The short version. We ask for your name, phone number, date of birth and gender so you can have an account and rate dishes. The name you give is shown publicly on the reviews you write. Your phone number is never shown to anyone. We never sell your personal information.
If you choose to check in at a restaurant, we also keep a record of that visit, and of any reward or invite it brings you. We never track where your phone is.
Rewards — Lucky Bite, stamp cards, invites — are offered and given by each restaurant. Seb’s Analytics and Fork’s Rating do not give or pay for them; we only keep the record the restaurant needs to run them.
If you book a table, we keep the booking. You do not need an account to book. We ask for your email address so we can send you the booking and its QR code, and we use it for that booking only.
The rest of this page explains exactly what we hold, why, and who else touches it.
The Hungry Fork is operated by Seb’s Analytics LLC, a limited liability company in the State of New York. This policy covers thehungryfork.fun.
| Information | Why we have it | Who can see it |
|---|---|---|
| First name Last name |
To address you, and to show who wrote a review. | Your full name is public next to your reviews — first name and last name. |
| Public handle e.g. Karol_I |
Several people share a first name. This tells them apart without revealing anything personal. It is generated for you; you cannot choose or change it. | Public, next to your reviews. |
| Phone number | It is how you log in, and we text a code to confirm the number is really yours. | Never shown to anyone — not to other users, not to restaurants. |
| 6-digit PIN | To log you in. | Nobody, including us. We store only a scrambled version, protected by a secret key kept outside the database. Your actual PIN is never written down. |
| Date of birth | To confirm you are old enough to use the service, and for the research described below. | Only us. Never shown. |
| Gender | For the research described below. You choose from a short list, including “other”. | Only us. Never shown. |
| Your ratings and comments | They are the point of the service. | Public. Anyone can read them, including restaurants. |
| Your visits check-ins |
To keep the visit calendar in your account, and so a restaurant’s rewards can count your visits. A visit is recorded only when you show your check-in code, or your booking’s QR code at the door, and a member of restaurant staff scans it. | Only you and us. The member of staff confirming it sees your name at that moment. Nobody is given a list of where you have been. |
| Your rewards and invites Lucky Bite, stamp cards, invites |
To run each restaurant’s rewards for it: the Lucky Bite number each of your visits got, your stamps, the rewards you won, when they were used and which member of staff gave them, and the invites you made (with the dish you picked) or saved. | You, us, and that restaurant’s staff. Staff see your name and handle when they give you a reward, and the restaurant’s managers see a list of its recent winners. A friend who opens your invite sees your first name and last initial; you never see who saved it. |
| Promotions preference | Whether you ticked the box to hear about offers. | Only us. |
| Your bookings if you book a table |
So the restaurant keeps your table and can reach you: the name and phone number for the table, the day, the time, how many people, and anything you write in the notes. | You and the restaurant’s staff, who see your name, phone number and notes so they can call you about the table. Nobody else. (One table per phone number each day: if someone types your number to book at the same restaurant on the same day, the site tells them that this number already has a table that day, but nothing about the table itself. If they also type the name on it, the booking email is sent again to you, never to them.) |
| Messages about a table or a big-party request if you or the restaurant write |
So you can write to the restaurant about your table instead of calling — running late, an allergy, something you left behind — and read their answer. The restaurant can also write to you first about your table. Both of you can send photos and PDF files (a photo is made smaller on your phone before it is sent). We keep what is written, the files, when, and whether it has been read. | You and the restaurant: its owners and managers, and the members of its staff the restaurant has allowed to answer guests. Their messages are signed with the first name of the person who wrote. Nobody else. A photo or file opens only through a link that works for one hour, given to the people in that conversation. If a member of that staff has turned on notifications, your first name and the first words of your message also show in a notification on their phone or computer. The conversation closes when you arrive; you can open it again (see below). |
| Email address when you book a table, or ask for a big one |
To send you that booking’s confirmation with its QR code, a reminder the day before, and a link to cancel it or write to the restaurant. If you have no account, one more email the first time the restaurant writes to you about your table — only that they wrote, never the message itself. And so the restaurant can reach you about your table or your big-party request. Nothing else — no newsletters, no offers. | Us, and the restaurant’s owners and managers (so they can reach you about that table or request). Never the rest of its staff, and never shown publicly. |
| Support messages if you manage a restaurant and write to Seb’s Analytics |
So a restaurant’s owners and managers can ask Seb’s Analytics for help from Settings, and read the answer there. We keep what you write, your first name, when, and whether it has been read. When a message arrives, the other side gets an email with it, at the email address on their account. | The owners and managers of that restaurant, and Seb’s Analytics. Nobody else — not the restaurant’s other staff, and not guests. |
| Your phones and computers if you work at a restaurant |
An account with a role at a restaurant (crew, managers, owners) opens only on a phone or computer confirmed with a code sent by text message. For each one we keep a name such as “iPhone · Safari” (from what your browser says it is), when it was added, last used and last confirmed, and until when it is trusted (60 days). The device keeps a random key; we keep only a scrambled form of it. If you turn on notifications, we also keep the address your device’s notification service gives for it, and which notifications you chose. | You and us. You see them in the manager page’s Settings, and can remove any of them: a removed device is logged out at once. |
| Changes you make to a restaurant if you work there |
So that its owners and managers know who changed what, and when: the team, the menu and its prices, the hours and holidays, the rewards and the settings. Each change is sent as a notification with your first name, your handle and the time. Changes to dishes are also kept in the menu’s history. | That restaurant’s owners and managers, and us. Not the rest of its staff. |
| IP address | Used briefly to stop automated abuse of our signup and login. We store a scrambled form, not the address itself. | Only us. |
We do not collect your payment details. Photos and files are kept only when you choose to send them in a conversation with a restaurant, and they are deleted with that conversation. We only ask for an email address when you book a table, and we use it only for that booking. We do not run advertising, and we do not use analytics or tracking services.
