Privacy Policy

Information we collect

If you create an optional account, Food Cost Tools receives your email address, display name, authentication provider, account identifier, calculator preferences, and any calculator records you choose to save. A saved record may include the tool used, the values you entered, the calculated results, a title, notes, and created or updated timestamps.

Pro users may optionally provide report-branding information, including a business name, logo, website, email, phone number, address, accent color, and report footer note. This information is used to create the user's branded PDF reports.

If you contact us by email or through the contact form, we receive the information you choose to send, such as your name, email address, message topic, and message.

Public calculator use

You can use the public calculators, view results, copy results, and download available CSV files without creating an account. Calculator inputs are processed in your browser unless you choose to save a calculation to an account.

The site may store functional preferences in your browser, such as currency, measurement system, target percentages, or an unfinished sign-in or checkout return path. Clearing browser data may remove those local preferences.

Firebase accounts and saved calculations

Food Cost Tools uses Firebase Authentication, Cloud Firestore, and Cloud Storage to provide account access, store account preferences, save calculations, and store an optional Pro report logo. Firebase Cloud Functions support secure account and subscription operations. Access rules are designed to limit each signed-in user to their own profile, calculator records, and report-branding file.

If you choose Continue with Google, Google provides Firebase Authentication with the account details needed to sign you in, such as your name, email address, and account identifier. Food Cost Tools does not receive your Google password.

Standard accounts can save and edit up to three calculations. Pro accounts can save more calculations and use additional workspace features while the subscription entitlement is active. These limits do not change the privacy protections applied to account records.

Subscriptions, Stripe, and Link

Food Cost Tools uses Stripe Managed Payments for Pro subscription checkout, recurring billing, tax calculation, transaction support, and payment management. Stripe or Link collects and processes payment details directly. Food Cost Tools does not receive or store your full card number or bank account credentials.

To activate and maintain Pro access, Food Cost Tools stores limited billing references and status information in your account profile. This may include a Stripe customer identifier, subscription identifier, plan, subscription status, billing update time, and current billing-period end date.

Stripe and Link process transaction information under their own terms and privacy practices. You can review Stripe's Privacy Policy for more information.

Technical information

Like most websites, hosting providers may process basic technical information such as IP address, browser type, device information, pages requested, timestamps, and error logs to deliver the site, maintain security, and diagnose performance issues.

Optional website analytics

With a visitor's permission, Food Cost Tools uses Google Analytics for Firebase to understand how public calculator and guide pages are used. This may include page views, calculator completions, CSV downloads, general device and browser information, referring pages, and approximate location derived from an IP address.

Analytics events do not include calculator field entries, ingredient names, saved calculations, account profile details, report logos, or payment information. Visitors can choose Only necessary when prompted, in which case Food Cost Tools does not initialize optional analytics in that browser.

Food Cost Tools does not currently show live ad placements on calculator or guide pages.

If Food Cost Tools enables Google-served advertising, Google and its partners may use cookies or similar identifiers to serve ads, measure ad performance, limit repetitive ads, and help prevent fraud.

Third-party vendors and ad personalization

Google Analytics for Firebase processes limited technical and usage information only after optional analytics are allowed. Future advertising services may involve additional third-party vendors that process cookies, device identifiers, browser information, pages visited, approximate location, or ad interaction data.

If ads are added later, they may be personalized based on information about a visitor's interests or prior activity, or non-personalized based on context such as the page content and general location. Visitors can learn about and manage personalized ads through Google Ad Settings. Google also explains how it uses information from sites and apps that use its services at Google's partner sites policy page.

Cookies, local storage, and analytics

Food Cost Tools and its account providers use essential browser storage to maintain sign-in state, protect account requests, remember calculator preferences, and complete checkout return flows. These essential features are not used to sell your calculator records.

The optional analytics choice is stored in the visitor's browser so the site can remember whether analytics were allowed. Clearing site storage removes that saved choice and causes the prompt to appear again.

Ads.txt

Food Cost Tools uses an ads.txt file to identify authorized advertising sellers for this domain. The file is maintained at foodcosttools.com/ads.txt. The presence of ads.txt does not mean that every page currently displays ads.

How information is used

We use the information described in this policy to:

• create and secure accounts;
• save, edit, organize, export, and restore calculations;
• apply account limits and activate Pro features;
• respond to support, privacy, and editorial requests;
• maintain site reliability, prevent misuse, and diagnose errors; and
• comply with legal, tax, accounting, and transaction obligations.

Food Cost Tools does not sell saved calculation records or use them to train a public artificial intelligence model.

Retention and account deletion

Account profiles, preferences, and saved calculations are generally retained while the account remains open. Contact messages may be kept long enough to respond, track correction requests, improve content, and maintain an operational record.

The account settings page lets you permanently delete your Food Cost Tools profile, calculator preferences, saved calculations, optional report-branding logo, and Firebase sign-in account. Account deletion is unavailable while a Pro subscription is active, trialing, or past due. Manage or cancel the subscription through the secure billing portal in account settings first.

Stripe or Link may retain transaction, invoice, tax, fraud-prevention, and subscription records as required by law or their own policies. Deleting a Food Cost Tools account does not delete records Stripe or Link must retain independently. You may contact Stripe or Link regarding their transaction data.

You can ask us to delete a prior contact message unless it must be retained for security, legal, billing, or operational reasons.

Data security and your choices

We use account authentication, access controls, and verified billing status updates to protect workspace features. No online service can guarantee absolute security, so avoid saving confidential payment details, health information, or other sensitive personal information in calculator names, notes, or ingredient fields.

You can use the public tools without an account, update account preferences, download available exports, delete saved calculations, sign out, reset an eligible password, manage Pro billing through the secure portal, or delete an eligible account from settings.

Contact

Privacy questions can be sent to hello@foodcosttools.com.