR and Saudi Arabia's Personal Data Protection Law give you rights to: - Access the information held about you - Correct information that is wrong or incomplete - Delete information, subject to legal retention requirements - Restrict or object to certain processing - Receive your information in a portable format - Withdraw consent at any time, for example to marketing messages

To exercise these rights, contact support@wowmenu.me. If you are a restaurant guest, you can also contact the restaurant directly. We aim to respond within 30 days.

10. Cookies and local storage

On this website

• Essential cookies, needed for sign-in and core functions
• Preference cookies, which remember choices such as language
• Analytics, used to understand how the site is used. Where the law requires consent for analytics, we ask for it first

In the guest menu

The guest menu stores the guest's language, theme and currency choices and a device identifier on the guest's phone, so the menu remembers them. It does not use advertising cookies.

11. Security

We protect information with measures that include encryption in transit and at rest, role-based access with permissions, approvals for sensitive actions, and an audit trail of actions in the Owner Portal. If a personal data breach affects you, we will notify you and the relevant authorities as the applicable law requires.

12. Children

WowMenu is not directed at children, and we do not knowingly collect children's personal information for marketing.

13. Third-party brand references

This website names other companies and products for comparison and identification. Viewing a comparison page does not share your personal data with those companies or create any relationship with them. All trademarks belong to their owners. Brand owners with a concern can contact support@wowmenu.me.

14. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy. We will post the new version here with its date and, for significant changes, tell restaurants by email or in the Owner Portal.

15. Contact and complaints

support@wowmenu.me

Hyve AI Labs FZCO Dubai Internet City, Building 5, Office 301 Dubai, United Arab Emirates

If you are not satisfied with our response, you may complain to the data protection authority where you live, for example the UAE Data Office, the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), your national supervisory authority in the European Economic Area, or the Saudi Data and AI Authority (SDAIA).