We never track where your phone is. The site does not ask for your location and could not follow you if it wanted to. The only place-and-time information we hold is a check-in you decided to make, which is explained below.
We do not use cookies or tracking pixels. We do store two small pieces of information in your own browser, on your own device: the fact that you are logged in, and any dishes you have saved as favourites. If you work at a restaurant, your browser also keeps the key that makes it a trusted device for your account. They never leave your device, and clearing your browser data removes them.
If you want a record of the restaurants you have been to, you can check in. It works like this:
Three things worth knowing:
A booking scanned at the door counts as a visit. When you arrive with a booking and staff scan its QR code, we record a visit for the account that made the booking, or for the account with the booking’s phone number. A member of staff simply tapping Arrived does not record one.
Seb’s Analytics LLC studies how people choose food — how prices, dishes, age and gender relate to what people enjoy. Your ratings feed that research, and so does how often people return to a restaurant, if you check in.
Two commitments about it:
Your reviews remain public on this site under your name and handle, as they are today. That is separate from the research and is how a review site works.
We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it with anyone for their own purposes. A few companies handle parts of it in order to run the service:
| Company | What they do | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Twilio | Sends your verification text messages, including the code that confirms a new phone or computer for a restaurant’s staff. | Your phone number. |
| Supabase | Stores the database, and the photos and files sent in conversations (in private storage). | Everything listed above. |
| Vercel | Runs the website. | Information as it passes through, including your IP address. |
| Cloudflare | Checks that a real person is signing up, not a machine. | Technical signals from your browser. |
| Resend | Sends the emails about your booking: the confirmation, the reminder, the link to cancel or to write to the restaurant, and (without an account) the one email saying the restaurant answered or wrote to you. When you ask for a big table, it sends the restaurant an email saying so. For restaurant owners and managers, it also sends the email that says a support message arrived. | Your email address, your first name, and the email itself with the details of that booking. For a big-party request: the restaurant’s addresses, with your first name, how many people and the day — not your phone, your email or your words. Never the words of your messages to a restaurant. A support email carries the words of that support message. Resend keeps a copy of each email it sends for a limited time. |
| Apple, Google, Mozilla and Microsoft | Their notification services carry the notifications a restaurant’s staff turn on to their phones and computers. | The notification sealed so that only that device can open it, and the device’s notification address. They cannot read what it says. |
| Upstash | Counts login attempts to block attacks. | A scrambled form of your phone number, IP address and, when you book, email address — not the originals. |
All of these are United States companies and your information is stored in the United States. This service is intended for people in the United States, and we can only send verification codes to US phone numbers.
We keep your account information for as long as your account exists. If you ask us to delete your account, we delete your name, phone number, date of birth and gender.
Reviews are handled separately: a review can be detached from your account rather than erased, so that a restaurant’s rating does not change because someone left. If you want your reviews removed as well, say so and we will remove them.
Bookings are kept as the restaurant’s reservation book. If you ask us to delete your account — or a booking, even one you made without an account — we replace your name, phone number and email address on those bookings with a placeholder. The restaurant keeps only the count.
Messages about a table are kept 90 days after the table, then deleted — for you and for the restaurant, every message in the conversation, with its photos and files (a file chosen but never sent is deleted the next day). Until then the conversation can be opened again: you can write about something you left behind as often as you need for 24 hours after it first closes (usually when you arrive), and once more after that; the restaurant can open it at any time. The link in a booking email works for the same 90 days, so that you can write without an account; after that it opens nothing.
The list of a staff account’s phones and computers, the removed ones included, is kept with the account as a record of where it was opened, and deleted with it. A device’s notifications stop and its notification address is deleted when the device is removed, when notifications are turned off on it, or when its notification service says it no longer takes them.
Support messages between a restaurant and Seb’s Analytics are kept while the restaurant uses Seb’s Analytics, and deleted when it leaves. You can ask us to delete yours sooner.
Your check-ins are deleted with your account — all of them, in full. Unlike a review, nobody else’s rating depends on them. You can also ask us to delete your visit history and keep the rest of your account.
Your rewards and invites are deleted with your account too: your stamps, your visits’ Lucky Bite numbers, the rewards you won and the invites you made. An invite you saved from a friend stays theirs to see as “saved”, without your name.
Write to advisory@sebsanalytics.com from a message we can connect to your account, or tell us the phone number on the account. We reply within 30 days.
You must be at least 13 years old to create an account. We do not knowingly collect information from children under 13. If you believe a child under 13 has an account, write to advisory@sebsanalytics.com and we will delete it.
Your PIN is stored scrambled, protected by a secret key held outside the database, so that even someone who obtained a copy of the database could not work out your PIN. Access to customer information is restricted to the server itself; the code that runs in your browser cannot read it. Accounts that work at a restaurant also need a phone or computer confirmed with a code sent by text message, and when one is added, the account gets an email about it (if it has an email address). Nothing online is ever perfectly safe, and we do not claim otherwise — but if there is ever a breach affecting your information, we will tell you.
If we change this policy, the new version appears here with a new date at the top. If a change materially affects how we use your information, we will make it clear rather than hoping you re-read the page.
Seb’s Analytics LLC · New York, NY
advisory@sebsanalytics.com
This policy is governed by the laws of the State of New York.