Privacy Policy

Last updated August 5, 2020

The National Restaurant Association and its affiliates National Restaurant Solutions LLC, National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation, National Registry of Food Safety Professionals,  Multicultural Foodservice and Hospitality Alliance, Restaurant Law Center, and National Restaurant Association Political Action Committee (collectively, the “Association,” “we” or “us”) understands that you care about how we collect, use, and share information when you interact with us through our websites, mobile applications, social media sites and handles, email, events, surveys, and research (our “Services”) and we value the trust you place in us. This Privacy Policy explains:

We also include specific disclosures for residents of the European Economic Area and Switzerland as well as California.

This Policy applies to the Association and our Services. It also applies anywhere it is linked. It does not apply to non-Association websites and mobile applications that may link to the Services or be linked to from the Services; please review the privacy policies on those websites and applications directly to understand their privacy practices. 

Information We Collect 

Information you give us: Some of the Services may include features or services that permit you to enter contact information and other information about you. We collect and store any information you enter on our Services. This may include:

  • Contact and demographic information when registering or using our Services.
  • Payment information and associated contact information when engaging in a transaction on our site.
  • Appointment bookings you carry out through our site.
  • Email address information when subscribing to our email bulletins.
  • Any information or data you provide by interacting in our online forums and chatrooms, or by commenting on content posted on our Services. Please note that these comments are also visible to other users of our Services.
  • Information you provide when you complete a survey administered by us or a service provider acting on our behalf.
  • If you contact us, we may keep a record of that correspondence and any contact information provided. 
  • In the case of Hire Military! or other job board related Services, information you may submit for possible employment with members or other information you may submit to inquire about or apply for a job with us.
  • Information you provide when you apply for a certification or purchase or take a course or an exam.
  • Information submitted by or for our members, including employers or franchisors–which may include employees’ business and personal contact details, job titles, and membership details.

Information We Collect Automatically: When you interact with the Services, certain information about your use of our Services is automatically collected. Much of this information is collected through cookies, web beacons, and other tracking technologies, as well as through your web browser or device.  This may include:

  • Details of your visits to our site and information generated in the course of the use of our site (including the timing, frequency and pattern of service use) including, but not limited to, traffic data,cookies, location data, weblogs and other communication data, the resources that you access, and how you reached our site.
  • Details regarding the device you use to access our Services, including, but not limited to, your IP address, operating system and browser type.
  • Information about how you interact with our ads and newsletters, including whether you open or click links in any correspondence.
  • Information that you make available to us on a social media platform (such as by clicking on a social media icon linked from our Services), including your account ID or username and other information included in your posts.

Please see below for more information about how our automatic collection of information works.

How We Use and Protect Your Information

We may use the information we collect from you for the following purposes:

  • To provide membership services, and to keep our membership contact information up-to-date.
  • To provide you with our products and services, including to take steps to enter into a contract for sale or for services, process payments, fulfill orders, and send service communications.
  • To provide you with information for our products and services, or products or services of our commercial partners, that we believe may be of interest to you.
  • To communicate exam results, pending expiration dates or other information regarding your certificate, certification or similar status.
  • To provide information or other materials relating to an event you are currently or previously registered for, including information regarding speakers, exhibitors, sponsors, or other attendees.
  • To enable additional features on our Services and to provide you with a personalized service.
  • To create custom audiences on social media sites.
  • To provide you with the best service and improve and grow our business, including understanding our customer base and purchasing trends and understanding the effectiveness of our marketing.
  • To allow members or potential employers to access and download information posted on Hire Military! or other job board related sites.
  • To detect, investigate, and prevent activities that may violate our policies or be fraudulent or illegal, and to comply with legal requirements regarding the provision of products and services.

How We Secure the Information We Collect From or About You

We use a combination of physical, technical, and administrative safeguards to protect the information we collect through the Services.  While we use these precautions to safeguard your information, we cannot guarantee the security of the networks, systems, servers, devices, and databases we operate or that are operated on our behalf.

Our Sharing of Your Information

  • Service Providers: We engage vendors to perform functions on our behalf such as: website hosting, software development, data storage, content management, database management, technical integration, marketing automation, analytics, site optimization, conducting customer surveys, shipping and payment processing and providing other business services.

There are limited circumstances in which the service provider collects data directly from you when their privacy policies may also apply.

