Privacy Policy (POPIA)

1. Who we are

The Cheff (Pty) Ltd, trading as The Food Business Collective (FBC), supplies commercial catering, foodservice, refrigeration and hospitality equipment, professional smallwares and related services in South Africa. This policy explains how we process personal information in line with the Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (POPIA).

Contact for all privacy matters: hello@the-fbc.co.za.

2. Information we collect

• •Account information: name, email address and authentication credentials managed by our sign-in service.
• •Contact and business information: name, email, telephone, company name, VAT number, billing and delivery addresses and customer type.
• •Enquiry information: industry, location, product interest, quantities, intended application, project dates and documents you upload with an enquiry.
• •Order and lay-by information: order and lay-by references, items, agreed totals, deposits, instalments, balances, statuses and dates.
• •Payment information: amounts, dates, references, payment method and payment status. Card payments are processed by our payment provider (Yoco). We do not receive or store full card numbers, CVV codes or card PINs.
• •Documents we issue to you: statements, invoices and account documents made available in your account.
• •Delivery information: delivery or collection method, address, contact person, courier and tracking references.
• •Communications: emails, forms and correspondence with us.
• •Technical information: IP address, device and browser type, pages viewed, referring pages and cookie identifiers where collected.

3. How we collect information

Directly from you when you submit a form, register an account, place an order, apply for a lay-by or email us; automatically through website usage; and from third parties such as our payment provider confirming a payment, or delivery partners reporting progress.

4. Why we process your information

• •To respond to your enquiry and prepare a quotation (steps prior to a contract).
• •To create and administer your account.
• •To process orders, lay-by applications and payments (performance of a contract).
• •To issue statements and documents and to arrange delivery or collection.
• •To communicate with you about your account and transactions.
• •To prevent fraud and keep our systems secure (our legitimate interests).
• •To meet legal, tax and accounting obligations.
• •To send marketing communications where you have opted in, or where the law permits us to market similar products to existing customers, subject always to your right to object at any time.

5. Cookies, analytics and tracking

• •Essential cookies and local storage keep you signed in, remember your cart and store your cookie choice. The site cannot work without them.
• •Analytics: we use Google Analytics 4 to understand how the website is used (pages viewed, approximate location derived from IP address, device and browser type). Analytics cookies are only loaded after you accept analytics cookies in our cookie banner.
• •Marketing and advertising tools, such as Meta or Instagram measurement tools, will only be activated where they are implemented and where you consent to marketing cookies.
• •Full detail is in our Cookie and Tracking Policy.

6. Sharing your information

We do not sell personal information. We share it only where needed with:

• •Suppliers, manufacturers and specialist partners, to source or price products you ask about.
• •Delivery and logistics partners, to deliver goods or arrange collection.
• •Our payment provider, to process and verify payments.
• •Service providers that host the website, store files, send email and provide analytics, under confidentiality obligations.
• •Our accountants, auditors and professional advisers, and public authorities where the law requires it.

7. Cross-border processing

Some service providers, for example cloud hosting, analytics and payment providers, may process information outside South Africa. Where this happens we rely on the grounds permitted by section 72 of POPIA and take reasonable steps to ensure an adequate level of protection.

8. Security

We use access controls, role-based permissions, encrypted connections, private storage for customer documents and record-level restrictions so that a customer can only see their own account information. No system is completely secure: please keep your password confidential and tell us immediately if you suspect unauthorised access.

9. Retention

We keep account, order, lay-by and payment records for as long as your account is active and afterwards for the periods required by tax, accounting and consumer law. Enquiries that do not result in an order are kept for a reasonable period for follow-up, then deleted or de-identified. Documents are kept while they remain relevant to your account or to a legal obligation.

10. Your rights

You may ask us to confirm what personal information we hold about you, request a copy, request correction of inaccurate information, request deletion or destruction where the law allows, object to processing, and withdraw consent for direct marketing at any time. Send requests to hello@the-fbc.co.za. We may need to verify your identity before acting on a request.

11. Direct marketing

We only send marketing email where you have opted in, or where the law permits us to market similar products to existing customers. Every marketing email includes an unsubscribe option, and you may ask us to stop at any time.

12. Children

Our products and services are intended for businesses and adults. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children.

13. Complaints

If you are unhappy with how we handle your information, please contact us first so that we can try to resolve it. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator (South Africa) at inforegulator.org.za.

14. Information Officer

Our Information Officer is Sarah Gray. The Information Officer contact details are published on our Legal Information page (/legal-information), and privacy requests may also be emailed to hello@the-fbc.co.za.

15. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The version number and date shown on this page indicate the current version.