Heatmaps are back on for this browser.
The short version
- The free tool needs no account. What you type is kept against a random code in your browser, not against you.
- We only keep your email if you ask for our emails, or when you open an account.
- Card details go to Stripe. We never see them.
- Diners looking at a venue’s allergen menu are not tracked and get no cookies.
- We do not sell personal data, and we do not use it for advertising beyond optional Google Ads cookies on our own pages.
- Google Analytics, which shows us how people use our own pages, runs only if you allow Google cookies.
- On our own pages we make heatmaps of where people click and how far they scroll, without cookies. You can turn this off.
- Old data is deleted automatically on the schedule below.
Who we are
AllergenChart runs AllergenChart and is responsible for your personal data (the “controller” under UK data protection law). Our address is 9 Dobbin Close, Rossendale, BB4 7TH.
Using AllergenChart is also covered by our terms of service.
Questions or requests about your data: [email protected].
When a café uses AllergenChart for its own customers, for example its venue page, the café is responsible for the allergen information it publishes. Ask the café about that information.
What we hold, why, and for how long
| What | Why | Lawful basis | How long |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free tool: the venue name, dishes and allergens you type | To make your PDF, let you come back to it, and move it into an account if you sign up. Held in your browser and on our servers under a random code, not linked to you. | Legitimate interests | 12 months after you last edit or download it |
| Your email, if you tick the box for tips | To send three short emails about keeping allergen information up to date | Consent, which you can withdraw with the link in any email | Up to 12 months. If you unsubscribe, we keep only your address, so we never email it again. |
| Menu photos and PDFs you upload to import | To read the dishes off your menu, at your request | Legitimate interests | 30 days |
| Account: your name, email, password (stored scrambled, never readable) and venue details | To run your account and send account emails such as password resets | Contract | Until you delete your account |
| Your menus, dishes, ingredients, and the change log of who changed what and when | To provide the service, including the change history inspectors ask to see | Contract | Until you delete your account |
| Onboarding emails after signup | Three emails on setting up your account | Legitimate interests; unsubscribe any time | Until you delete your account |
| Billing: Stripe customer reference, card brand, last four digits, plan status | To take payment. Stripe holds your card details and billing address; we never see full card numbers. | Contract; legal obligation for tax records | Until you delete your account. Stripe keeps invoices as long as UK tax law requires. |
| Your reason for cancelling, if you give one | To improve the product | Legitimate interests | 14 days |
| Technical data: IP address, browser, pages requested, errors | To keep the service secure, stop abuse (such as limiting how often the free tool can be used) and fix faults | Legitimate interests | 14 days in logs; up to an hour for usage limits |
| Heatmaps: where you click and how far you scroll on our own pages, the page address, your browser, device type, screen size and rough location | To see which parts of our pages people use or miss, and improve them. No cookies, nothing linked to you or your account, no recordings, and no text from the page or anything you type. | Legitimate interests, under the exception for statistics that improve a website; opt out any time | 1 year, PostHog’s limit on our plan |
| Site analytics, only if you allow Google cookies: pages you visit on our own pages, whether you download a PDF or sign up, how you got here, your browser, device type and rough location | To see how people find and use our site, and improve it. Google signals and ad personalisation are turned off. | Consent; withdraw any time | 14 months in Google Analytics |
| Google Ads click ID, only if you allow Google cookies and arrived from one of our adverts | To see which adverts bring paying customers. If you sign up, we keep the click ID with your account; when you first pay, we give Google Ads the click ID, the time and the amount, and then delete it from your account. | Consent; withdraw any time | 90 days from signup, or until your first payment if sooner |
| Generated PDFs (matrices, sheets, posters) | So your download link works | Contract | 24 hours |
Venue pages and diners
A café’s venue page shows what the café chooses to publish: its name, address, dishes, prices and allergens. It is public and can appear in search results. The café can switch it off at any time.
If you visit a venue page as a diner, we set no cookies and do not identify you. We count page visits with Plausible, which uses no cookies and does not collect personal data. The allergens you filter by stay in the page address on your device.
Heatmaps
On our own pages (never on venue pages), we use PostHog to make heatmaps: pictures of where people click and how far they scroll, added up across everyone. We use them only to improve our pages.
Nothing is stored on your device. PostHog counts visitors by scrambling your IP address and browser details with a code that changes every day and is then deleted, and we tell it not to keep your IP address. It does not record your visit, read the text on the page or anything you type, or link what you do to you or your account.
Turn heatmaps off for this browser → It sets one cookie to remember your choice. A browser with Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control turned on is left out automatically.
Who else handles your data
We use these companies to run the service. They act on our instructions and may not use your data for their own purposes, except where noted.
- Amazon Web Services stores uploaded menus and generated PDFs (London region).
- Our hosting provider runs the application and its database.
- Stripe takes payments. Stripe is also a controller for some payment data, under its own privacy policy.
- Resend sends our emails.
- Anthropic reads menu photos and PDFs you import. Its terms do not allow it to train its models on this data.
- Plausible Analytics counts page visits without cookies or personal data.
- PostHog makes our heatmaps, in its EU cloud (Frankfurt). It may not use the data for anything else.
- Google suggests addresses when you search for your venue’s address in your account. Our server sends Google only the text you type in that box, never your name, email or IP address.
- Google also measures ad conversions, only if you allow Google cookies: downloads and trials in your browser, and, if you signed up from an advert, the click ID, time and amount of your first payment, sent by us. Google is a controller for that data.
- Google Analytics shows us how people use our own pages, only if you allow Google cookies. Google acts on our instructions, with data sharing for its own products turned off.
We do not sell personal data. We share it with the police or regulators only when the law requires it.
Some of these companies process data outside the UK, including in the United States. Where they do, the transfer is protected by the safeguards UK law requires, such as the UK–US data bridge or the UK International Data Transfer Addendum to standard contractual clauses.
Your rights
You can ask us to:
- give you a copy of your personal data
- correct it
- delete it (you can also delete your account yourself from your account page, after cancelling any plan)
- restrict or object to how we use it, including where we rely on legitimate interests
- send it to you or another service in a machine-readable format
Where we rely on your consent, you can withdraw it at any time. Email [email protected]; we reply within one month.
If you are unhappy with how we handle your data, please tell us first. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint or on 0303 123 1113.
Children
AllergenChart is for food businesses. It is not meant for anyone under 18, and we do not knowingly collect children’s data.
Changes
If we change how we use personal data, we will update this page and its date. If the change matters to account holders, we will email them first.