Seller & Chef Marketplace Terms

These Seller Terms form an agreement between Codeaway Software Ltd, trading as ChowMeister, and the person or legal entity operating the food business registered on the Platform (“Seller”).

By applying to sell, accepting the seller declaration or using seller tools, the Seller agrees to these Terms.

The Seller operates an independent food business and is the seller and supplier of the food offered through its ChowMeister account.

ChowMeister provides marketplace, ordering, payment-facilitation, compliance-support and customer-support technology.

Nothing in this agreement creates an employment relationship, partnership, franchise or joint venture between ChowMeister and the Seller.

The Seller confirms that:

• it is legally entitled to operate the food business;
• information supplied to ChowMeister is accurate, complete and current;
• required registrations, permissions, approvals or licences have been obtained where applicable;
• food is prepared, stored, packaged and supplied in accordance with applicable food law;
• staff are suitably trained and lawfully engaged;
• menu descriptions, ingredients, dietary claims and images are not misleading;
• appropriate food-safety and hygiene procedures are maintained; and
• appropriate business and product/public liability insurance will be maintained where reasonably required for the Seller's operation.

Each physical kitchen or branch must be correctly identified on ChowMeister.

The Seller authorises ChowMeister to compare Seller-provided information against publicly available regulatory, registration, food-hygiene and local-authority information.

ChowMeister may carry out initial and periodic compliance checks.

A successful match does not transfer the Seller's regulatory or legal obligations to ChowMeister.

The Seller must notify ChowMeister immediately of any material event affecting its ability or entitlement to trade, including:

• closure or temporary closure;
• prohibition or suspension;
• material change in hygiene status;
• change of ownership;
• change of trading premises;
• enforcement action;
• food-safety investigation;
• loss or suspension of a required registration or approval; or
• another restriction materially affecting the kitchen's ability to trade.

The Seller is responsible for providing accurate allergen information for every applicable menu item and for keeping that information current.

Where food is sold at a distance, the Seller must ensure that legally required allergen information is available before purchase and again when the food is supplied.

Claims such as halal, kosher, vegan, vegetarian, nut-free or gluten-free must be accurate and supportable.

Serious or repeated allergen-information failures may result in immediate suspension.

Sellers are responsible for maintaining accurate menus, prices, availability, descriptions, fulfilment windows and dietary information.

Prices must not be misleading. Any Seller-imposed mandatory charge must be clearly disclosed through the Platform where ChowMeister provides a facility for doing so.

Once an order is accepted, the Seller must use reasonable care to prepare and fulfil it as described and within the agreed fulfilment arrangements.

Sellers must not accept orders they know they cannot reasonably fulfil.

Repeated avoidable cancellations, persistent unavailability or serious fulfilment failures may lead to restrictions or suspension.

Sellers must reasonably cooperate with ChowMeister when investigating complaints, including:

• missing or incorrect items;
• food-quality complaints;
• food-safety complaints;
• allergen incidents;
• failed fulfilment;
• refund requests;
• chargebacks; and
• regulatory concerns.

ChowMeister may issue or facilitate a customer refund where reasonably required by law, these policies or the evidence relating to an order.

Seller payouts may be adjusted for valid refunds, chargebacks, agreed commissions or other amounts properly due under the commercial agreement.

The commission applicable to the Seller will be displayed during onboarding before the Seller submits its application. Unless a different rate is specifically shown and accepted, ChowMeister applies its standard marketplace commission to the food subtotal of applicable completed orders. The kitchen's delivery fee is not included in the ChowMeister commission calculation.

Material changes to recurring marketplace fees will be communicated before taking effect.

Payment processing and payout timing may depend on third-party payment providers, banking systems, verification and fraud controls.

The Seller remains responsible for its own tax, accounting and reporting obligations.

Where applicable law requires ChowMeister to collect, verify or report information about Sellers or transactions to HMRC or another tax authority, the Seller must provide the information reasonably required for that purpose.

ChowMeister may restrict payouts or selling functionality where information required by law has not been supplied.

ChowMeister may temporarily suspend a kitchen where reasonably necessary to protect customers, investigate compliance or prevent fraud.

Examples include:

• regulatory or authority information no longer matching the kitchen;
• suspected false or fraudulent compliance information;
• an apparent closure or prohibition;
• serious allergen concerns;
• repeated credible food-safety complaints;
• payment fraud;
• impersonation;
• refusal to cooperate with a reasonable investigation; or
• a serious breach of these Terms.

A marketplace suspension is precautionary and does not itself establish that a regulatory offence or breach has occurred.

Sellers may use customer information received through ChowMeister only as reasonably necessary to fulfil orders, provide support, comply with law or for another purpose expressly authorised by the customer or ChowMeister.

Sellers must protect customer information and must not independently add customers to marketing lists without a lawful basis.

Sellers retain ownership of content they provide, such as menus, photographs and logos, subject to third-party rights.

The Seller grants ChowMeister a non-exclusive, worldwide licence to host, reproduce, resize, display and use that content as reasonably necessary to operate and promote the Seller's presence on ChowMeister.

The Seller confirms it has the right to provide that content.

A Seller may request closure of its account, subject to completing outstanding orders, refunds, disputes and legally required record keeping.

ChowMeister may terminate access for material or repeated breaches, fraud, safety risks, illegality or where continued operation would expose ChowMeister or users to unreasonable risk.

These Seller Terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales and the courts of England and Wales will have jurisdiction, subject to mandatory law that provides otherwise.