  • Social Media Platforms: Where you choose to interact with us through social media, your interaction with these programs typically allows the social media company to collect some information about you through digital cookies they place on your device and other tracking mechanisms. In some cases, the social media company may recognize you through its digital cookies even when you do not interact with their application. Please visit the social media companies’ respective privacy policies to better understand their data collection practices and controls they make available to you.
  • Third parties involved in advertising: We partner with third parties who assist us in serving advertising regarding the Services to others who may be interested in the Services. We also partner with third parties who use cookies to display interest-based advertising to you on the Services. These third parties may use tracking technologies on our website to collect or receive information from the Services and elsewhere on the internet and use that information to provide measurement services and target ads. While the Association will not share information that identifies you by name with unaffiliated third parties for their own uses, such third parties may, with sufficient data from other sources, be able to personally identify you.
  • Corporate Affiliates: We share data with other members of our group of companies, as well as with our State Restaurant Association partners.
  • Business Partners: We share data with affiliates or companies with whom we have affinity programs or similar commercial relationships in order to market and provide products, goods or services that may be of interest to you.
  • Potential Employers: We may share data posted to Hire Military! with interested potential employers, and will have no liability for such third party use.
  • Event Attendees, Sponsors, and Exhibitors:  We may share attendees’ information with sponsors and exihibitors for that event or similar events, or may be used to provide invitiatios for other events conducted by us. Exhibitors’ information may be shared with Sponsors of such events or for invitation to exhibit at other events we conduct. 

Additional Information About our Data Collection and Sharing Practices

Sharing of Aggregated Data: We may analyze aggregated, de-identified data and share these analyses at our discretion, including with marketing agencies, media agencies, and analytics providers. These third parties will not be able to relate this data to identifiable individuals.

Combination of Information: We may combine information from the Services together and with other information we obtain from our business records. Additionally, information collected about you from a particular browser or device may be linked to information collected from another computer or device that we believe relates to you.

Personal Data Collected From You About Others: If you decide to invite others to the site, we will collect your and the other person’s names, e-mail addresses, and/or phone numbers in order to send an e-mail or text message and follow up with the other person. You hereby agree that you will obtain the other person’s consent to this before giving us their personal data. You hereby agree not to send us the contact details of any legal minor. 

Change of Ownership or Corporate Organization:We may transfer to another entity or its affiliates or service providers some or all information about you in connection with, or during negotiations of, any merger, acquisition, sale of assets or any line of business, change in ownership control, or financing transaction. We cannot promise that an acquiring party or the merged entity will have the same privacy practices or treat your information the same as described in this policy.

Cross-border Transfer of Data: If you use our Services outside of the United States, you understand that we may collect, process, and store your personal information in the United States and other countries.  The laws in the U.S. regarding personal information may be different from the laws of your state or country.  Any such transfers will comply with safeguards as required by relevant law.  By using the Services, you consent to the collection, international transfer, storage, and processing of your data.

Your Options and Rights

Please visit the login page on any Association website to update your contact information and payment method. 

If at any time you would like to unsubscribe from receiving future emails, you can click the unsubscribe link at the bottom of any email bulletin, or email us at [email protected] and we will promptly remove you from all correspondence.

Your California Privacy Rights

Residents of the State of California have the right to request information from the Association regarding third parties to whom the company has disclosed certain categories of personal information during the preceding year for the third parties’ direct marketing purposes.  If you are a California resident and would like to see the categories of personal information that we collect or sell, please see our Notice of California Consumer Data Collection and Sharing Practices.   If you are a California resident and would like to make such a request to access your personal information, delete you personal information, or request that we do not sell your information, please visit our Privacy Request webpage, email [email protected], write to or call us at: 

Director of Security
National Restaurant Association
233 South Wacker Drive
Chicago, IL 60606

1-800-765-2122

Special Information for California Residents

The California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”) provides California residents with rights to receive certain disclosures regarding the collection, use, and sharing of “Personal Information,” as well as rights to access and control Personal Information. The CCPA defines “Personal Information” to mean “information that identifies, relates to, describes, is capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular consumer or household.” Certain information we collect may be exempt from the CCPA because it is considered public information (i.e., it is made available by a government entity) or covered by a federal privacy law, such as the Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

To the extent that we collect Personal Information that is subject to the CCPA, that information, our practices, and your rights are described below.

