Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how Smoke Brothers Guild (“we,” “us,” “our”) collects, uses, shares, and protects information about you when you use our website, apps, and services (the “Service”). By using the Service, you agree to this policy.

Account information. When you create an account, we collect your name, email address, password (hashed), and any profile details you choose to add such as avatar, display name, and taste preferences.

Payment information. Payments are processed by our payment provider. We do not store your full card number. We receive a customer identifier, the last four digits of the card, the card brand, billing country, and subscription status.

Content you submit. Recipes, comments, questions, ratings, saved cooks, notes, Pitmaster AI conversations, and any other content you submit.

Usage data. Pages viewed, features used, referring URL, device and browser type, IP address, approximate location derived from IP, and timestamps.

Cookies and similar technologies. See Section 6.

We use your information to:

• provide, operate, secure, and improve the Service;
• process payments, manage your subscription, and send billing notices and receipts;
• personalize recommendations, training progress, and AI responses;
• communicate with you about your account, updates, and support requests;
• send marketing messages you have opted in to receive (you can unsubscribe at any time);
• detect, investigate, and prevent fraud, abuse, and violations of our Terms; and
• comply with legal obligations.

We do not sell your personal information. We share it only with:

• Service providers who help us operate the Service, including payments (Stripe), hosting and database (Lovable Cloud / Supabase), transactional email (Resend), AI providers used to power Pitmaster AI, recipe Q&A, and image generation, and content delivery / DDoS protection (Cloudflare). These providers process your information under contract and are only permitted to use it to provide services to us.
• Other users — profile information, avatars, submitted recipes, comments, and community activity you choose to publish are visible to other users.
• Legal and safety — we may disclose information if required by law, subpoena, or valid legal request, or to protect the rights, property, or safety of Smoke Brothers Guild, our users, or the public.
• Business transfers — in connection with a merger, acquisition, financing, or sale of assets, your information may be transferred, subject to this policy.

When you use Pitmaster AI, recipe Q&A, or other AI features, your prompts and inputs are sent to third-party AI model providers to generate responses. We do not permit these providers to use your content to train their public models. We may retain prompts and responses to operate features such as saved sessions, quotas, and abuse detection.

We use cookies and similar technologies for essential purposes (keeping you signed in, remembering preferences, protecting against fraud) and, with your consent, for analytics and performance measurement. You can control cookies through our cookie banner, your browser settings, and, where applicable, our cookie preferences link.

Essential cookies do not require consent. Non-essential cookies (analytics, marketing) are only set after you accept them.

We retain your information for as long as your account is active and as needed to provide the Service. We retain payment and tax records as required by law (typically 7 years). We retain limited information after account deletion to comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce agreements.

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access, correct, delete, or export your personal information; to object to or restrict certain processing; to withdraw consent; and to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority.

California residents (CCPA/CPRA). You have the right to know what personal information we collect and disclose, to request deletion or correction, to opt out of sale or sharing (we do not sell your personal information), and to limit the use of sensitive personal information. We do not discriminate against you for exercising these rights.

EEA/UK residents (GDPR). Our legal bases include performance of a contract, legitimate interests, consent (for marketing and non-essential cookies), and compliance with legal obligations.

To exercise any right, email support@smokebrothersguild.com. We will respond within the time required by applicable law.

We use administrative, technical, and physical safeguards designed to protect your information, including encryption in transit, hashed passwords, and access controls. No method of transmission or storage is 100% secure; you use the Service at your own risk.

The Service is not intended for children under 16. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 16. If you believe a child has provided us with information, email support@smokebrothersguild.com and we will delete it.

We are based in the United States, and our service providers may process your information in the United States and other countries. Where required, we rely on appropriate safeguards such as Standard Contractual Clauses for transfers of personal information from the EEA, UK, and Switzerland.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we make material changes, we will provide reasonable notice. Your continued use of the Service after the effective date constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

Questions about this Privacy Policy or your information? Email us at support@smokebrothersguild.com. See also our Terms of Service and Disclaimer.