Privacy Policy

Effective Date: January 30, 2025

1. Information We Collect

When you use our AI recipe generator, we may collect:

Information You Provide Directly

  • Account information when you sign up (email, name)
  • Recipe ingredients and preferences you input
  • Dietary restrictions and cuisine preferences
  • Saved recipes and favorites
  • Feedback and communications with us

Information We Collect Automatically (with consent)

  • Pages you visit and recipes you view
  • How you interact with our AI tools (recipe generation, ingredient suggestions)
  • Time spent on pages and navigation patterns
  • Device information (browser type, operating system, screen resolution)
  • Approximate location (country/city level, based on IP address)
  • Referral source (how you found our website)

⚠️ We only collect this data if you accept analytics cookies. You can opt out at any time.

Information We Do NOT Collect

  • Credit card or payment information (we don't charge for recipes)
  • Precise geolocation or GPS data
  • Social security numbers or government IDs
  • Biometric data
  • Health information beyond dietary restrictions

2. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect to:

🍳 Provide Core Services

  • Generate personalized AI-powered recipe recommendations
  • Suggest ingredient pairings based on your inputs
  • Save and retrieve your favorite recipes
  • Remember your dietary restrictions and preferences

📊 Improve Our Services (with your consent)

  • Understand which recipes are most popular and useful
  • Identify which ingredients are commonly searched together
  • Optimize our AI models to generate better recipe recommendations
  • Analyze usage patterns to enhance user experience
  • Test new features and measure their effectiveness

💬 Communicate With You

  • Respond to your questions and support requests
  • Send important service updates (if you have an account)
  • Request feedback to improve our service

🔒 Maintain Security & Compliance

  • Prevent fraud, spam, and abuse
  • Protect our website from security threats
  • Comply with legal obligations and regulations
  • Enforce our terms of service

3. Information Sharing

We do not sell, trade, or otherwise transfer your personal information to third parties, except:

  • With your explicit consent
  • To trusted service providers who assist in operating our service
  • When required by law or to protect our rights

4. AI and Recipe Data

Our service uses multiple AI providers to generate creative, personalized recipes. Here's exactly what data is shared and how it's used:

✅ What We Send to AI Providers

  • Ingredients you input (e.g., "chicken, tomatoes, basil")
  • Cooking preferences (cuisine type, difficulty level, cooking time)
  • Dietary restrictions (vegetarian, gluten-free, etc.)
  • Recipe generation parameters (servings, meal type)

❌ What We DO NOT Send to AI Providers

  • Your name, email address, or any personal identifiers
  • Your IP address or location data
  • Your browsing history or usage patterns
  • Any cookies or tracking data
  • Payment information (we're free!)

🗄️ How We Store Recipe Data

Generated recipes are stored in our database (Convex) so you can access them later.

  • Storage location: Convex cloud database (USA servers)
  • Encryption: All data encrypted in transit and at rest
  • Retention: Recipes stored indefinitely unless you request deletion
  • Access: Only you and authorized staff can access your saved recipes

AI Provider Privacy Policies

We use the following AI services to generate recipes. Each provider has their own privacy policy that governs how they handle data:

Please review each provider's privacy policy to understand how they process recipe generation requests.

5. Data Security

We implement appropriate security measures to protect your personal information against unauthorized access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction.

6. Analytics & Tracking

Google Analytics 4 (GA4)

With your consent, we use Google Analytics to understand how users interact with our website. This helps us identify popular recipes, improve our AI tools, and create better content.

Events we track:
• Recipe views and generations
• Ingredient searches and suggestions
• AI tool usage (recipe generator, meal planner)
• Page views, session duration, bounce rate
• Recipe prints and shares (high-intent actions)
• Navigation patterns and user flows

Data protection measures:
• IP address anonymization enabled
• Google Consent Mode v2 implemented
• No tracking without explicit consent
• Data retention: 14 months (default GA4 setting)
• No cross-device tracking or user ID linking

You can opt out of analytics tracking at any time by declining analytics cookies in the consent banner or by clearing your cookies.

7. Your Privacy Rights

Under GDPR, CCPA, and other privacy laws, you have the following rights:

🔍 Right to Access

Request a copy of all personal data we hold about you, including saved recipes and preferences.

✏️ Right to Rectification

Correct any inaccurate or incomplete personal information.

🗑️ Right to Erasure ("Right to be Forgotten")

Request deletion of your account, saved recipes, and all associated personal data.

🚫 Right to Object

Object to processing of your personal data for marketing or analytics purposes.

📦 Right to Data Portability

Receive your data in a structured, machine-readable format (JSON export available).

🔐 Right to Restrict Processing

Limit how we use your data while maintaining your account.

❌ Right to Withdraw Consent

Withdraw cookie consent at any time through the consent banner or by clearing cookies.

How to exercise your rights: Email us at hello@dontknowwhattocook.com with your request. We will respond within 30 days.

8. Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at: hello@dontknowwhattocook.com

9. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new policy on this page with an updated effective date. Significant changes will be communicated via email if you have an account.