Chowbus Privacy Policy

Last Updated: September 18, 2021

Thank you for visiting www.chowbus.com (the “Site”), which is operated by Chowbus (“Chowbus,” “we,” “us” or “our”). This Privacy Policy (the “Policy”) describes what personal information we and our affiliates collect about you, how we collect it, how we use it and share it, and what choices you have regarding it. This Policy applies to personal information we collect about you when you visit the Site, use our mobile application and anywhere else we may interact with you (collectively, the “Services”). By using the Services, you expressly consent to the collection, use and sharing of your personal information as described in this Policy. If you do not agree with the privacy practices described in this Policy, you should not use the Services. This Policy is governed by and made a part of our Terms and Conditions (the “Terms”). We encourage you to review the Terms as well as this Policy periodically and make sure that you understand the content of each. This Policy may be updated periodically and without prior notice to you to reflect changes in our privacy practices. You should review this Policy periodically so that you keep up to date on our most current policies and practices. Chowbus uses a network of independent third-party contractors (“Drivers”) who provide delivery services to our customers and the restaurants we partner with (“Restaurants”). This Policy does not cover or address: the privacy practices of the Drivers, the Restaurants (including their authorized licensees and franchisees) or our privacy practices relating to the personal information of job applicants, employees, agents and other personnel.

Personal Information We Collect

We collect the following categories and types of personal information:

  • Contact Information: your first and last name, postal address, email address, and phone number;
  • Other identifying information: IP address, passwords and other security information for authentication and access, written content you provide when writing a review, social media usernames, and cookie identifiers;
  • Financial Information: credit card, debit card and bank account information when purchasing products from us;
  • Geolocation Information: precise and/or approximate, if you permit the Services to access location services through the permission system used by your mobile operating system or browser, we may also collect and store the precise location of your device when the Chowbus mobile application is running in the foreground or background of your device. You can choose whether to enable the location tracking feature through the settings on your device or when prompted by the Chowbus mobile application. If you choose to disable the location feature, the Driver will not receive precise location information from your device, which may compromise the accuracy of deliveries in some situations. Demographic information: gender and age;
  • Internet or other electronic activity:: your browsing and click history, including information about how you navigate within the Services;
  • Commercial information: products purchased or viewed within the Services;
  • Audio and visual information: your videos and photos that you have uploaded to the Services and call recordings when you call customer services; and Inferences drawn from the categories described above in order to create a profile about you to reflect your preferences, characteristics, behavior and attitude.

Why We Collect Personal Information

We may use or may have used the personal information we have about you in the following ways:

  • Transactional Purposes:We use your contact information, financial information, and commercial information to:
    • Set up your account with us;
    • Receive, process, confirm, send and track your order;
    • Communicate with you about your order;
  • Analytical Purposes:We use your other identifying information, internet activity and browsing history, commercial information, and demographic information to analyze preferences, trends and statistics.
  • Marketing and Promotional Purposes:We use your contact information, commercial information, demographic information, internet or other electronic activity, and inferences to:
    • Inform you of our new products, services and offers;
    • Provide you with and measure and optimize targeted advertising;
    • Provide you with other information from and about Chowbus, including personalized marketing communications.
  • Maintenance and Improvement of Services and Website:We use your contact information, commercial information, and internet activity and browsing history to:
    • Provide and maintain functionality of the Services, including our customer feedback and review features;
    • Handle your customer services requests; and
    • Help us diagnose technical and service problems and administer the Services.
  • Review and Content Creation Purposes:We use your contact information, commercial information, and audio and visual information to enable reviews of the restaurants we partner with and to display content that you have created and allowed us to display on our Services and on social media and other advertising
  • Security and Fraud Prevention:We use your contact information, other identifying information, commercial information, financial information, geolocation data, internet activity and browsing history, audio and visual information and inferences to protect the Site, our company, and others and to prevent fraud, theft and misconduct.

How We Collect Personal Information

We may collect or may have collected personal information about you from various sources.