Right to Information Regarding the Categories of Personal Information Collected, Sold, and Disclosed

You have a right to obtain information about the categories of Personal Information we collect, sell, and disclose.  Please see our Notice of California Consumer Data Collection and Sharing Practices.

Right to Access Information

You have the right to request access to Personal Information collected about you and information regarding the source of that information, the purposes for which we collect it, and the third parties and service providers with whom we share it. To protect our customers’ Personal Information, we are required to verify your identify before we can act on your request.

Right to Request Deletion of Information

You have the right to request in certain circumstances that we delete any Personal Information that we have collected directly from you. To protect our customers’ Personal Information, we are required to verify your identify before we can act on your request. We may have a reason under the law why we do not have to comply with your request, or why we may comply with it in a more limited way than you anticipated. If we do, we will explain that to you in our response.

Right to Information Regarding Participation in Data Sharing for Financial Incentives

We may run promotions from time to time whereby we incentivize a consumer to share certain pieces of information with us; for example, we may offer a one-time discount if consumers sign up for our email marketing list. Participation in these incentives is voluntary, and you may opt out of the data sharing at any time.

Right to Opt Out of Sale of Personal Information to Third Parties

You have the right to opt out of any sale of your personal information by the Association to third parties. To exercise this right, please visit our Privacy Request webpage. Please note that your right to opt out does not apply to our sharing of personal information with service providers, who are parties we engage to perform a function on our behalf and are contractually obligated to use the personal information only for that function.

Notice of California Consumer Data Collection and Sharing Practices.

The following is a description of our data collection practices, including the personal information we collect, the sources of that information, the purposes for which we collect information, and whether we disclose that information to external parties. We may use any and all of the information for any of the purposes described in this Privacy Policy, unless limitations are listed. The categories we use to describe the information are those enumerated in the CCPA.

  • Personal Identifiers: 
    • We may collect your name, phone number, and email address and contact address when you create an account, register for events, or complete a transaction. If you choose to create an account, you may also be asked to create a username, and we may assign one or more unique identifiers to your profile.
    • You may provide us with payment information, which may be your credit card number or a bank account, when you complete a transaction or set  up a recurring payment.
    • We may collect your Social Security number.
    • We may collect your IP address automatically when you use our Services. 
    • We may collect your Device ID automatically when you use our Services. 
  • Protected Classifications: We may collect your age in order to comply with laws that restrict collection and disclosure of personal information belonging to minors. We may collect your gender and ethnic origin. 
  • Commercial Information: When you engage in transactions with us, we may create records of goods or services purchased or considered, as well as purchasing or consuming histories or tendencies. 
  • Biometric Information: We may collect information about your physiological, biological, and behavioral characteristics. 
  • Internet or Other Electronic Network Activity Information: We may collect information about your browsing history, search history, information regarding your interaction with websites, and applications or advertisements automatically when you utilize our Services. 
  • Geolocation Data: As described above, we may collect your IP address automatically when you use our Services. We may be able to determine your general location based on the IP address. 
  • Audio, electronic, visual, thermal, olfactory, or similar information: If you contact us via phone, we may record the call. We will notify you if a call is being recorded at the beginning of the call. If you take an examination, we may video record.  We may collect your image, thermal, and olfactory similar information. 
  • Professional or employment-related information: We may collect information about your current employer and your employment history. 
  • Education information: We may collect information about the institutions you have attended and the level of education you have attained. 
  • Inferences drawn to create a profile about a consumer reflecting the consumer’s preferences or characteristics: We may analyze your actual or likely preferences through a series of computer processes. On some occasions, we may add our observations to your internal profile. 

We may share any of the above-listed information with “Service Providers”, which are external parties that we engage for business purposes and are restricted from using Personal Information for any purpose that is not related to our engagement. The categories of Service Providers with whom we share information and the services they provide are described in this Privacy Policy.

On certain occasions, we also sell information to third parties. An external party may be considered a third party either because the purpose of sharing is not an enumerated business purpose under California law, or because our contract does not restrict them from using Personal Information for other purposes. To “sell” information means to disclose it to an external party for monetary or other benefit. We may sell the following information:

  • Personal Identifiers:
    • We may provide your contact information such as name, phone number, email address and contact address. 
    • We may provide commercial information, such as a business’ name and address.
    • We may provide your contact information to directory services providers and public safety authorities.
    • We may provide your IP address and Device ID to our advertising partners, corporate affiliates, and business partners.
    • All personal information may be shared with our corporate affiliates.

