Privacy Statement

February 2024

The Confrérie de la Chaîne des Rôtisseurs (Chaîne) wants you to know how we use and protect the important information you provide to us. The information provided below summarizes our policy, procedures and practices as further described in this Privacy Statement.

  • We collect information as a way to further our mission to provide our members, gourmands, gourmets, gastronomes, chefs, restaurateurs, hoteliers, oenologists, winery owners, sommeliers, food and wine educators, and other members interested in the finest of dining and life experiences and enjoying the camaraderie of friends at dinners and events. The information you provide allows us to help you on a more personal level. We can better respond to your requests, understand your needs, and provide you the information, services and resources you need.
  • Unless you tell us otherwise, when you provide your information, we will use your information as allowed by law and Chaîne policies to deliver programs for members and in furtherance of the benefits of membership.
    • We recognize we must comply with all applicable U.S. laws.
    • When we ask for certain types of sensitive information we will tell you how we intend to use and disclose that information.
  • We will use reasonable and appropriate security practices to safeguard your personal information.
  • If you change your mind about allowing us to use your information or have questions about our privacy practices, please use the contact options on our Contact Us page to let us know.

This Privacy Statement is an explanation of what we do with your information. As for why we do these things:

Information We Collect

Personal Information

“Personal Information” means information that we can use to identify or contact you. It can include other information you submit when you use our interactive tools and services. We may collect Personal Information in the following ways:

  • When you visit or use our online membership and sales systems, whether web-based or mobile, we may collect your name, email address, mailing address, telephone number(s), account numbers, limited location information (for example, to help a mobile app determine the best means of connecting to the database or for shipping something you purchased), user name and password (so you can log in).
  • We may collect payment card or similar information when you provide it to us as part of a purchase;
  • We may capture the IP address and ID of the device you use to connect to the online service, the type of operating system and browser you use, and information about the site you came from, the parts of our online service you access, the type of mobile device you use and the site you visit next (see also the Cookies, Tags, and similar information);
  • We or our service providers may also use cookies or other technologies to collect and store other information about your visit to, or use of, our online services. We may later associate the usage and other information we collect online with Personal Information about you;
  • When you register as a member you are automatically enrolled for newsletters (which you may opt-out from) and other communications from us, we may collect your name and general contact information (e.g. email, address, phone numbers).
  • When you sign-up for newsletters or other communications directly from us, we may collect your general contact information;
  • When you register for or use certain interactive tools and services, we may collect your personal information [e.g., email address, username, password and device information];
  • When you Register to become a Member you agree to the policy on photographs and images (likeness) and such photos may also allow members to be be personally identified with other such related detail (such as title or postion in Chaîne) in digital media.
  • When you provide Personal Information in a community area or other public forum, we may collect your additional Personal Information you voluntarily disclose.

Information from Other Sources

We, or our service providers, and other companies we work with may deploy and use cookies, web beacons, local shared objects and other tracking technologies for various purposes, such as fraud prevention and monitoring of our advertising and marketing campaign performance. Some of these tracking tools may detect characteristics or settings of the specific device you use to access our online services.

We may also collect information about you from additional online and offline sources including from social media activities, other nonprofits, and commercially available third-party sources. We may combine this information with the personal and other information we have collected about you.

Information On Images

As a condition of membership each person agrees to the National By-Laws, rules and regulations of the Chaîne des Rôtisseurs, Ltd. and abide and respect them both in principle and in spirit. and grant permission and hold harmless the organization to use your image, likeness in photographs in its publications and all other media, without compensation. We regularly use images in the organization’s website, print and digital media.

How We Use Information We Collect

We use the information discussed above in a number of ways, such as:

  • Processing membership, purchase transactions and foundation donations;
  • Verifying your identity (such as when you access your account information);
  • Preventing fraud and enhancing the security of your account or our online services;
  • Responding to your requests and communicating with you;
  • Managing your preferences;
  • Performing analytics concerning your use of our online services, including your responses to our emails and the pages, and promotions you view;
  • Providing you tailored content and marketing messages;
  • Operating, evaluating and improving our programs (including developing new products and services; improving existing products and services; performing data analytics; and performing accounting, auditing and other internal functions);
  • Complying with and enforcing applicable legal requirements, relevant industry standards, contractual obligations and our policies; and
  • For any other purposes that we may specifically disclose at the time you provide or we collect your information.

We may also use data that we collect on an aggregate or anonymous basis (meaning it does not identify any individuals) for various purposes, where permissible under applicable laws and regulations, to help deliver products, services, and content that are better tailored to the users of our services and for other purposes.

What We Disclose to Others

We may share the information we collect from and about you within our organization and with certain third parties. For example, we may share your information with:

  • Authorized Bank and Credit card processing companies, to process your payments and donations(in fact we do not store this information on any of the organization’s servers);
  • Our other websites in an effort to bring you improved service across our large range of products and services, when permissible under relevant laws and regulations;
  • Other organizations we work with to provide services, research, products or programs;;
  • Other third parties to comply with legal requirements such as the demands of applicable subpoenas and court orders; to verify or enforce our terms of use, our other rights, or other applicable policies; to address fraud, security or technical issues; to respond to an emergency; or otherwise to protect the rights, property or security of our customers or third parties.

