Privacy policy

Who we are

Frontroom is a restaurant till and accounting system made by FRONTROOM AI LTD, a company registered in England and Wales with company number 17540446. Our registered office is 11 Frating Crescent, Woodford Green, IG8 0DW, United Kingdom. In this policy, "we", "us" and "our" mean FRONTROOM AI LTD.

This policy explains how we handle personal data under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. It covers this website (frontroom.ai), the Frontroom app (app.frontroom.ai) and how we deal with you by email.

Our two roles

Data protection law gives us one of two roles, depending on whose data it is and why we have it.

• Controller. For data about visitors to this website, people who email us, and the people who sign up for and manage a Frontroom account, we decide how the data is used. We are the controller, and this policy tells you what we do.
• Processor. For data a restaurant puts into Frontroom about its own staff, guests, customers and suppliers, including camera images, the restaurant is the controller and we are its processor. We follow the restaurant's instructions under the data processing terms in our Terms. If you work at or visit a restaurant that uses Frontroom, please contact that restaurant first. We will help it answer you.

What we collect and why

We do not use automated decision-making that has legal or similarly significant effects on you.

Data restaurants put in Frontroom

To run a restaurant, our customers put business records into Frontroom: sales and orders, menu and stock, suppliers and bills, banking and tax figures, staff records, shifts and payroll, customer details for invoices, photos of invoices and receipts, voice notes, and, if they use AI cameras, camera images and what is worked out from them.

The restaurant is the controller of this data. We process it only to provide Frontroom to that restaurant, as our data processing terms set out. We do not use it for our own purposes, and only the people the restaurant gives access to can see it inside Frontroom. Our staff access it only when needed to run, support or secure the service.

AI cameras

AI cameras are an optional feature. A restaurant decides whether to use them, which of its own cameras to connect, which areas they cover, and which people in its team can see the results.

The restaurant is the controller

The restaurant is the controller for its camera footage and for everything worked out from it. FRONTROOM AI LTD processes the images as the restaurant's processor, only to provide the features the restaurant has switched on. Before switching cameras on, the restaurant must:

• display clear CCTV signs where the cameras are, saying who is responsible for them, what they are used for and how to get in touch;
• tell its staff, in writing, that cameras are used and what for, including staff check-in and check-out and kitchen activity if those are switched on;
• have a lawful basis for the monitoring, and carry out a data protection impact assessment where the law requires one, which is usually the case when monitoring workers;
• never point cameras at private areas such as toilets or changing rooms.

What Frontroom does with camera images

Frontroom analyses images from the connected cameras to work out how busy the floor is, how many guests and staff are present, which tables are in use, how active the kitchen is, and when staff arrive and leave. It can flag events such as a long wait, with a picture of the moment for the restaurant to check. Pictures and short clips attached to events are deleted automatically after the number of days the restaurant sets (7 days unless changed, 90 days at most). Clips only include sound if the restaurant turns sound on.

If a restaurant switches on staff check-in by camera, Frontroom matches people seen on camera with the restaurant's staff list to record arrival and departure times. Where this recognises individuals from their physical features, it may involve biometric data, which is special category data. The restaurant must then have a valid condition under Article 9 of UK GDPR, such as explicit consent, and should offer staff another way to clock in, such as a PIN at the till.

The camera engine connects out to Frontroom, so a restaurant does not need to open its network to the internet. Camera images are not used for advertising, sold, or used for any purpose other than the restaurant's own features.

Ask, photo reading and voice notes

These features use AI to do work for the restaurant. When a user types a question in Ask, takes a photo of an invoice or records a voice note, we send the content needed for that task to the AI or speech-to-text provider that performs it, and save the result with the restaurant's records. Voice notes are converted to text, and the text is saved with the record it belongs to. Nothing an AI feature drafts is posted to the books until a person approves it.