We sell this information to third parties in order to allow those entities to provide you with targeting advertising and marketing that may interest you. We may also disclose information to other external parties who are not listed here when required by law or to protect the Association or other persons, as described in this Privacy Policy.

Special Information for Nevada Residents

Residents of the State of Nevada have the right to opt out of the sale of certain pieces of their information to third parties who will sell or license their information to others. If you are a Nevada resident and would like to make such a request, please visit our Privacy Request webpage, email [email protected] or write to or call us at: 

Director of Security
National Restaurant Association
233 South Wacker Drive
Chicago, IL 60606

1-800-765-2122

Special Information for Students of Academic Institutions (FERPA)

Students using our Services through an educational agency or institution (“School”) may be entitled to certain rights under federal and/or state student privacy laws, such as the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (“FERPA”).  These rights may include the right to:

  • Access and inspect the student’s education records;
  • Provide written consent to the disclosure of education records or personally identifiable information; and
  • Request the amendment of the student’s education records that the parent or eligible student believes are inaccurate, misleading or in violation of the student’s privacy rights.

As part of our Services to students, we may:

  • Receive from Schools or collect education records and personally identifiable information as reasonably required to provide the Services;
  • Share with Schools, prospective employers or current employers of a student the exam results, certification status and professional training of such student;
  • Post accreditation, certification or training results to our public website for access by Schools, employers, educators or others;
  • Share or publicly disclose such other education records or personally identifiable information as reasonably required to attest to a student’s certification status or for other purposes relevant to users of the Services; and
  • Provide students information regarding additional Services that may advance or enhance the workforce development or career opportunities of students.

Schools that we work with are required to provide students, parents or guardians required notices and obtain required consents for use of the Services as provided above.

Information for Individuals Located in the European Economic Area and Switzerland

We process personal data on the following legal bases: (1) with your consent; (2) as necessary to perform our agreement to provide Services; and (3) as necessary for our legitimate interests in providing the Services where those interests do not override your fundamental rights and freedom related to data privacy. Personal information we collect may be transferred to, and stored and processed in, the United States or any other country in which we or our affiliates or subcontractors maintain facilities, as described above.

Users that reside in the EEA or Switzerland have the right to lodge a complaint about our data collection and processing actions with the supervisory authority concerned. Contact details for data protection authorities are available here.

If you are a resident of the EEA or Switzerland, you are entitled to certain rights. Please note: In order to verify your identity, we may require you to provide us with personal information prior to accessing any records containing information about you. These rights include the ability:

 

  • to request from us access to personal information held about you

 

    • to ask for the information we hold about you to be rectified if it is inaccurate or incomplete;

 

  • to ask for data to be erased if the data is no longer necessary for the purpose for which it was collected, you withdraw consent and no other legal basis for processing exists, or you believe your fundamental rights to data privacy and protection outweigh our legitimate interest in continuing the processing. 

 

  • to request that we restrict our processing if we are processing your data based on legitimate interests or the performance of a task in the public interest as an exercise of official authority (including profiling); using your data for direct marketing (including profiling); or processing your data for purposes of scientific or historical research and statistics.

To submit a request to exercise your rights, please contact us at [email protected]. We may have a reason under the law why we do not have to respond to your request, or respond to it in a more limited way than you anticipated. If we do, we will explain that to you in our response.

Changes to This Policy

We may make changes to this Policy from time to time. We will post any changes, and such changes will become effective when they are posted. Your continued use of our Services following the posting of any changes will mean you accept those changes. For questions about our privacy practices, contact us at:

Director of Security

National Restaurant Association

233 South Wacker Drive

Chicago, IL 60606

1-800-765-2122

Email: [email protected]

Additional Information About Our Use of Tracking Technologies and Interest-Based Advertising

The Association relies on partners to provide many features of our sites and services using data about your use of the Association and other sites. We use cookies for the following purposes:

  • Site Operations: Enabling features that are necessary for providing you the services on our site, such as identifying you as being signed in, tracking content views remembering your preferences and the number of times you have been shown an advertisement.
  • Analytics: Allowing us to understand how our services are being used, track site performance and make improvements
  • Personalized Advertising: Delivering tailored advertising based on your preferences or interests across services and devices and measuring the effectiveness of ads
  • Social Media: Enabling the sharing of content from our services through social networking and other sites

Below is a list of these partners with links to more information about the use of your data by our service providers and third parties that use tracking devices or cookies.  We have provided links to information about the choices these services may make available to you. 

