Privacy policy

Last updated: October 22, 2026

Culinary Arts Center Inc. ("Culinary Arts Center," "we," "us," or "our") runs a hands-on cooking school at 3295 Walden Ave, Depew, NY 14043. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, and share personal information when you visit culinaryartscenter.org, reserve a class, book a private event, buy a gift card or merchandise online, in person, or by phone, or otherwise contact us (together, the "Services"). Our store is powered by Shopify.

If this Privacy Policy conflicts with our Terms of Service, this Privacy Policy controls for the collection, use, and disclosure of personal information.

Information We Collect

Depending on how you use the Services, we may collect:

Contact details: your name, email address, phone number, billing address, and shipping address for merchandise.
Class reservations: the class and date you book, the number of seats, the names of guests in your party if you give them to us, any notes you add to your order, and whether you checked in on the day of class.
Allergies and dietary needs: information you choose to give us about food allergies, intolerances, or dietary restrictions for you or your guests. See the next section.
Private classes and events: the organizer's contact details, the event date and time, guest count, menu choices, any special requests, and the deposit and balance invoices we send.
Gift cards: the purchaser's details, the recipient's name and email address if you send a gift card digitally, the gift card code, its balance, and where it was used.
Payment information: payments are processed by Shopify and its payment partners. We see the payment method type, the last four digits of a card, and the transaction result. We do not see or store full card numbers.
Account information: if you create a customer account, your login details, saved addresses, and order history.
Communications: messages, emails, phone calls, and inquiries you send us, including questions about classes or private events.
Marketing preferences: whether you subscribed to our emails, and whether you asked to be notified when a sold-out class has seats again.
Photos and video: we photograph and record some classes and events, as described in our Terms of Service.
Device and usage information: your IP address, browser and device type, pages you visit, and how you use the site, collected through cookies and similar technologies.

Allergies and Dietary Information

We ask about allergies and dietary needs only so we can tell you whether we can accommodate you and prepare food as safely as possible. Because this can be health information, we use it only for that purpose, share it only with the staff and instructing chef for your class, and never use it for marketing. You do not have to give it to us, but we cannot plan around an allergy we do not know about.

Where We Get Information

From you, when you book online, buy in our facility, call or email us, or sign up for our emails.
From someone booking for you, such as a friend who reserves a seat in your name, a private event organizer who sends us a guest list, or a person who sends you a gift card.
Automatically, from your browser or device when you use our website.
From our service providers, such as Shopify and Mailchimp, when they process information for us.

How We Use Information

To run classes and events: to hold your seat, build class rosters and sign-in sheets, check guests in, plan ingredients and staffing, and tell you about schedule changes, cancellations, or weather closures.
To handle payments, invoices, gift cards, and orders: including deposits and balances for private events, refunds, store credit, and shipping merchandise.
To communicate with you: to answer questions and provide customer service.
For marketing: to send our class lineup and other news by email. You can unsubscribe at any time.
To improve the Services: to understand which classes are popular and plan future schedules.
For security and legal reasons: to prevent fraud, protect our guests and business, and comply with the law.

How We Share Information

We do not sell your personal information for money. We share it only as follows:

Instructing chefs and staff receive class rosters, including guest names and any allergy or dietary notes for their class. Printed sign-in sheets are used only by our staff and the class chef.
Service providers that help us run the business, including Shopify (website, checkout, payments, Point of Sale, and customer messaging), Mailchimp (email marketing), and providers that send notifications when sold-out classes reopen. They may use your information only to provide services to us.
Advertising partners, through Shopify, to show you relevant ads based on your activity on our site and other sites. Depending on where you live, this may be a "sale" or "sharing" under privacy law. You can opt out here.
The people you ask us to share with, for example the organizer of a private event you are attending, or a gift card recipient.
For legal reasons, such as responding to a subpoena, enforcing our Terms, or in connection with a sale or reorganization of our business.

Relationship with Shopify

Our store is hosted by Shopify, which collects and processes personal information about your use of the Services to provide and improve them. Information you submit may be sent to Shopify and to third parties located outside your state or country. Shopify also offers enhanced features that use data from your interactions with our store, other merchants, and Shopify. For those features, Shopify is responsible for processing your information and for responding to your requests about it. To learn more, see the Shopify Consumer Privacy Policy. Depending on where you live, you may exercise certain rights through the Shopify Privacy Portal.

Children and Minors

You must be 18 or older to make a purchase or create an account. Minors may attend classes only with a parent or legal guardian who registers them and stays for the whole class. In that case we collect only the minor's name and any allergy or dietary information the parent or guardian gives us. We do not knowingly collect personal information directly from children under 13, and we do not sell or share the personal information of anyone we know is under 16. If you believe a child has given us personal information, contact us and we will delete it.

Security and Retention

We use Shopify's security protections and limit access to personal information to staff who need it. No system is perfectly secure, so please do not send sensitive information to us through unsecured channels.

We keep personal information as long as we need it to provide the Services, keep accurate business and tax records, resolve disputes, and enforce our policies. Gift card records are kept for as long as the card has a balance.

Your Rights and Choices

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to:

Access the personal information we hold about you.
Delete personal information we hold about you.
Correct inaccurate personal information.
Get a copy of your information and have it transferred to someone else.
Opt out of the sale or sharing of your information for targeted advertising. Use this page. If your browser sends a Global Privacy Control signal, we treat it as an opt-out request for that browser and device, and for your Shopify account if we can link them. We do not respond to other "Do Not Track" signals.

You can also:

Unsubscribe from marketing using the link in any email. We will still send messages about your orders and reservations.
Ask not to be photographed by telling your instructor or a staff member at the start of class.

To make a request, contact us using the details below. We may need to verify your identity first. You may use an authorized agent, but we will ask for proof that you authorized them. We will not discriminate against you for exercising your rights.

Complaints

If you have a concern about how we handle your information, please contact us first. Depending on where you live, you may be able to appeal our decision or file a complaint with your local data protection authority.

International Visitors

We are based in the United States, and your information is stored and processed in the United States and wherever our service providers operate. If we transfer information out of the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom, we rely on recognized transfer mechanisms such as the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy to reflect changes in our practices or the law. We will post the new version here and update the "Last updated" date.