Rules for your country
The rules for food, delivery work and personal data are different in each country. The Country Rules and Regulations for the country where you use Meal2U form part of these terms, and where they differ from these terms, the country rules apply in that country. They include the food registration, hygiene and allergen rules for cooks in your country.
These terms apply when you sell food on Meal2U as a cook. In these terms “cook” includes home cooks, restaurants and cloud kitchens. They sit alongside the Terms and Conditions that apply to everyone, and the Food Safety and Allergen Policy.
1. About Meal2U and who sells the food
Meal2U is a technology platform operated by Alphaverse Consultant Private Limited, a company registered in the United Kingdom with company number 15921104, whose registered office is at 6 Gurnos Road, Merthyr Tydfil, CF47 9NH, United Kingdom. Meal2U connects customers with independent home cooks, and with independent delivery partners who deliver the food.
The cook is the seller of the food. When a customer orders a dish, the contract for that food is made directly between the customer and the cook. Meal2U is not the seller, does not cook, prepare, store or pack food, and is not a party to that contract. Meal2U collects payment from the customer on the cook’s behalf, as the cook’s limited payment collection agent, using Stripe. When a customer pays Meal2U for an order, the customer’s debt to the cook for that order is settled. Any service fee shown at checkout is a charge by Meal2U for the use of the platform.
Delivery partners are independent and do not work for Meal2U. They use the Meal2U platform to find and carry out delivery requests, in the same way that independent couriers use other delivery apps.
You are the seller
You are an independent food business and the seller of the food you list. You are responsible for the food you sell, including its safety, quality, hygiene, storage, temperature control, packaging, labelling and allergen information, and for the description of each dish. You set your own menu, prices and opening hours.
Following local and international law
Meal2U can be used in more than one country. Everyone involved in Meal2U must obey the laws and regulations of the country, region and local area where they use it or work on it, and the international laws and rules that apply to the business. This covers customers, cooks (including restaurants and cloud kitchens), delivery partners, and Meal2U’s own admins and superadmins.
Depending on the role and the country, this includes food safety and hygiene law, food business registration, allergen labelling law, consumer protection law, tax law, road traffic and vehicle law, insurance requirements, right-to-work and licensing rules, data protection and privacy law (such as the UK GDPR and, where it applies, the EU GDPR), anti-money-laundering and sanctions rules, anti-bribery law, and payment card rules. Where the law of your country is stricter than these terms, you must follow the stricter rule.
You are responsible for finding out which laws apply to you. Meal2U may ask for proof that you meet them, and may suspend or close an account that does not. Meal2U’s admins and superadmins must use their access only for running the platform, must follow the same laws, and must keep the personal data they see confidential.
Food business registration
Before you sell food, you must register as a food business with the authority that your country requires, for example your local council in the United Kingdom, and hold any licence, permit, hygiene certificate or food safety training your country requires. You should add your food business registration number, your official food hygiene rating and the authority that gave it in the app. You must tell Meal2U straight away if your registration or rating changes, or if an authority takes any action against your kitchen.
Allergens: declare as many as possible
For every dish, you must declare every allergen it contains, as fully and accurately as you can. As a minimum you must always declare the fourteen major allergens recognised in UK and EU law: celery; cereals containing gluten (wheat, rye, barley and oats); crustaceans such as prawns, crab and lobster; eggs; fish; lupin; milk; molluscs such as mussels and squid; mustard; tree nuts (almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, cashews, pecans, Brazil nuts, pistachios and macadamia nuts), naming the nut; peanuts; sesame; soya; and sulphur dioxide and sulphites above 10 mg per kg or per litre.
You must also declare any other ingredient that commonly causes allergies or intolerances, or that the law of your country requires to be declared. Examples include buckwheat, peach, kiwi fruit, banana, pine nuts, coconut, peas, lentils and other legumes, corn, garlic, onion, gelatine, pork, beef, alcohol, and food colourings or additives known to cause reactions.
You must say clearly if a dish may contain traces of an allergen because of how your kitchen works, for example shared surfaces, shared fryers or oil, or flour in the air. Never describe a dish as free from an allergen unless you are sure it is. The allergen information must be available to the customer before they order and when the food arrives, for example on a label on the packaging, and you must update it straight away whenever a recipe or an ingredient brand changes. If a customer asks about allergens, answer honestly, and if you are not sure, say so.
Describe the recipe and how each dish is cooked
In each dish’s description you must state its full recipe in plain words: every ingredient, including the ingredients inside sauces, pastes, stocks, spice mixes and ready-made products. You must also say how the dish is made and cooked, for example whether it is fried, deep-fried, baked, grilled, steamed, slow-cooked or served raw. Say which oil or fat you use, whether the dish is cooked fresh to order or made in advance and reheated, and how it should be stored and reheated by the customer. Dietary labels such as vegetarian, vegan, halal, kosher or spicy must only be used when they are true.
Kitchen inspections and ratings
Meal2U carries out regular inspections of cooks’ kitchens to check hygiene, food storage, temperature control, cleanliness, pest control, allergen handling and the accuracy of dish descriptions. Inspections may be announced or unannounced, in person or by video, and may happen at any reasonable time while your kitchen is open on Meal2U. By listing on Meal2U you agree to allow these inspections.
After an inspection Meal2U may give your kitchen a rating, and may show that rating to customers in the app and on our website. Meal2U’s rating is separate from, and does not replace, any official food hygiene rating given by your local authority.
If a kitchen fails an inspection, Meal2U may require improvements by a set date, pause the kitchen until it passes a new inspection, or, where the result is very poor or there is a risk to health, cancel the cook’s registration or subscription and close the account. Meal2U may also report serious food safety concerns to the food authority in your country.
Accounts
You must give true and current details when you sign up, keep them up to date, and keep your password secret. Each account has one role: customer, cook or delivery partner. Admin accounts are created only by Meal2U. You must be at least [age] years old to use Meal2U as a customer, and at least [age] years old to use it as a cook or delivery partner, or older if the law of your country requires it.
Meal2U may suspend or close an account that breaks these terms or the law, puts other people at risk, or is used for fraud. Staff decisions are recorded with a reason.
Checks before you take orders
Meal2U staff check your government ID before your kitchen can take orders. Some countries charge a registration fee; whether it can be refunded is shown before you pay and depends on the setting for your country.
Orders, fees and payouts
You can reject an order before accepting it, and must give a reason. Commission and fees for your country are shown in the app and deducted from your earnings. Meal2U collects payment from the customer on your behalf and pays you through Stripe. Tips go entirely to you. Refunds to customers are made by Meal2U staff; see the Refund, Cancellation and Dispute Policy and Payments, Fees and Payouts. You are responsible for your own tax, including VAT or sales tax where you must register for it.
Reviews and content
Reviews must be honest and lawful. Photos and text you upload must be yours to share. See the Copyright and Intellectual Property Policy.
Liability
Nothing in these terms limits or excludes liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud, or for anything else that cannot be limited or excluded by law. If you are a consumer, nothing in these terms takes away the rights you have under the consumer law of the country you live in. [Any further limits on liability are to be confirmed by a legal adviser.]
Ending your account
You can stop using Meal2U at any time and ask for your account to be deleted from Profile → Account and Data Deletion, or on our account deletion page.
Which law applies
These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales can hear disputes about them. If you live in another country, you keep any protection that the law of that country gives you and that cannot be removed by a contract, and you may also be able to bring a claim in the courts of that country.
Contact
Email accounts@meal2you.com or use Profile → Complaints and Support in the app. See Contact and support.