Category Partner Further Information
Analytics Google How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services
Personalized Advertising and Social Media Facebook Data Policy
Personalized Advertising LinkedIn Privacy Policy
Personalized Advertising TradeDesk TradeDesk Services Privacy Policy
Personalized Advertising AddThis Privacy Policy
Site Operations Hubspot Forms Privacy Policy

Most web browsers automatically accept cookies but, if you prefer, you can usually modify your browser setting to disable or reject cookies. If you delete your cookies or if you set your browser to decline cookies, some features of the Services may not be available, work, or work as designed. You may also be able to opt out of or block tracking by interacting directly with the third parties who conduct tracking through our Services. 

You can learn more about ad serving companies and the options available to limit their collection and use of your information by visiting the websites for the Network Advertising Initiative, the Digital Advertising Alliance, and the European Interactive Digital Advertising Initiative. Similarly, you can learn about your options to opt out of mobile app tracking by certain advertising networks through your device settings and by resetting the advertiser ID on your Apple or Android device. 

Please note that opting-out of advertising networks services does not mean that you will not receive advertising while using our Services or on other websites, nor will it prevent the receipt of interest-based advertising from third parties that do not participate in these programs. It will, however, exclude you from interest-based advertising conducted through participating networks, as provided by their policies and choice mechanisms.  If you delete your cookies, you may also delete your opt-out preferences.

 

 

 

TERMS OF USE

Last Modified: May 13, 2019


Acceptance of the Terms of Use

These terms of use are entered into by and between You and The Restaurant Law Center (“Company”, “we” or “us”).  The following terms and conditions, together with any documents they expressly incorporate by reference (collectively, these “Terms of Use”), govern your access to and use of RestaurantLawCenter.org (the “Website”), including any content, functionality and services offered on or through the Website, whether as a guest or a registered user.

Please read the Terms of Use carefully before you start to use the Website. By using the Website or by clicking to accept or agree to the Terms of Use when this option is made available to you, you accept and agree to be bound and abide by these Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy, incorporated herein by reference. If you do not want to agree to these Terms of Use or the Privacy Policy, you must not access or use the Website.

Changes to the Terms of Use

We may revise and update these Terms of Use from time to time in our sole discretion. All changes are effective immediately when we post them, and apply to all access to and use of the Website thereafter.

Your continued use of the Website following the posting of revised Terms of Use means that you accept and agree to the changes. You are expected to check this page from time to time so you are aware of any changes, as they are binding on you.

Accessing the Website and Account Security

We reserve the right to withdraw or amend this Website, and any service or material we provide on the Website, in our sole discretion without notice. We will not be liable if for any reason all or any part of the Website is unavailable at any time or for any period. From time to time, we may restrict access to some parts of the Website, or the entire Website, to users, including registered users.

You are responsible for:

  • Making all arrangements necessary for you to have access to the Website.
  • Ensuring that all persons who access the Website through your internet connection are aware of these Terms of Use and comply with them.

To access the Website or some of the resources it offers, you may be asked to provide certain registration details or other information. It is a condition of your use of the Website that all the information you provide on the Website is correct, current and complete. You agree that all information you provide to register with this Website or otherwise, including but not limited to through the use of any interactive features on the Website, is governed by our Privacy Policy and you consent to all actions we take with respect to your information consistent with our Privacy Policy.

If you choose, or are provided with, a user name, password or any other piece of information as part of our security procedures, you must treat such information as confidential, and you must not disclose it to any other person or entity. You also acknowledge that your account is personal to you and agree not to provide any other person with access to this Website or portions of it using your user name, password or other security information. You agree to notify us immediately of any unauthorized access to or use of your user name or password or any other breach of security. You also agree to ensure that you exit from your account at the end of each session. You should use particular caution when accessing your account from a public or shared computer so that others are not able to view or record your password or other personal information.

We have the right to disable any user name, password or other identifier, whether chosen by you or provided by us, at any time in our sole discretion for any or no reason, including if, in our opinion, you have violated any provision of these Terms of Use.

