Terms of Service

1. Agreement to These Terms

These Terms of Service (the "Terms") form a binding agreement between you and personalchefs.com ("personalchefs.com", "the Company", "we", "us", or "our") and govern your access to and use of our website, applications, and related services (collectively, the "Service"). By creating an account, starting a free trial, or otherwise accessing or using the Service, you agree to be bound by these Terms and by our Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy, which are incorporated here by reference.

If you are entering into these Terms on behalf of a business or other legal entity, you represent that you have the authority to bind that entity, in which case "you" refers to that entity. If you do not agree to these Terms, you may not use the Service.

2. Description of the Service

personalchefs.com is a software-as-a-service platform that helps independent personal chefs run the administrative side of their business. The Service uses artificial intelligence to help you generate client proposals, menus, shopping lists, and invoices, and provides related tools such as a client portal, document sharing, client messaging, payment tracking, and business settings.

We may add, change, or remove features at any time. We may also impose or change usage limits (for example, the number of documents you can generate on a given plan) as described on our pricing page or within the Service.

3. Eligibility

You must be at least 18 years old and able to form a legally binding contract to use the Service. The Service is intended for independent personal chefs and related food-service professionals operating in the United States. By using the Service, you represent that you meet these requirements.

4. Accounts and Registration

To use most features, you must create an account and provide accurate, current, and complete information. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your login credentials and for all activity that occurs under your account. You agree to notify us promptly of any unauthorized use of your account.

Client accounts are invite-only: your clients can access a limited client view only when you invite them. You are responsible for the accuracy of the client information you enter and for ensuring you are permitted to share it with us and with the invited client.

5. Subscriptions, Free Trial, Billing, and Cancellation

The Service is offered on subscription plans described on our pricing page. We currently offer Starter, Pro, and Studio plans billed monthly. Plan features and prices are subject to change; if we change the price of your plan, we will give you reasonable advance notice and the change will take effect on your next billing cycle.

Free trial. We offer a 14-day free trial on our paid plans. No credit card is required to start a trial. Separately, new accounts may generate a limited number of documents at no charge before subscribing. If you do not add a payment method by the end of your trial, your subscription will not begin and paid features will become unavailable.

Automatic renewal. Once you subscribe to a paid plan, your subscription automatically renews each billing period until you cancel. By subscribing, you authorize us and our payment processor to charge your payment method on a recurring basis until you cancel.

Cancellation. You may cancel your subscription at any time through your account settings or the billing portal. Cancellation takes effect at the end of your current billing period, and you will retain access to paid features until then.

Refunds. Except where required by law, payments are non-refundable and we do not provide refunds or credits for partial billing periods, unused time, or documents not generated. We may, at our sole discretion, offer a refund or credit in individual cases.

Taxes. Stated prices do not include taxes. You are responsible for any applicable sales, use, or similar taxes, which may be added to your charges.

6. Payment Processing and Stripe Connect

Subscription payments are processed by Stripe, Inc. ("Stripe"). By providing payment information, you agree to Stripe's terms and authorize the relevant charges. We do not store full payment card numbers on our servers.

Chef payouts (Stripe Connect). If you choose to accept credit-card payments from your own clients through the Service, you will onboard a connected account with Stripe via Stripe Connect, and your use of that account is subject to the Stripe Connected Account Agreement. Payments from your clients are made by direct charge to your connected account; the funds go to you, not to personalchefs.com, and personalchefs.com does not take a percentage of those payments. You are solely responsible for your relationship with your clients, the goods and services you provide, the accuracy of your invoices, applicable taxes, refunds, chargebacks, and disputes.

For payment methods other than credit card (for example, Venmo, PayPal, Cash App, Zelle, bank transfer, cash, or check), no money flows through the Service. The Service only helps you display payment details and track whether a payment has been reported and confirmed; you remain the source of truth for whether you have actually been paid.

7. AI-Generated Content

The Service uses artificial intelligence (including the Claude API provided by Anthropic, PBC) to generate proposals, menus, shopping lists, invoices, and other content based on the information you provide. AI-generated output is provided as a starting point and a suggestion only. It may contain errors, omissions, or inaccuracies, and it is not professional culinary, nutritional, financial, tax, legal, or allergen advice.

You are responsible for reviewing, editing, and verifying all AI-generated content before relying on it or sharing it with a client. This is especially important for matters affecting health and safety — including dietary restrictions, food allergies, and ingredient choices — and for the accuracy of any pricing, quantities, totals, and tax calculations on invoices. We do not guarantee that any output is accurate, complete, safe, or fit for a particular purpose, and you assume all risk arising from your use of AI-generated content.

8. Your Content and License to Us

"Your Content" means the information and materials you submit to the Service, including client briefs, business details, client information, edits you make, and the documents generated for you. As between you and us, you own Your Content and the documents you generate and finalize using the Service.

You grant us a limited, non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to host, store, process, transmit, display, and create derived outputs from Your Content solely as necessary to operate, provide, secure, and improve the Service for you — including sending the relevant inputs to our AI and infrastructure providers to generate your documents. You represent that you have all rights necessary to submit Your Content and to grant this license, and that Your Content does not infringe the rights of any third party or violate any law.

