Privacy Policy

Bawarchie ("we", "us", "our") is a QR-based dine-in ordering platform operated from Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India. This policy explains how we handle personal data of Diners (customers using a restaurant's QR code to order) and Restaurants (businesses registered on the platform).

This policy is published in line with the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 ("DPDP Act") and the Information Technology (Reasonable Security Practices and Procedures and Sensitive Personal Data or Information) Rules, 2011.

From Diners:

• An anonymous device-side identifier (a UUID stored in your browser's localStorage) issued the first time you scan a table QR. This identifier is used to remember your cart and dietary preferences across visits.
• Order history at any Restaurant you have placed an order with through Bawarchie (item, quantity, price, timestamp, table).
• Dietary preferences you set explicitly (vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, items to avoid).
• Phone number, returned to us by Razorpay after a successful payment. We store a SHA-256 hash of this number, not the number itself, to link successive orders from the same person without storing their phone in plaintext.
• A derived "taste vector" — a 768-dimensional numerical representation of your taste profile, computed from your order history. It does not contain item names or restaurant names.

From Restaurants:

• Account information: business name, owner name, contact phone, email, address.
• Operational data: menus, items, prices, tables, orders, inventory, and customer feedback received through the platform.
• Payment routing information (the bank account configured at Razorpay for settlement). We do not store bank account numbers on our servers; this lives with Razorpay.

Automatically: standard server logs (IP address, user-agent, request timestamps) for security, abuse-prevention, and debugging.

• To display the right menu, accept your order, and route the payment.
• To compute and display dietary-appropriate recommendations, including the cross-restaurant taste graph (you can switch this off in your dietary preferences).
• To help Restaurants understand their own customer feedback (sentiment analysis is performed on feedback text).
• To prevent fraud, debug issues, and comply with legal obligations.

We do not sell your personal data. We do not share your data with advertisers.

We rely on the following third parties, each of which receives only the minimum data needed to perform their role:

• Razorpay — payment processing and settlement. Razorpay receives the order amount and the Diner's payment instrument; their privacy policy applies.
• MongoDB Atlas — database hosting in the India region.
• Cloudinary — image hosting for restaurant item photos and table QR codes.
• Google Gemini and OpenAI — used to power the AI ordering assistant and the sentiment-analysis feature. Restaurant feedback text and diner queries are sent to these providers; we do not include phone numbers, email addresses, or the diner's UUID in those calls.
• Vercel — hosting for the web application.

Data is stored on MongoDB Atlas in the India region. Backups are taken by Atlas as per their standard schedule. Order history and taste-graph data is retained for as long as your account remains active (Restaurants) or until you request deletion (Diners). Anonymous device-side identifiers can be cleared at any time by clearing your browser's localStorage for our site.

Under the DPDP Act and applicable law, you have the right to:

• Access the personal data we hold about you.
• Correct inaccurate personal data.
• Erase your personal data, subject to our legal obligations to retain certain transaction records.
• Withdraw consent for the taste-graph feature or for any other optional processing.
• File a grievance with our Grievance Officer (contact details below).

To exercise any of these rights, email adityaproworks@gmail.com with the subject line "Privacy Request" and the action you would like us to take. We respond to requests within thirty (30) days of receipt.

We use first-party browser localStorage to store an anonymous device identifier and your cart. We do not use third-party advertising cookies. NextAuth, the framework that powers Restaurant logins, sets a session cookie when a Restaurant signs in; this cookie is required for the Service to function.

We use industry-standard security practices: HTTPS everywhere, hashed passwords (bcrypt), hashed phone numbers (SHA-256), HMAC-SHA256 signature verification for Razorpay webhooks, and principle-of-least-privilege access to the database. No system is perfectly secure; if you believe an account has been compromised, please email us immediately.

The Service is not directed at children under 18. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children. If you are a parent and believe your child has provided us with personal data, please contact us and we will delete it.

We may update this policy from time to time. The latest version is always at this URL with an updated effective date. We will not materially reduce your rights without prior notice.

In compliance with Section 10 of the DPDP Act and Rule 5(9) of the Information Technology Rules, 2011, the Grievance Officer is reachable at: