Privacy Policy

Pat's Kitchen is a home-based food business and catering service operated by Patricia ("Pat") and serving the Washington, DC / DMV Metro Area. We operate through our website at patskitchen.online.

We offer weekly Thursday home-cooked meals and catering packages for offices, churches, birthdays, and community events.

For any privacy-related questions, you can reach us at:

• 📧 Email: info@patskitchen.online
• 🌐 Website: patskitchen.online

We only collect information that is necessary to process your orders, respond to inquiries, and improve our service. Here's what we collect and when:

We use your personal information only for the following purposes:

• Processing and fulfilling meal orders — confirming your purchase, preparing your food, and arranging pickup or delivery details.
• Catering coordination — following up on event bookings, confirming packages, and managing logistics.
• Order confirmations and receipts — sending transactional emails so you have a record of your purchase.
• Customer support — responding to your questions, refund requests, or feedback submitted through our contact form.
• Marketing communications — sending our weekly menu, promotions, or updates about Pat's Kitchen, but only if you have subscribed or opted in. You can unsubscribe at any time.
• Service improvement — reviewing survey feedback to improve our menu, packaging, and customer experience.
• Legal compliance — meeting our obligations under applicable law, including tax recordkeeping.

We do not use your data for automated decision-making or profiling that would have a legal or significant effect on you.

All payments on our website are processed by Stripe, a PCI-DSS Level 1 certified payment processor. When you enter your card details at checkout:

• Your payment information is submitted directly to Stripe's secure servers — it never passes through or is stored on Pat's Kitchen servers.
• We receive only a payment confirmation token and the last four digits of your card for reference purposes.
• Stripe may collect additional information as described in the Stripe Privacy Policy.

We respect your privacy and do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information to any third party for their marketing purposes. We may share limited information only in these circumstances:

• Service providers: Trusted vendors who help us operate our business — such as our payment processor (Stripe) and email service — receive only the data necessary to perform their function. They are contractually prohibited from using your data for other purposes.
• Legal requirements: If required by law, court order, or government authority, we may disclose your information to comply with legal obligations.
• Business protection: To investigate or prevent fraud, security incidents, or violations of our terms of service.
• Business transfer: In the unlikely event Pat's Kitchen is acquired or merged, your information may be transferred as part of that transaction. You will be notified in advance.

Our website uses a small number of cookies and similar technologies to keep the site functional and understand how visitors use it.

• Session cookies: Temporary cookies that keep your cart or session active while you browse. These expire when you close your browser.
• Functional cookies: Remember your preferences (such as form inputs) to make your experience smoother.
• Analytics: We may use basic, privacy-respecting analytics to understand page traffic and improve our site. No personally identifiable information is shared with analytics providers.

Most web browsers allow you to control or block cookies through your browser settings. Disabling cookies may affect some functionality on our site (such as the ordering form), but you can still browse our menu and contact us.

We keep your personal information only as long as necessary for the purpose it was collected:

• Order records — retained for up to 3 years for accounting, tax, and legal compliance purposes.
• Catering inquiries and bookings — retained for 1 year after the event date.
• Email subscriber data — kept until you unsubscribe. You can unsubscribe at any time via the link in any email.
• Contact form submissions — retained for 6 months after the inquiry is resolved.
• Survey responses — retained in anonymized form for ongoing service improvement.

After these periods, data is securely deleted or anonymized.

You have the following rights with respect to your personal information. To exercise any of these, contact us at info@patskitchen.online:

We will respond to verified requests within 30 days. We may need to verify your identity before fulfilling a request.

Our website and services are intended for adults. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under the age of 13.

If you believe a child has submitted personal information to us, please contact us at info@patskitchen.online and we will promptly delete that information.

If you have any questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or how we handle your personal data, we'd love to hear from you:

We will do our best to address your concerns promptly. If you feel your issue has not been resolved, you have the right to contact the relevant data protection authority in your jurisdiction.