Intellectual Property Rights

The Website and its entire contents, features and functionality (including but not limited to all information, software, text, displays, images, video and audio, and the design, selection and arrangement thereof), are owned by the Company, its licensors or other providers of such material and are protected by United States and international copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret and other intellectual property or proprietary rights laws.

These Terms of Use permit you to use the Website for your personal, non-commercial use only. You must not reproduce, distribute, modify, create derivative works of, publicly display, publicly perform, republish, download, store or transmit any of the material on our Website, except as follows:

  • Your computer may temporarily store copies of such materials in RAM incidental to your accessing and viewing those materials.
  • You may store files that are automatically cached by your Web browser for display enhancement purposes.

You must not:

  • Modify copies of any materials from this site.
  • Delete or alter any copyright, trademark or other proprietary rights notices from copies of materials from this site.

You must not access or use for any commercial purposes any part of the Website or any services or materials available through the Website.

If you wish to make any use of material on the Website other than that set out in this section, please address your request to: [email protected].

If you print, copy, modify, download or otherwise use or provide any other person with access to any part of the Website in breach of the Terms of Use, your right to use the Website will cease immediately and you must, at our option, return or destroy any copies of the materials you have made. No right, title or interest in or to the Website or any content on the Website is transferred to you, and all rights not expressly granted are reserved by the Company. Any use of the Website not expressly permitted by these Terms of Use is a breach of these Terms of Use and may violate copyright, trademark and other laws.

Trademarks

The Company name and all related names, logos, product and service names, designs and slogans are trademarks of the Company or its affiliates or licensors. You must not use such marks without the prior written permission of the Company or its affiliates or licensors, as applicable. All other names, logos, product and service names, designs and slogans on this Website are the trademarks of their respective owners.

Prohibited Uses

You may use the Website only for lawful purposes and in accordance with these Terms of Use. You agree not to use the Website:

  • In any way that violates any applicable federal, state, local or international law or regulation (including, without limitation, any laws regarding the export of data or software to and from the United States or other countries).
  • For the purpose of exploiting, harming or attempting to exploit or harm minors in any way by exposing them to inappropriate content, asking for personally identifiable information or otherwise.
  • To engage in any other conduct that restricts or inhibits anyone’s use or enjoyment of the Website, or which, as determined by us, may harm the Company or users of the Website or expose them to liability.

Additionally, you agree not to:

  • Use the Website in any manner that could disable, overburden, damage, or impair the site or interfere with any other party’s use of the Website, including their ability to engage in real time activities through the Website.
  • Use any robot, spider or other automatic device, process or means to access the Website for any purpose, including monitoring or copying any of the material on the Website.
  • Use any manual process to monitor or copy any of the material on the Website or for any other unauthorized purpose without our prior written consent.
  • Use any device, software or routine that interferes with the proper working of the Website.
  • Introduce any viruses, trojan horses, worms, logic bombs or other material which is malicious or technologically harmful.
  • Attempt to gain unauthorized access to, interfere with, damage or disrupt any parts of the Website, the server on which the Website is stored, or any server, computer or database connected to the Website.
  • Attack the Website via a denial-of-service attack or a distributed denial-of-service attack.
  • Otherwise attempt to interfere with the proper working of the Website.

 

Reliance on Information Posted

The information presented on or through the Website is made available solely for general information purposes. We do not warrant the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of this information. Any reliance you place on such information is strictly at your own risk. We disclaim all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on such materials by you or any other visitor to the Website, or by anyone who may be informed of any of its contents.

This Website may include content provided by third parties, including materials provided by other users, bloggers and third-party licensors, syndicators, aggregators and/or reporting services. All statements and/or opinions expressed in these materials, and all articles and responses to questions and other content, other than the content provided by the Company, are solely the opinions and the responsibility of the person or entity providing those materials. These materials do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Company. We are not responsible, or liable to you or any third party, for the content or accuracy of any materials provided by any third parties.

Changes to the Website

We may update the content on this Website from time to time, but its content is not necessarily complete or up-to-date. Any of the material on the Website may be out of date at any given time, and we are under no obligation to update such material.

Information About You and Your Visits to the Website

All information we collect on this Website is subject to our Privacy Policy. By using the Website, you consent to all actions taken by us with respect to your information in compliance with the Privacy Policy.

