Privacy Policy
Last updated: February 15, 2026
The Eating Channel (“we,” “us,” or “our”) operates the website at theeatingchannel.com. This Privacy Policy describes how we collect, use, and share information when you use our website and services, including Grocery Pal and Chef TEC.
1. Information We Collect
Information You Provide
- Email address — when you sign up for Grocery Pal or our newsletter.
- Shopping list data — items you add to your Grocery Pal lists.
- Chat messages — conversations you have with Chef TEC, our AI cooking assistant.
- Community recipes — recipes you submit, including your chosen display name.
Information Collected Automatically
- IP address — used for rate limiting and abuse prevention.
- Device and browser information — via Vercel Analytics and Google Analytics 4.
- Pages visited and interactions — for analytics and site improvement.
- Affiliate link clicks — which product links you click (no personal data is attached).
2. How We Use Your Information
- To provide and maintain Grocery Pal (shopping lists, deal alerts, magic link authentication).
- To power Chef TEC conversations — your messages are sent to Google's Gemini API for processing.
- To send you our newsletter (if you subscribe) via Resend.
- To analyze site usage and improve our content and services.
- To earn commissions through affiliate links (Amazon Associates and other partners).
3. Third-Party Services
We share data with the following third-party services:
- Google Gemini API — processes Chef TEC chat conversations to generate responses. Google's privacy policy applies to this processing.
- Amazon Associates — affiliate link clicks place Amazon cookies on your device. Amazon's privacy policy governs their tracking.
- Vercel Analytics — collects anonymized page view and performance data.
- Google AdSense — serves display advertisements on our pages. Google may use cookies to serve ads based on your prior visits to this site or other websites. You can opt out of personalized advertising at Google's ad settings.
- Google Analytics 4 — collects site usage data (subject to your cookie consent).
- Upstash Redis — stores session data, shopping lists, and rate limiting counters.
- Resend — sends transactional and newsletter emails on our behalf.
4. Cookies and Tracking
| Cookie | Purpose | Duration | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
grocery-pal-session | Grocery Pal authentication | 30 days | Essential |
cookie-consent | Stores your cookie preference | 1 year | Essential |
| Vercel Analytics | Anonymized page view analytics | Session | Analytics |
| Google Analytics | Site usage analytics | Up to 2 years | Analytics (consent required) |
| Google AdSense | Personalized display advertising | Up to 2 years | Advertising (consent required) |
| Amazon Associates | Affiliate purchase tracking | 24 hours | Third-party (consent required) |
5. AI Disclosure
Chef TEC is powered by artificial intelligence (Google Gemini). Your chat conversations are sent to Google's servers for processing. AI responses are generated and should not be considered medical, nutritional, or professional advice. Always consult a qualified professional for health-related decisions. We do not use your chat data to train AI models.
6. Data Retention
- Sessions — 30 days (automatically deleted from Redis).
- Magic link tokens — 15 minutes.
- Rate limiting data — 1 hour.
- Shopping lists — retained while your account is active.
- Newsletter subscriptions — until you unsubscribe.
- Affiliate click data — daily aggregates retained for 90 days; all-time totals retained indefinitely.
7. Your Rights
You have the right to:
- Access your personal data by contacting us.
- Delete your data — email us and we will remove your account and associated data.
- Opt out of non-essential cookies via the cookie consent banner.
- Unsubscribe from our newsletter via the link in any email.
8. California Privacy Rights (CalOPPA)
If you are a California resident, you have the right to request information about the categories of personal data we collect and the purposes for which it is used. We do not sell your personal information.
Do Not Track / Global Privacy Control: We respect the Global Privacy Control (GPC) signal. When detected, we treat it as an opt-out of non-essential tracking. We do not currently respond to browser Do Not Track signals as there is no industry standard for compliance.
9. Children's Privacy
Our services are not directed at children under 13 years of age. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided us with personal data, please contact us and we will delete it.
10. Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will post the updated version on this page with a revised “Last updated” date.
11. Contact
If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or wish to exercise your data rights, contact us at:
privacy@theeatingchannel.com