Privacy Policy

Chef Zem (“Chef Zem”, “we”, “us”, or “our”) provides an AI-powered recipe creation and cooking assistant through this website and related services (the “Service”). We are responsible for the personal information under our control.

We have designated a privacy contact who is accountable for our compliance with this policy and applicable privacy laws. If you have questions, requests, or concerns about your personal information, contact our privacy contact at privacy@chefzem.com or, for general inquiries, help@chefzem.com.

This policy is written to comply with Canada’s Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and applicable provincial privacy laws, including Québec’s Law 25.

We collect the following categories of personal information:

• Account information: your username, email address, and display name. Your password is protected using industry-standard security measures and is never stored in plain, readable form.
• Content you create: the recipes, meal plans, shopping lists, pantry items, notes, and conversations you generate or save in the Service.
• Cooking profile (optional): preferences you choose to provide, such as dietary restrictions, allergies, disliked ingredients, favourite cuisines, household size, skill level, equipment, and nutrition goals. Some of this (for example, allergies and dietary needs) may be considered sensitive health-related information; you provide it voluntarily so we can personalize recipes for you.
• Voice data (Pro voice features): if you use the voice cook coach, short audio recordings of your requests are transmitted to our speech provider to be converted to text and to generate spoken responses. We do not retain the raw audio after processing.
• Payment information: if you subscribe to a paid plan, our payment processor collects and processes your billing details. We do not receive or store your full card number; we retain only a customer and subscription identifier needed to manage your plan.
• Usage and technical data: limited operational data such as feature usage counters, account tier, log and diagnostic information, and standard connection details (for example, IP address and browser type) used to run, secure, and improve the Service.

We identify our purposes at or before the time of collection. We use your information to:

• create and manage your account and authenticate you;
• generate, save, and display recipes, meal plans, and other content you request;
• personalize suggestions based on the cooking profile you provide;
• provide voice transcription and spoken responses when you use voice features;
• process payments, manage subscriptions, and prevent billing abuse;
• operate, secure, troubleshoot, and improve the Service, including enforcing usage limits;
• communicate with you about your account, security, and service changes; and
• comply with legal obligations and enforce our terms.

We collect only the information reasonably necessary for these purposes. If we ever wish to use your information for a materially new purpose, we will identify that purpose and obtain your consent where required.

We rely on your consent to collect, use, and disclose your personal information for the purposes described above. By creating an account and using the Service, you consent to this policy. For sensitive information (such as allergies or dietary health details), your act of providing it constitutes your consent to use it to personalize the Service.

You may withdraw your consent at any time, subject to legal or contractual restrictions and reasonable notice. Withdrawing consent may mean we can no longer provide some or all of the Service. To withdraw consent, contact us at privacy@chefzem.com.

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not use it for third-party advertising. We share information only with service providers who process it on our behalf, under contract, and only as needed to run the Service:

• Cloud infrastructure, database & authentication — to host your account and store your content securely.
• AI model providers — to generate recipes, meal plans, and chat responses from the prompts and preferences you submit.
• Speech provider — to transcribe your voice requests and generate spoken responses (Pro voice features only).
• Payment processor — to process subscription payments securely.

We may also disclose personal information where required or permitted by law, for example to respond to a valid legal request, to protect our rights, users, or the public, or in connection with a business transaction (such as a merger or asset sale), in which case we will require the recipient to protect it consistently with this policy.

Some of our service providers may store or process personal information outside of Canada, including in the United States. As a result, your information may be subject to the laws of those jurisdictions and accessible to their courts, governments, or law enforcement under applicable law.

We take contractual and other reasonable steps to ensure your information receives a comparable level of protection wherever it is processed. If you have questions about where your information is handled, contact us at privacy@chefzem.com.

We retain your personal information only as long as necessary to provide the Service and to fulfil the purposes described in this policy, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law (for example, to meet tax, accounting, or legal obligations).

When you delete your account, we delete or de-identify your associated personal information within a reasonable period, except for limited records we are required to keep. Backups are purged on our regular retention cycle.

We use reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards appropriate to the sensitivity of the information, including encryption, access controls, and measures that restrict each account to its own data. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, but we work to protect your information and to promptly address any security incident, including notifying affected individuals and regulators where required by law.

Subject to applicable law, you have the right to:

• Access the personal information we hold about you and receive information about how it has been used and disclosed;
• Correct information that is inaccurate or incomplete;
• Withdraw consent or object to certain processing, subject to legal and contractual limits;
• Delete your account and associated personal information; and
• Request a copy of the information you provided in a portable format, where applicable.

You can access and update much of your information directly in your account settings, and you can delete your account from the settings page. For any other request, email us at privacy@chefzem.com. We will respond within the timeframes required by applicable law and may need to verify your identity first.

Chef Zem uses artificial intelligence to generate recipes and suggestions based on the prompts and preferences you submit. These outputs are generated automatically and are provided as suggestions only. They do not constitute professional culinary, nutritional, or medical advice, and you should always use your own judgment regarding food safety, allergens, and dietary needs.

We use strictly necessary cookies and similar local-storage technologies to keep you signed in, remember preferences such as your theme, and operate the Service. We do not use advertising or cross-site tracking cookies. You can control cookies through your browser settings, but disabling essential cookies may prevent parts of the Service from working.

The Service is not directed to children and is not intended for individuals under the age of 13 (or the minimum age required in your province). We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has provided us personal information, contact us and we will take steps to delete it.

We may update this policy from time to time. When we make material changes, we will update the “Last updated” date above and, where appropriate, provide additional notice. Your continued use of the Service after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

To exercise your rights or ask questions about this policy, contact our privacy contact at privacy@chefzem.com. We will work with you in good faith to resolve any concerns about how we handle your personal information.