Links to Third-Party Websites

Chaîne may provide links to websites that are owned or operated by others (“third-party websites”). When you use a link online to visit a third-party website, you will be subject to that website’s privacy and security practices, which may differ from ours. You should familiarize yourself with the privacy policy, terms of use and security practices of the linked third-party website before providing any information on that website.

Updating Your Information and Contacting Us with Questions

Keeping your account information and preferences up-to-date is very important. You may review your information, request that we stop using it, or update certain account information by logging in and accessing the account profile section of each online service for which you have registered. If you cannot locate, access or make changes to the information or permissions online, you may send a request using our online form or use the Contact Us options on our site. Of course, we may not be able find deleted information or undo any prior use of data we already used with your actual or implied consent.

To the extent that we provide you with direct marketing communications, you have control regarding our use of your Personal Information for such reasons. If you no longer wish to receive any direct marketing communications, you can opt-out at any time. To do so you may use the unsubscribe link within a marketing email received from us or send a send a request using our online form.

Please note that you also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Chaîne’s National office.

Confrérie de la Chaîne des Rôtisseurs, Ltd.

The Chaîne House at Fairleigh Dickinson University

285 Madison Avenue,

Madison, NJ 07940-1099

Changes to This Privacy Statement

We may change this Privacy Statement from time to time. When we do, we will let you know by appropriate means such as by posting the revised policy on this page with a new “Last Updated” date. In some cases, you may be asked to agree again to our Privacy Statement or other terms, even if you have already agreed to accept them, because there were changes. Any changes to this Privacy Statement will become effective when posted unless indicated otherwise.

Other Privacy Policies and Practices

This Privacy Statement describes our practices related to our most common data collection activities. We have other policies, procedures and statements that apply to other activities and programs.  If you have a question about privacy protections related to “offline” programs, please contact the program staff or use the contact options on our Contact Us page.

Information Security

Chaîne takes the security of your personal information that you provide to us very seriously and we take reasonable measures to safeguard your information consistent with our Privacy Statement. We comply with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (“PCI DSS”) for financial transactions, and other laws and regulations applicable to the information we collect from you.

Our network is composed of access-controlled measures, security monitoring tools, vulnerability management program, SSL encryption, and internal and external monitoring. When it is necessary for our service providers to have access to your information, we expect the same level of data security, integrity and confidentiality standards as the Chaîne itself provides.

While the Chaîne uses its best efforts to maintain this level of security across all of our systems we cannot guarantee or warrant that our systems or our service providers are not vulnerable to viruses, hacking or other security threats.

Cookies, Tags & Social Media

A cookie, tag, or other small piece of text or technology code (collectively, “cookie”) is sent to your browser by a website you visit or stored on your device. It helps the website to remember information about your visit, like your preferred language and other settings. Cookies are also used by web sites for authenticating users, tracking a user’s session, and/or for storing other essential textual information. Chaîne tracks your interests on our sites so that we can provide you with additional content that might be of importance to you. Providing you with fresh and engaging content is important to us, as we know it is important to you.

We use tools, cookies and services such as Google Analytics for tracking, reporting and analyzing website activity. Some cookies are used to measure conversion events. Pixel tags might be used together with some of the advertising cookies described above, to operate, evaluate, and improve our programs, and to perform data analytics, accounting, auditing, and other internal functions.

We do NOT run interest-based advertising campaigns that collect Personal Information including, but not limited to, email addresses, telephone numbers, and credit card numbers, nor do we use or associate Personal Information with re-marketing lists, cookies, data feeds, or other anonymous identifiers. We do not use or associate targeting information, such as demographics or location, with any Personal Information collected from the ad or its landing page. Chaîne does not share Personal Information with Google through our re-marketing tag or our product data feeds that might be associated with ads. Chaîne will not send Google precise location information without obtaining your consent.

To see how Google may use information collected through your use of Google’s search services visit Google’s Ads Help Center.

Other Issues

What is the legal basis of processing?

Some jurisdictions require an explanation of the legal basis for the collection and processing of Personal Information. We have several different legal grounds on which we collect and process Personal Information, including: (a) as necessary to perform a transaction (such as when we respond to your requests); (b) as necessary to comply with a legal obligation such as when we use Personal Information for record-keeping to (for instance): substantiate tax liability or eligibility for a credential; (c) consent (where you have provided consent as appropriate under applicable law, such as for marketing or certain cookies); and (d) where necessary for legitimate interests (such as when we act to maintain our business generally). With respect to legitimate interests, except where such interests are overridden by the interests or fundamental rights and freedoms of you which require protection of Personal Information, such legitimate interests are the fulfillment of the processing purposes described in this Privacy Statement that are not necessary for the performance of a contract or for our compliance with a legal obligation to which we are subject.

What are the consequences of not providing Personal Information?

You are not required to provide all Personal Information identified in this Privacy Statement, but certain services will not be available if you do not provide Personal Information. For instance, if you refuse to provide proof of identification you may not receive certain services, discounts, or products you purchase.