Terms of Service

1. About Ladle

Ladle is a mobile application designed to connect independent cafes with hungry locals. We help cafe owners share their daily soups, specials and menus, and help customers discover what's on nearby — live, every day.

Ladle is built and operated from Belfast, Northern Ireland. If you have any questions about these terms, you can contact us at hello@ladle-app.com.

2. Who Can Use Ladle

You must be at least 13 years old to create an account and use Ladle. By creating an account, you confirm that you meet this age requirement.

Ladle offers two types of accounts:

• Customer accounts — for individuals who want to browse menus, follow cafes and discover daily specials near them.
• Cafe owner accounts — for cafe owners and operators who want to post their daily menus and connect with local customers.

3. Cafe Owner Accounts

Cafe owner accounts require a registration process and are subject to approval by Ladle. We review registrations to ensure that listed businesses are genuine independent cafes.

As a cafe owner on Ladle, you are responsible for:

• Ensuring all menu information, including dish names, descriptions and prices, is accurate and up to date.
• Providing correct and complete allergen information for all dishes listed on Ladle.
• Complying with the UK Food Information Regulations 2014 and any other applicable food safety legislation regarding the information you provide.
• Updating your menu and cafe details promptly when changes occur.

Ladle is a platform that displays the information you provide. We do not independently verify menu content or allergen data, and responsibility for its accuracy rests with you as the cafe owner.

4. Ladle Pro Subscription

Ladle offers two tiers for cafe owners:

Free Plan

• Available to all approved cafe owner accounts at no cost.
• Supports up to 30 followers.
• Includes core features: daily menu posting, cafe profile and location-based discovery.

Ladle Pro — £9.99/month

• Unlimited followers — grow your audience without limits.
• Priority feed placement — your menu appears higher in customer feeds.
• AI-powered insights — understand your most popular dishes and customer trends.
• Multiple locations — manage more than one cafe from a single account.

Ladle Pro includes a 30-day free trial. You will not be charged during the trial period. If you do not cancel before the trial ends, your subscription will begin and you will be billed monthly.

All billing and payment is handled through the Apple App Store. Subscription management, renewals and cancellations are governed by Apple's terms and can be managed in your App Store account settings.

5% of all Ladle Pro revenue is donated to a homeless charity in Northern Ireland. By subscribing, you're helping support your local community beyond your cafe's doors.

5. Customer Accounts

Customer accounts are completely free. As a customer, you can:

• Browse daily menus and specials from cafes near you.
• Follow your favourite cafes to stay updated.
• Save dishes you love for easy reference.
• Receive push notifications when a followed cafe posts a new menu or when a saved dish is back on.

Customer accounts will always be free. We will never charge you to browse menus or use the core features of Ladle.

6. Acceptable Use

When using Ladle, you agree not to:

• Post false, misleading or inaccurate content, including incorrect menu items, prices or allergen information.
• Impersonate any person or business, or misrepresent your affiliation with any person or entity.
• Upload or share content that is offensive, abusive, hateful, threatening or otherwise objectionable.
• Attempt to gain unauthorised access to Ladle's systems, servers, databases or other users' accounts.
• Scrape, crawl or harvest data from Ladle using automated tools without our written permission.

We reserve the right to remove content and suspend or terminate accounts that violate these rules, at our sole discretion.

7. Intellectual Property

Ladle's intellectual property — including the app design, code, branding, logo and all original content — is owned by Ladle. You may not copy, modify, distribute or create derivative works from any part of the Ladle app or brand without our written consent.

Your content — cafe owners retain full ownership of the content they post on Ladle, including menu descriptions, photos and cafe details. By posting content on Ladle, you grant us a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide licence to display, distribute and promote that content within the Ladle app and associated marketing materials. This licence exists solely to enable us to operate and promote the service, and ends when you remove your content or delete your account.

8. Third-Party Services

Ladle relies on the following third-party services to operate:

• Supabase (EU Ireland region) — database hosting and authentication.
• Expo — app build and update delivery infrastructure.
• RevenueCat — subscription and billing management.
• Apple App Store — app distribution and payment processing.
• Anthropic (Claude) — AI features for Pro subscribers.

Each of these services operates under its own terms and privacy policy. We encourage you to review their respective policies. Ladle is not responsible for the practices or availability of third-party services.

9. Disclaimers and Limitation of Liability

Ladle is provided "as is" and "as available", without warranties of any kind, whether express or implied. We do not guarantee that the app will be error-free, uninterrupted or available at all times.

In particular:

• Ladle is not liable for the accuracy of menu information, including dish descriptions, prices or allergen data. This information is provided by cafe owners and has not been independently verified by Ladle.
• Ladle is not liable for any adverse food reactions, allergic reactions or any other harm arising from food consumed at a cafe discovered through the app.
• To the maximum extent permitted by law, Ladle's total liability to you for any claims arising from your use of the service shall not exceed the amount you have paid to Ladle in the twelve months preceding the claim.

Nothing in these terms excludes or limits our liability for:

• Death or personal injury caused by our negligence.
• Fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation.
• Any other liability that cannot be excluded or limited under applicable law.

10. Changes to the App and These Terms

We may update, modify or discontinue features of the Ladle app at any time. We will endeavour to give reasonable notice of significant changes.

We may also update these Terms of Service from time to time. When we make material changes, we will notify you through the app or by email. Your continued use of Ladle after such notification constitutes your acceptance of the updated terms. If you do not agree with the changes, you should stop using the app and delete your account.

11. Termination

You may terminate your account at any time by deleting your account through the app settings. Upon deletion, your data will be removed in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

We may terminate or suspend your account if you breach these Terms of Service, engage in conduct that is harmful to other users or the platform, or for any other reason at our reasonable discretion. Where possible, we will provide notice and an explanation before taking action.

12. Governing Law

These Terms of Service are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales. Any disputes arising from these terms or your use of Ladle shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.

13. Contact Us

If you have any questions, concerns or requests regarding these Terms of Service, please contact us:

• Email: hello@ladle-app.com
• Website: ladle-app.com