Privacy policy

HomeCatering operates the marketplace at homecatering.com.au, where independent home cooks and catering businesses run their own ordering storefronts. We handle personal information in line with the Australian Privacy Principles in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).

Each kitchen on HomeCatering is an independent business. When you order, the kitchen also handles your order details as its own customer, and its privacy practices apply alongside ours.

• Account details: your name, email address, phone number, password and which side of the platform you use (ordering, selling, or both).
• Order details: the dishes you choose, pickup or delivery details, delivery address, requested date and time, order notes, and any dietary or allergy information you choose to give us.
• Payment details: payments are processed by our payment provider, Stripe. We receive the outcome of a payment, the amount, the card brand and last four digits, and any bank transfer reference. We never receive or store your full card number.
• Selling details: for kitchens, your business name, ABN, food business registration, food safety and insurance documents, payout bank details, contact information, menu content and photos.
• Communications: messages to a kitchen, catering quote requests, reviews and replies, and support emails.
• Technical information: IP address, device and browser type, pages you view, and information stored in cookies and local storage, such as your cart, sign-in session and preferences.

• To take your order, pass it to the kitchen, send order and payment updates, and let you track progress.
• To run your account, including switching between ordering and kitchen studio mode.
• To process payments, refunds and kitchen payouts through Stripe.
• To verify that a kitchen is properly registered and insured before it can sell, and to keep those checks current.
• To show reviews from verified orders, answer support requests and resolve disputes.
• To keep the platform safe: preventing fraud, misuse and fake orders.
• To understand how the marketplace is used so we can improve it, using aggregated or de-identified information where possible.
• To send you service messages, and marketing emails only where you have opted in or the law allows it.

• The kitchen you order from, which needs your name, contact details, order and delivery or pickup information to fulfil it.
• Stripe, which processes card payments and pays kitchens out. Stripe handles your payment details under its own privacy policy.
• Service providers that host the platform, deliver email and notifications, provide maps and location lookups, and measure site performance. They act on our instructions and only for those purposes.
• Authorities, regulators or courts where we are required by law, or where disclosure is needed to protect someone's safety or our legal rights.
• A buyer or successor, if the business is sold or restructured, subject to the same protections.

We do not sell your personal information.

We use cookies and browser storage that are needed to run the site: keeping you signed in, remembering your cart and saved kitchens, and holding your display preferences. We also use limited analytics to understand which pages and kitchens people find useful. You can clear these at any time in your browser settings; some parts of the site, such as checkout, will not work without them.

Traffic to HomeCatering is encrypted in transit, access to personal information is limited to the people and systems that need it, and payment card data never reaches our servers. No system is perfectly secure, but we work to keep your information safe and to tell you if a breach affects you.

We keep order and payment records while your account is open and afterwards for as long as tax, consumer and food safety law requires. Compliance documents supplied by kitchens are kept while the kitchen sells and for a reasonable period after. Information we no longer need is deleted or de-identified.

• Ask for a copy of the personal information we hold about you.
• Correct anything that is wrong or out of date, from your account settings or by asking us.
• Ask us to delete your account and the information we are not required to keep.
• Unsubscribe from marketing email at any time using the link in the message; order and account messages still need to reach you.
• Complain to us about how we have handled your information. If you are not satisfied, you can contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at oaic.gov.au.

To make a request, email hello@homecatering.com.au. We may need to confirm who you are before we act, and we will respond within a reasonable time.

HomeCatering is for people aged 18 and over. We do not knowingly collect information from children. If you believe a child has given us personal information, contact us and we will remove it.

Some of our providers, including Stripe, store and process information outside Australia, mainly in the United States. Where that happens we take reasonable steps to make sure your information stays protected to a standard consistent with Australian law.

If we change how we handle personal information we will update this page and change the date above. Significant changes will be announced on the site or by email.

Questions about privacy? Email hello@homecatering.com.au. Our terms of use explain how ordering and selling on the marketplace work.