Who we share data with

We use carefully chosen providers (subprocessors) to run Frontroom. They only process data on our instructions and must protect it. They fall into these groups:

• Cloud hosting and network: to run the service, deliver this website and protect both from attacks.
• AI model providers: to answer Ask questions, read photos of invoices and receipts, and draft entries.
• Speech-to-text: to turn voice notes into text.
• Email delivery: to send account emails, service messages and replies.
• Payment processing: to take subscription payments, once online payments are available.
• Product analytics (Mixpanel): to count how Frontroom's features are used. Our servers send Mixpanel the pseudonymous usage events described above. It sets no cookies and stores nothing on your device, it never receives names, email addresses or phone numbers, and the data is kept in Mixpanel's EU data centre.

If you allow cookies on this website, we also share data with Google (Google Analytics), Microsoft (Clarity) and Meta (Meta Pixel), as our cookie policy explains. These companies may also use the data for their own purposes under their own privacy policies. For the Meta Pixel, we and Meta are joint controllers for collecting the data on this site and sending it to Meta. The app's sign-in and sign-up pages follow the same choice and use only Google Analytics and the Meta Pixel.

Customers can ask us for the current list of subprocessors at support@frontroom.ai, and we tell customers before we add or replace one. We may also share data when the law requires it, to protect our rights or the safety of others, or with a buyer if our business is sold, in which case this policy continues to apply. We never sell personal data.

Where data is kept

Frontroom's application and database run on servers we own and operate in the United Kingdom, and traffic reaches them through our network provider. Some of the providers listed above may process data outside the UK, for example in the European Economic Area or the United States. When they do, we rely on UK adequacy regulations or appropriate safeguards, such as the UK International Data Transfer Agreement or the UK Addendum to the EU Standard Contractual Clauses.

How long we keep it

• Account data: for as long as the account is open, then deleted or returned as our Terms set out.
• Restaurant records: as the restaurant decides while its account is open. When an account closes, the restaurant has time to export its data, and we then delete it, except where the law requires us to keep something.
• Backups: we take a backup every night and keep a small number of recent nights. Older backups are overwritten in turn.
• Our own business records, such as invoices we issue: as long as tax and company law requires, usually six years.
• Emails with us: as long as needed to deal with your request and any follow-up.
• Website analytics: Google Analytics data for up to 14 months, Clarity replays for 30 days and Clarity summary data for up to 13 months. Your cookie choice is kept for 6 months.

Security

All connections to Frontroom are encrypted. Access inside each account follows the roles the owner sets, and an audit log records who did what. Posted accounting entries are never edited or deleted: corrections are made by visible reversals. We back up every night, limit who on our side can reach production systems, and only the account owner can download a full copy of the data. Passwords and secret codes are never included in data exports. If a personal data breach affects you, we will tell you and the Information Commissioner's Office where the law requires.

Your rights

Under UK GDPR you have the right to:

• ask for a copy of your personal data;
• have inaccurate data corrected;
• have data deleted in some cases;
• restrict or object to some uses of your data, including direct marketing at any time;
• receive your data in a portable format; and
• withdraw consent where we rely on it.

To withdraw your consent to cookies, choose Cookie settings at the bottom of any page. Email support@frontroom.ai to use any of these rights. We will reply within one month. If your request is about data a restaurant holds in Frontroom, we will pass it to that restaurant and help it respond.

You can also complain to the UK Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113. We would appreciate the chance to put things right first.

Children

Frontroom is a service for businesses and is not meant for children. Restaurants may keep records about young workers as their employer, and they are responsible for that data.

Cookies

This website uses analytics and marketing cookies only with your permission, and you can change your choice at any time with Cookie settings at the bottom of every page. Inside the app, once you are signed in, we use only cookies that are strictly necessary to keep you signed in and your session secure. The app's sign-in and sign-up pages follow the choice you made on this website and load nothing from other companies unless you allowed it. Our cookie policy lists every cookie, what it does and how long it lasts.

Changes to this policy

We will update this policy when our services or the law change, and change the date at the top. If a change matters for how we use your data, we will tell account owners by email or in the app before it takes effect.

Contact us

FRONTROOM AI LTD, 11 Frating Crescent, Woodford Green, IG8 0DW, United Kingdom. Email support@frontroom.ai.