9. Acceptable Use

You agree not to:

• Use the Service for any unlawful, fraudulent, harmful, or deceptive purpose, or to generate content that is illegal, defamatory, or that misrepresents your business or qualifications;
• Upload or input personal information about any individual without a lawful basis to do so, or input another person's information in violation of their privacy rights;
• Attempt to gain unauthorized access to the Service, other accounts, or our systems, or interfere with or disrupt the integrity or performance of the Service;
• Probe, scan, or test the vulnerability of the Service, or circumvent any security, usage-limit, or authentication measure;
• Reverse engineer, decompile, scrape, or use automated means to access the Service except as expressly permitted;
• Resell, sublicense, or provide the Service to third parties except as expressly allowed by your plan;
• Use the Service to develop a competing product, or to train a machine-learning model; or
• Use the AI features to generate spam, bulk content unrelated to your chef business, or content that violates the acceptable-use policies of our AI providers.

We may investigate and take appropriate action, including suspending or terminating your account, for any violation of these Terms.

10. Intellectual Property

The Service — including the platform, software, design, text, graphics, logos, and the "personalchefs.com" name and branding, but excluding Your Content — is owned by the Company and its licensors and is protected by intellectual-property laws. We grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to access and use the Service for your internal business purposes in accordance with these Terms. We reserve all rights not expressly granted.

If you provide us with feedback or suggestions about the Service, you grant us the right to use them without restriction or obligation to you.

11. Third-Party Services

The Service relies on and integrates with third-party services, including Anthropic (AI generation), Supabase (database and authentication), Stripe (payments and payouts), and Resend (email delivery). Your use of features that depend on these services may be subject to the relevant provider's terms, and we are not responsible for the acts or omissions of third-party providers. The Service may also contain links to third-party websites that we do not control.

12. Disclaimers

THE SERVICE AND ALL CONTENT, INCLUDING AI-GENERATED OUTPUT, ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED, OR STATUTORY. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, WE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.

We do not warrant that the Service will be uninterrupted, secure, or error-free, that defects will be corrected, or that any output will be accurate or reliable. You use the Service and its output at your own risk.

13. Limitation of Liability

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, IN NO EVENT WILL THE COMPANY OR ITS OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, OR SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR ANY LOSS OF PROFITS, REVENUE, DATA, GOODWILL, OR BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES, ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THE SERVICE OR THESE TERMS, EVEN IF WE HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

OUR TOTAL AGGREGATE LIABILITY ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THE SERVICE OR THESE TERMS WILL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF (A) THE AMOUNTS YOU PAID US FOR THE SERVICE IN THE TWELVE (12) MONTHS BEFORE THE EVENT GIVING RISE TO THE LIABILITY, OR (B) ONE HUNDRED U.S. DOLLARS ($100). SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW CERTAIN LIMITATIONS, SO SOME OF THE ABOVE MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

14. Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless the Company and its officers, directors, employees, and agents from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, losses, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of or related to: (a) Your Content; (b) your use of the Service; (c) your violation of these Terms or any law; (d) your relationship and dealings with your own clients, including the goods and services you provide and any payment disputes; or (e) your infringement of any third-party right.

15. Termination

You may stop using the Service and cancel your subscription at any time. We may suspend or terminate your access to the Service, with or without notice, if we reasonably believe you have violated these Terms, if required by law, or if providing the Service to you becomes commercially impractical.

Upon termination, your right to use the Service ceases. We may delete Your Content after termination in accordance with our Privacy Policy and data-retention practices. Provisions that by their nature should survive termination — including ownership, disclaimers, limitations of liability, indemnification, and dispute resolution — will survive.

16. Governing Law

These Terms and any dispute arising out of or relating to them or the Service are governed by the laws of the State of Delaware, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules, and by applicable U.S. federal law.

17. Dispute Resolution and Arbitration

Please read this section carefully — it affects how disputes are resolved.

Informal resolution first. Before starting a formal proceeding, you agree to contact us at legal@personalchefs.com and give us at least 30 days to resolve the dispute informally.

Binding arbitration. Except for the exceptions below, any dispute that is not resolved informally will be settled by binding individual arbitration administered under the rules of a recognized arbitration provider, rather than in court. The arbitration will be conducted in the English language, and judgment on the award may be entered in any court of competent jurisdiction.

Exceptions. Either party may bring an individual claim in small-claims court, and either party may seek injunctive or equitable relief in court to protect its intellectual property or confidential information.

Class-action waiver. You and the Company agree that disputes will be brought only in an individual capacity and not as a plaintiff or class member in any purported class, collective, or representative proceeding. If this waiver is found unenforceable as to a particular claim, that claim will proceed in court.

18. Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. If we make material changes, we will update the Effective Date above and take reasonable steps to notify you, such as posting a notice within the Service or sending an email. Changes take effect when posted unless stated otherwise. Your continued use of the Service after changes become effective constitutes your acceptance of the revised Terms.

19. Miscellaneous

These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy, are the entire agreement between you and the Company regarding the Service and supersede any prior agreements. If any provision is found unenforceable, the remaining provisions will remain in full effect. Our failure to enforce any right or provision is not a waiver of it. You may not assign these Terms without our prior written consent; we may assign them in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets. We will not be liable for any delay or failure to perform caused by events beyond our reasonable control.

20. Contact Us

If you have questions about these Terms, contact us at legal@personalchefs.com.