  • We collect information directly from you:We collect contact information, demographic information, financial information, geolocation information (such as when you allow us to track your location in our mobile application), and audio and visual information (such as when you post pictures in a review on the Services or on one of our social media pages) directly from you.
  • From your friends or family members:We may collect contact information from your friends or family member when they tag you on a post to one of our social media pages.
  • Through other technologies: We collect audio and visual information such as when you call our customer support.
  • From our business partners and service providers: We may collect contact information, demographic information, commercial information, and internet and electronic activity from demographic companies, analytics providers, advertising companies and networks, third-party retailers, and other third parties that we choose to collaborate or work with.
  • From social media platforms: We may obtain your contact information and other identifying information from a social media platform or network, such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram, if you interact with us on social media.
  • From our affiliates: We may obtain your contact information and other identifying information from affiliates that you have interacted with.
  • We collect information from you passively: We collect Internet or other electronic activity passively using tools like browser cookies. This activity is further described below.

Combining Information

We may combine information you give us online. We may also combine that information with publicly available information and information we receive from or cross-reference with our business partners and service providers. We use that combined information to enhance and personalize your shopping experience with us, to communicate with you directly about our products and events that may be of interest to you, and for other promotional and commercial purposes.

With Whom We Share Your Personal Information

In general, we do not share personal information about you with third parties for such third-parties’ own marketing or advertising purposes. We do share personal information with third parties for other purposes. For example, we share personal information with:

  • Our Service Providers: We may contract with companies or persons to provide certain services including credit card processing, shipping, data analysis and management.We call them our Service Providers.We provide our Service Providers with the information needed for them to perform these services.We also ask our Service Providers to confirm that their privacy practices are consistent with ours.
  • Drivers and Restaurants: To provide you with delivery we also may share your personal information and order details, with the Drivers who complete your requested deliveries. Similarly, we may share personal information the Restaurants to facilitate deliveries such as your first name and last initial and order details. We may also maintain communications resulting from your interactions with us or Restaurants by email or phone such as opinions, ratings, or reviews and share these with Restaurants to provide customer support services, to improve our Services, and for analytics.
  • Our Affiliates: We may share personal information with businesses controlling, controlled by, or under common control with Chowbus.
  • Corporate Transactions: We may share personal information with parties to business transactions such as those we deal with in mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, sales of assets, reorganizations, divestitures, dissolutions, bankruptcies, liquidations, or other types of business transactions. In these types of transactions, personal information may be shared, sold, or transferred, and it may be used subsequently by a third party.
  • Law Enforcement and Courts: In certain instances, we may disclose your contact information when we have reason to believe that it is necessary to identify, contact or bring legal action against persons or entities who may be causing injury to you, to Chowbus or to others. We may also disclose your contact information when we believe the law or legal process requires it.
  • Cookies:When you visit the Site, we or a third-party company may send one or more cookies to your computer or other device. We may also use cookies and other similar technologies in emails that you receive from us. A cookie is a small data file that is placed on the hard drive of your computer when you visit a website. A session cookie expires immediately when you end your session (i.e., close your browser). A persistent cookie stores information on the hard drive so when you end your session and return to the same website at a later date the cookie information is still available. We use cookies to improve the quality of the Services. We also use cookies to identify who you are, tailor measure and optimize the Services and advertising to suit the personal interests of you and others, estimate our audience size, assist our online merchants to track visits to and sales through our Services and to process your order, track your order, and/or analyze your visiting and email interaction patterns. If you would like to opt out of accepting cookies altogether, you can generally set your browser to not accept cookies or to notify you when you are sent a cookie, giving you the chance to decide whether or not to accept it. However, certain features of our web sites or other Services may not work if you delete or disable cookies.
    • We use Google Analytics on the Site to collect usage data, to analyze how users use the Site and to provide advertisements to you on other websites. For more information about how to opt out of having your information used by Google Analytics, visit https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout/.
    • We use a service provided by Mixpanel, Inc. (“Mixpanel”) to provide us with analytics data regarding Website Users’ interactions with our Services. You may opt-out of Mixpanel’s automatic retention of data that is collected while using the Services by visiting https://mixpanel.com/optout/. To track opt-outs, Mixpanel uses a persistent opt-out cookie placed on your device. Please note that if you get a new computer, install a new browser, erase or otherwise alter the browser’s cookie file (including upgrading certain browsers), you may delete the Mixpanel opt-out cookie.
  • Advertising and Online Tracking:We allow third-party companies to serve ads and/or collect certain information when you visit the Site. These companies may use information (e.g., click stream information, browser type, time and date, subject of advertisements clicked or scrolled over) collected during your visits to this and other websites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services likely to be of interest to you. These companies may also tie identifiers associated with a particular browser or device to identifiers associated with other browsers or devices used by the same user or household (e.g., a device identifier associated with a user's computer may be tied to the device identifiers of that user's tablet and phone) in order to measure and target advertisements tailored to user interests across their devices and to send personalized marketing communications. These companies typically use a cookie or third-party web beacon to collect this information. To learn more or opt out from these companies you can visit http://www.networkadvertising.org/choices and https://www.aboutads.info/we also provide you with additional tools to opt out of marketing from us or certain transfers of your information. You can learn about this in the “Opting Out of Mailings” section immediately below.