Linking to the Website and Social Media Features

You may link to our homepage, provided you do so in a way that is fair and legal and does not damage our reputation or take advantage of it, but you must not establish a link in such a way as to suggest any form of association, approval or endorsement on our part.

This Website may provide certain social media features that enable you to:

  • Link from your own or certain third-party websites to certain content on this Website.
  • Send e-mails or other communications with certain content, or links to certain content, on this Website.
  • Cause limited portions of content on this Website to be displayed or appear to be displayed on your own or certain third-party websites.

You may use these features solely as they are provided by us, solely with respect to the content they are displayed with and otherwise in accordance with any additional terms and conditions we provide with respect to such features. Subject to the foregoing, you must not:

  • Establish a link from any website that is not owned by you.
  • Cause the Website or portions of it to be displayed, or appear to be displayed by, for example, framing, deep linking or in-line linking, on any other site.
  • Link to any part of the Website other than the homepage.
  • Otherwise take any action with respect to the materials on this Website that is inconsistent with any other provision of these Terms of Use.

You agree to cooperate with us in causing any unauthorized framing or linking immediately to cease. We reserve the right to withdraw linking permission without notice.

We may disable all or any social media features and any links at any time without notice in our discretion.

Links from the Website

If the Website contains links to other sites and resources provided by third parties, these links are provided for your convenience only. This includes links contained in advertisements, including banner advertisements and sponsored links. We have no control over the contents of those sites or resources, and accept no responsibility for them or for any loss or damage that may arise from your use of them. If you decide to access any of the third party websites linked to this Website, you do so entirely at your own risk and subject to the terms and conditions of use for such websites.

Geographic Restrictions

The owner of the Website is based in the United States. We make no claims that the Website or any of its content is accessible or appropriate outside of the United States. Access to the Website may not be legal by certain persons or in certain countries. If you access the Website from outside the United States, you do so on your own initiative and are responsible for compliance with local laws.

Disclaimer of Warranties

You understand that we cannot and do not guarantee or warrant that files available for downloading from the internet or the Website will be free of viruses or other destructive code. You are responsible for implementing sufficient procedures and checkpoints to satisfy your particular requirements for anti-virus protection and accuracy of data input and output, and for maintaining a means external to our site for any reconstruction of any lost data. WE WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY LOSS OR DAMAGE CAUSED BY A DISTRIBUTED DENIAL-OF-SERVICE ATTACK, VIRUSES OR OTHER TECHNOLOGICALLY HARMFUL MATERIAL THAT MAY INFECT YOUR COMPUTER EQUIPMENT, COMPUTER PROGRAMS, DATA OR OTHER PROPRIETARY MATERIAL DUE TO YOUR USE OF THE WEBSITE OR ANY SERVICES OR ITEMS OBTAINED THROUGH THE WEBSITE OR TO YOUR DOWNLOADING OF ANY MATERIAL POSTED ON IT, OR ON ANY WEBSITE LINKED TO IT.

YOUR USE OF THE WEBSITE, ITS CONTENT AND ANY SERVICES OR ITEMS OBTAINED THROUGH THE WEBSITE IS AT YOUR OWN RISK. THE WEBSITE, ITS CONTENT AND ANY SERVICES OR ITEMS OBTAINED THROUGH THE WEBSITE ARE PROVIDED ON AN “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” BASIS, WITHOUT ANY WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. NEITHER THE COMPANY NOR ANY PERSON ASSOCIATED WITH THE COMPANY MAKES ANY WARRANTY OR REPRESENTATION WITH RESPECT TO THE COMPLETENESS, SECURITY, RELIABILITY, QUALITY, ACCURACY OR AVAILABILITY OF THE WEBSITE. WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, NEITHER THE COMPANY NOR ANYONE ASSOCIATED WITH THE COMPANY REPRESENTS OR WARRANTS THAT THE WEBSITE, ITS CONTENT OR ANY SERVICES OR ITEMS OBTAINED THROUGH THE WEBSITE WILL BE ACCURATE, RELIABLE, ERROR-FREE OR UNINTERRUPTED, THAT DEFECTS WILL BE CORRECTED, THAT OUR SITE OR THE SERVER THAT MAKES IT AVAILABLE ARE FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS OR THAT THE WEBSITE OR ANY SERVICES OR ITEMS OBTAINED THROUGH THE WEBSITE WILL OTHERWISE MEET YOUR NEEDS OR EXPECTATIONS.

