Terms of Service

1. Acceptance of these terms

By creating an account or using Food Cost Guide (the “Service”), you agree to these Terms of Service. If you don't agree, don't use the Service.

2. What the Service is

Food Cost Guide is a tool for keeping a vendor cost guide and pricing recipes on top of it — sell price, food cost %, labor cost, and profit margin. It's a business aid, not a substitute for your own judgment, accounting, or professional advice. You're responsible for verifying prices, calculations, and any decisions you make using the Service.

There are two ways to use it:

• The free browser tools (under /free-tools) — the cost guide, recipe costing, sales, purchasing, and inventory, running entirely in your browser. No account and no charge; ad-supported, on the same free-tier limits a free account has. Whatever you create is stored only on your device; see section 4 and the Privacy Policy.
• The account-based Service — the same tools plus syncing across devices, automatic server-side backup, teams, and multiple locations, with your data stored on our servers. A paid plan additionally removes ads, raises the Cost Guide/recipe/team limits, and unlocks branded exports.

3. Accounts

You don't need an account for the free browser tools. You do need one for the account-based Service. If you create an account, you're responsible for the accuracy of the information you provide, for keeping your login credentials confidential, and for all activity under your account. Tell us if you believe your account has been compromised.

4. Your content

You own the cost guide entries, recipes, and other content you create with the Service (“Your Content”), however you use it. We don't claim ownership of Your Content and don't use it to train third-party models.

In the free browser tools, Your Content never leaves your device — it's saved in your browser's local storage and is never sent to us. We can't see it, back it up, or recover it. Export a backup file yourself if you want a copy.

In an account, you give us a limited license to store, process, and display Your Content back to you solely to operate the Service — for example, computing food cost %, rendering printable recipe cards, and generating your CSV backups. You can export it at any time, and permanently delete it (and your account) from Account.

5. Payments

The free browser tools and the free account tier cost nothing and are ad-supported. A paid subscription (billed through Stripe on a recurring basis until you cancel; pricing shown at checkout) removes ads and adds higher limits, branded exports, teams, and multiple locations. You can manage or cancel from Account at any time — canceling stops future billing, and access continues through the end of the period you've already paid for. We don't store your card details; Stripe handles payment processing.

Donations through Ko-fi are entirely voluntary, aren't a subscription, don't unlock anything, and are handled by Ko-fi — we never see your payment details.

6. Acceptable use

You agree not to:

• Use the Service for anything unlawful, or to infringe someone else's rights.
• Attempt to access another user's account or data without authorization.
• Probe, scan, or interfere with the Service's infrastructure, or attempt to bypass rate limits or access controls.
• Upload malicious code or content through the Service.

7. Advertising

The free tier — the browser tools and free accounts alike — shows ads served through Google AdSense. A paid subscription removes them. Ad providers may use cookies or similar technology as described in our Privacy Policy.

8. Availability

The Service is currently offered only to visitors in a specific set of countries; if you're outside that list, you won't be able to reach it. This list can change, and we don't guarantee availability in any particular country going forward.

9. Termination

You can stop using the free browser tools at any time, and clear your data by clearing this site's storage in your browser. You can delete your account at any time from Account, which permanently removes Your Content from our servers. We may suspend or terminate accounts that violate these terms.

10. Disclaimers

The Service is provided “as is,” without warranties of any kind. We don't guarantee the Service will be uninterrupted, error-free, or that calculations will be free of mistakes — always sanity-check figures that matter to your business. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we aren't liable for indirect, incidental, or consequential damages arising from your use of the Service.

11. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms from time to time. If we make material changes, we'll make a reasonable effort to let you know (e.g. by email or an in-app notice), and material changes are also noted on our changelog. Continuing to use the Service after changes take effect means you accept the updated terms.

12. Contact

Questions about these terms? Use the contact page or email support@foodcostguide.com.