Mobile Applications

The Site provides you with several opportunities to agree to receive communications from Chowbus, and any of our affiliated brands or divisions. If at any time you wish to stop receiving communications from us, please send us an email to [email protected] with the phrase “Privacy Opt-out: Chowbus Mailings” in the subject line, or write to us at the address provided below, and we will remove you from our mailing list. Alternatively, for e-mail communications, you may opt out of receiving such communications by following the unsubscribe instructions set forth at the bottom of our promotional e-mail messages.

Opting Out of Mailings

Depending on your permissions, we may receive your personal information from your Internet service and mobile device providers. Users of mobile devices who do not want to receive interest-based advertising may opt-out in several ways. Learn more about your choices for mobile devices by visiting http://www.aboutads.info/appchoices. Each operating system, (iOS for Apple phones, Android for Android devices, and Windows for Microsoft devices) provides its own instructions on how to prevent the delivery of tailored in-application advertisements. You should view your device or system “Settings” to determine how you can opt out of use of your device ID for “cross-app” personalized advertising.

Third-Party Sites

In some instances, the Services or our website may link to third-party websites and services that are not controlled by us. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of those websites or services, and your use of them is at your sole discretion and risk. We recommend that you review the privacy policies and practices of any such third party.

Combining Information.

We may combine information you give us online. We may also combine that information with publicly available information and information we receive from or cross-reference with our business partners and service providers. We use that combined information to enhance and personalize your shopping experience with us, to communicate with you directly about our products and events that may be of interest to you, and for other promotional and commercial purposes.

Information Security

Chowbus takes commercially reasonable security and backup measures to protect the information submitted to us. However, no method of transmission over the Internet or method of electronic storage and security is 100% secure. Therefore, while we strive to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security. We encourage all of our customers and partners to retain copies of all uploaded information on their own systems. Additionally, if you contact us by email, you should be aware that email transmissions might not be secure. Information you send by email could be viewed in transit by a third party. We will have no liability for disclosure of your information due to errors or unauthorized acts of third parties during transmission.

Children’s Personal Information

The Chowbus Services are not directed to children under the age of 13 and we do not knowingly collect any personal information from children under the age of 13 without parental consent. If we learn that a child under the age of 13 has provided us with personal information, or that such personal information has otherwise been inadvertently collected, we will delete it in accordance with applicable law.

California Privacy Rights

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”), California residents have certain rights regarding the personal information that businesses have about them. This includes the right to notice, access and/or deletion of your personal information, as well as the right to direct a business to stop selling your personal information.