THE COMPANY HEREBY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, STATUTORY OR OTHERWISE, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, NON-INFRINGEMENT AND FITNESS FOR PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

THE FOREGOING DOES NOT AFFECT ANY WARRANTIES WHICH CANNOT BE EXCLUDED OR LIMITED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW.

Limitation on Liability

IN NO EVENT WILL THE COMPANY, ITS AFFILIATES OR THEIR LICENSORS, SERVICE PROVIDERS, EMPLOYEES, AGENTS, OFFICERS OR DIRECTORS BE LIABLE FOR DAMAGES OF ANY KIND, UNDER ANY LEGAL THEORY, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR USE, OR INABILITY TO USE, THE WEBSITE, ANY WEBSITES LINKED TO IT, ANY CONTENT ON THE WEBSITE OR SUCH OTHER WEBSITES OR ANY SERVICES OR ITEMS OBTAINED THROUGH THE WEBSITE OR SUCH OTHER WEBSITES, INCLUDING ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PERSONAL INJURY, PAIN AND SUFFERING, EMOTIONAL DISTRESS, LOSS OF REVENUE, LOSS OF PROFITS, LOSS OF BUSINESS OR ANTICIPATED SAVINGS, LOSS OF USE, LOSS OF GOODWILL, LOSS OF DATA, AND WHETHER CAUSED BY TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), BREACH OF CONTRACT OR OTHERWISE, EVEN IF FORESEEABLE.

THE FOREGOING DOES NOT AFFECT ANY LIABILITY WHICH CANNOT BE EXCLUDED OR LIMITED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW.

Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmless the Company, its affiliates, licensors and service providers, and its and their respective officers, directors, employees, contractors, agents, licensors, suppliers, successors and assigns from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, judgments, awards, losses, costs, expenses or fees (including reasonable attorneys’ fees) arising out of or relating to your violation of these Terms of Use or your use of the Website, including, but not limited to, any use of the Website’s content, services and products other than as expressly authorized in these Terms of Use or your use of any information obtained from the Website.

Governing Law and Jurisdiction

All matters relating to the Website and these Terms of Use and any dispute or claim arising therefrom or related thereto (in each case, including non-contractual disputes or claims), shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the internal laws of Washington, D.C. without giving effect to any choice or conflict of law provision or rule (whether of the Washington, D.C. or any other jurisdiction).

Any legal suit, action or proceeding arising out of, or related to, these Terms of Use or the Website shall be instituted exclusively in the federal courts of the United States or the courts of Washington, D.C. You waive any and all objections to the exercise of jurisdiction over you by such courts and to venue in such courts.

Arbitration

At Company’s sole discretion, it may require You to submit any disputes arising from the use of these Terms of Use or the Website, including disputes arising from or concerning their interpretation, violation, invalidity, non-performance, or termination, to final and binding arbitration under the Rules of Arbitration of the American Arbitration Association applying Washington, D.C. law.

Limitation on Time to File Claims

ANY CAUSE OF ACTION OR CLAIM YOU MAY HAVE ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THESE TERMS OF USE OR THE WEBSITE MUST BE COMMENCED WITHIN ONE (1) YEAR AFTER THE CAUSE OF ACTION ACCRUES, OTHERWISE, SUCH CAUSE OF ACTION OR CLAIM IS PERMANENTLY BARRED.

Waiver and Severability

No waiver of by the Company of any term or condition set forth in these Terms of Use shall be deemed a further or continuing waiver of such term or condition or a waiver of any other term or condition, and any failure of the Company to assert a right or provision under these Terms of Use shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision.

If any provision of these Terms of Use is held by a court or other tribunal of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, illegal or unenforceable for any reason, such provision shall be eliminated or limited to the minimum extent such that the remaining provisions of the Terms of Use will continue in full force and effect.

Entire Agreement

The Terms of Use, our Privacy Policy and Terms of Sale constitute the sole and entire agreement between you and The Restaurant Law Center with respect to the Website and supersede all prior and contemporaneous understandings, agreements, representations and warranties, both written and oral, with respect to the Website.

Comments and Concerns

All notices of copyright infringement or other legal claims should be sent to [email protected].

All other feedback, comments, requests for technical support and other communications relating to the Website should be directed to: [email protected].