LEGAL

Privacy Policy

Last updated: 20 August 2026

This policy explains what personal information Smart Menus collects, why, and how it's handled, in line with South Africa's Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA). It applies to vendors who run a store on Smart Menus and to their customers who order through WhatsApp.

1. Information we collect

  • Vendor account information: your name, email, store name, and login details when you register.
  • Store data: menu items, prices, and photos you upload.
  • Order data: a customer's WhatsApp number, the items they order, and the order status, needed to process and deliver each order.
  • Payment metadata: payment status and reference details from Payfast, such as whether an order was paid, its amount, and a Payfast payment ID. We never see or store card numbers, those are handled entirely by Payfast.

2. How we use this information

  • To run the ordering flow, from a customer opening a QR code to a vendor receiving and fulfilling the order;
  • To confirm and reconcile payments with Payfast;
  • To send order and payment updates over WhatsApp, to both customers and vendors;
  • To operate and improve the dashboard vendors use to manage their store;
  • To keep the platform secure and prevent abuse.

3. Who we share it with

We share information only where needed to run the service:

  • Meta / WhatsApp Business Platform: to deliver menu messages and receive customer orders.
  • Payfast: to process payments, using the vendor's own connected Payfast account.
  • Cloudinary: to host menu item photos vendors upload.
  • Our infrastructure providers (database and application hosting), to store and run the service.

We don't sell personal information to third parties.

4. How long we keep it

We keep order and account data for as long as a store is active, plus a reasonable period afterwards for record-keeping and dispute resolution. A vendor can request deletion of their store data at any time, as described below.

5. Your rights

Under POPIA, you can ask us to:

  • Confirm what personal information we hold about you;
  • Correct inaccurate information;
  • Delete your information, subject to any legal or financial record-keeping requirements;
  • Object to a particular use of your information.

To exercise any of these, message us on our Contact page.

6. Security

We use reasonable technical and organisational measures, including encrypted storage of sensitive credentials like payment integration keys, to protect the information we hold. No system is completely secure, so we can't guarantee absolute security, but we work to keep data access limited to what's needed to run the service.

7. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. Material changes will be reflected here with an updated date at the top of the page.

8. Contact

For any privacy question or request, reach us on WhatsApp via our Contact page.