  • Right to Notice.You have the right to be properly notified of the following:
    • Personal Information We Collect: Please review the section of this Privacy Policy titled Personal Information We Collect for more information about the personal information we collected about you in the past 12 months.
    • Why We Collect Personal Information: Please review the section of this Privacy Policy titled Why We Collect Personal Information for more information on why we collect personal information about you in the past 12 months.
    • How We Collect Personal Information: Please review the section of this Privacy Policy titled How We Collect Personal Information for more information on how we collect personal information about you in the past 12 months.
    • With Whom We Share Your Personal Information: Please review the section of this Privacy Policy titled With Whom We Share Your Personal Information for more information on how we share personal information about you in the past 12 months.
  • Right to Access Your Information: You have the right to request the following covering the 12 months immediately preceding your request:
    • The specific pieces of personal information we have collected about you
    • The categories of personal information that we have collected about you
    • The categories of sources from which we collected the personal information
    • The purpose for collecting or selling the personal information
    • The categories of personal information that we have disclosed about you, the purpose for disclosing such personal information and the categories of third parties with whom we disclosed such personal information
    Please note that we may still use aggregated and de-identified personal information that does not identify you or any individual.
  • Right to Deletion: You have the right to request that we delete any personal information about you that we have collected from you. Please note that there are exceptions where we do not have to fulfil a request to delete information, such as when the deletion of information would create problems with the completion of a transaction or compliance with a legal obligation.
  • How to Exercise Your Access and Delete Rights: To exercise your access and delete rights as described above, please submit a verifiable consumer request to us by emailing us at [email protected].
  • Verifiable Consumer Requests: Only you, or a person registered with the California Secretary of State that you authorize to act on your behalf, may make a verifiable consumer request related to your personal information. You may only make a verifiable consumer request for access to your personal information twice within a 12-month period. The verifiable consumer request must: 1) Provide sufficient information that allows us to reasonably verify you are the person about whom we collected personal information or an authorized representative of that person; and 2) Describe your request with sufficient detail that allows us to properly understand, evaluate and respond to it. We cannot respond to your request to exercise your access and/or deletion rights if we cannot verify your identity or authority to make the request and confirm the personal information relates to you. Making a verifiable consumer request does not require you to create an account with us. However, we do consider requests made through your password-protected account sufficiently verified when the request relates to personal information associated with that specific account. We will only use personal information provided in a verifiable consumer request to verify the requestor’s identity or authority to make the request.
  • Response Timing and Format: We attempt to respond to a verifiable consumer request within 45 days after we receive it.If we require more time (up to 90 days), we will inform you of the reason and extension period in writing within 45 days after we receive your initial request.If you have an account with us, we will deliver our written response to that account.If you do not have an account with us, we will deliver our written response by mail or electronically, at your option.Any disclosures we provide will only cover the 12-month period immediately preceding the date we receive the verifiable consumer request.The response we provide will also provide the reasons we cannot comply with a request, if applicable.For access requests, we will select a format to provide your personal information that is readily useable and should allow you to transmit the information from one entity to another entity without hindrance.We do not charge a fee to process or respond to your verifiable consumer request unless it is excessive, repetitive or manifestly unfounded.If we determine that the request warrants a fee, we will tell you why we made that decision and provide you with a cost estimate before completing your request.
    • Right to Opt-Out of Sale: While we do not sell personal information in exchange for any monetary consideration, we do share personal information for other benefits that could be deemed a “sale,” as defined by the CCPA (Cal.Civ.Code 1798.140(t)(1)). We support the CCPA and wish to provide you with control over how your personal information is collected and shared.If you would like to exercise your right to request opt-out of sale, please submit a request using this link: ([email protected]).
    • Right to Non-Discrimination: We will not discriminate against you (e.g., through denying goods or services, or providing a different level or quality of goods or services) for exercising any of the California rights afforded to you.
      • Financial Incentives.We may offer financial incentives, such as providing you discounts to sign up for our mailing list.You may withdraw from these financial incentives at any time by contacting us at [email protected].The value of your personal information is the value of the offer presented to you.We have calculated the value of the incentive by using the expense related to the offer.
  • Complaints.In compliance with the CCPA, we commit to resolve complaints about your privacy and our collection or use of your personal information. We ask that you kindly contact us at [email protected], so that we have an opportunity to resolve your complaint.
  • Do Not Track.Some internet browsers – like Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Safari – include the ability to transmit “Do Not Track” or “DNT” signals. Since uniform signals have not been adopted, we do not current process or respond to “Do Not Track” or “DNT” signals.
  • California’s Shine the Light law.California residents with an established business relationship with us can request information once a year about sharing their personal information with third parties for the third parties’ direct marketing purposes.If you are a California resident and would like to request more information under the California Shine the Light law, you can email us at [email protected].

International Customer Privacy

Chowbus is operated in the United States. If you are located outside of the United States, then please be aware that information we collect will be transferred to and processed in the United States. By using our Services, or providing us with any information, you fully understand and unambiguously consent to this transfer, processing and storage of your information in the United States, a jurisdiction in which the privacy laws may not be as comprehensive as those in the country where you are located, reside and/or are a citizen.

Updating or Amending Your Information

You may update, amend or otherwise change the information that Chowbus retains about you at any time by logging into your account and visiting the settings page or by contacting our customer support team.

Updates to this Policy

This Policy may be updated periodically and without prior notice to you to reflect changes in our personal information practices. You should review this Policy periodically so that you keep up to date on our most current policies and practices. We will post a prominent notice on the Site to notify you of any significant changes to our privacy practices and indicate at the top of the Policy when it was last updated. Continued use of our Services after any update shall constitute your agreement to the new policy.

Questions or Comments

If you have any questions or comments about this Policy, our privacy practices, or use of the Services, please feel free to contact us by email at [email protected], or by mail at the following address: 224 S Michigan Ave, Suite 400, Chicago, IL 60604 Attn: Data Privacy.