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Privacy Policy — Mintlight

Last updated: October 19, 2026

1. WHO WE ARE

Mintlight is an independent commercial software project operated by private individuals from Baramulla, Jammu and Kashmir, India, 193101. We are an independent software commercial enterprise.

Our Services include a contactless QR ordering platform, AI-powered restaurant tools (Aura AI), Point-of-Sale (POS) management interfaces, Kitchen Display System (KDS), and the Echo Partner affiliate program, accessible via mintlight.online and the Mintlight application suite.

2. DATA ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES (DPDPA 2023 & GDPR)

Depending on your interaction with our Services, our legal data role under applicable data protection regulations (including the Indian Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 and the General Data Protection Regulation) is established as follows:

  • Mintlight as Data Fiduciary / Controller: We act as the Data Fiduciary for personal data collected from registered Restaurant Owners, Staff members, and Echo Partner Affiliates for account provisioning, identity verification, subscription billing, and platform administration.
  • Mintlight as Data Processor: When diners browse digital menus, scan table QR codes, or place food orders, the individual restaurant acts as the Data Fiduciary, and Mintlight acts strictly as a Data Processor. We process dining data (order items, table identifiers, dietary notes, and customer profile details for digital receipt delivery and order verification) solely on behalf of and under the direct operational instruction of the restaurant.

    • Grievance & Data Protection Contact

  • Designation: Grievance Officer, Mintlight Operations
  • Primary Email: support@mintlight.online
  • Secondary Email: mintmenu.care@gmail.com
  • Direct WhatsApp: +91 91035 81870
  • Address: Baramulla, Jammu and Kashmir, India, 193101
  • Response Timeline: Acknowledged within 48 hours; investigated and resolved within 30 days pursuant to statutory DPDPA requirements.

    • 3. DATA WE COLLECT — BY USER TYPE

    We collect different categories of data depending on how you interact with our Services.

    A. Menu Customers (Diners)

    This applies when you scan a QR code at a restaurant table, browse digital menus, interact with Aura AI, or place an order.

    Browsing vs. Ordering:

  • Anonymous Menu Browsing: Browsing public digital menus, filtering dishes, and viewing pricing is completely anonymous and does NOT require an account, email address, or password.
  • Order Placement Authentication (Google Sign-In): To prevent malicious table order sabotage, verify active table tabs, deliver real-time order updates, and protect the restaurant from fraudulent submissions, placing an active order requires authentication via Google Sign-In. When you authenticate to place an order, we collect:
  • Google Account UUID (auth.users.id)
  • Google Email address
  • Google Display Name (used as customer_name for kitchen tickets and invoices)
  • Google Avatar URL (for diner profile display)

    • CRITICAL PRIVACY SAFEGUARD — ZERO DINING DATA SHARED WITH GOOGLE:

    Google Sign-In is used strictly for cryptographic identity verification (OpenID Connect: verifying your email, name, and profile picture).

  • Google does NOT receive, observe, or store your cart contents, order items, dining history, or payment amounts.
  • No dining behavior, food preferences, or restaurant transaction data is ever transmitted to Google.

    • Ordering Data Collected by Mintlight:

  • Restaurant menu items selected, variants, customizations, and cart contents
  • Table number / QR code security token (for table-specific order routing to kitchen and POS)
  • Interaction timestamps and table session identifiers
  • Dietary notes, allergen warnings, or special preparation instructions entered during checkout
  • Phone number (if required by the restaurant for SMS/WhatsApp digital receipts or OTP verification)

    • Aura AI Diner Interactions & Memory:

  • Questions and dietary inquiries submitted to Aura AI
  • Persistent conversation history within active dining sessions (ai_conversations)
  • Long-term taste and dietary memory notes (customers.long_term_memory, such as "allergic to peanuts" or "prefers spicy food") stored under your authenticated diner profile to deliver personalized menu recommendations across visits

    • What we do NOT collect from Diners:

  • We do NOT store your raw payment card numbers or CVV codes (processed directly by Stripe, Razorpay, or restaurant terminals).
  • We do NOT sell diner personal information to data brokers or third parties.
  • We do NOT track individual diners across unrelated third-party non-Mintlight websites.

    • How we use diner data:

  • To transmit validated orders directly to the restaurant's kitchen (KDS) and waiter terminals.
  • To maintain table order history and reconcile restaurant dining tabs and legal tax invoices.
  • To prevent spam and abuse (e.g., table cooldown timers, fake order detection).

    • B. Restaurant Owners & Staff

    This applies when you register for a Mintlight merchant account as a restaurant owner or staff member.

    What we collect:

  • Account data: Name, business email address, phone number, password hashes
  • Business data: Restaurant name, trade name, physical address, statutory tax registrations (GSTIN, FSSAI, VAT ID, EIN, ABN where applicable), currency preferences, and banking/UPI settlement identifiers
  • Menu content: Dish names, descriptions, pricing, ingredient formulas, allergens, photos, and category hierarchies
  • Operational data: Live orders, kitchen ticket timestamps, revenue summaries, table configurations, and inventory consumption logs
  • Billing data: Subscription tier (Nano, Starter, Growth, Pro), billing interval, payment transaction receipts

    • How we use merchant data:

  • To provide, operate, and maintain the restaurant management operating system.
  • To process software subscriptions through our Merchant of Record (Dodo Payments).
  • To generate compliant digital receipts, kitchen tickets, and fiscal tax invoices.
  • To communicate critical security notices, operational updates, and direct engineer support.

    • Restaurant CRM Guest Ledger Access & Marketing Tools:

  • To enable dining table management, customer service, and loyalty programs, Mintlight provides registered restaurant owners with an operational guest ledger containing diner names, emails captured at checkout, visit frequency, and spending totals.
  • Restaurants utilizing Mintlight marketing tools agree to dispatch promotional communications strictly to diners who provided explicit opt-in consent during checkout, and must honor all one-click unsubscribe requests pursuant to applicable anti-spam and privacy regulations.

    • C. Affiliates (Echo Partners)

    This applies when you register for the Mintlight Echo Partner Program.

    What we collect:

  • Account data: Full legal name, email address, phone number
  • Payout data: PayPal email address, UPI ID, bank account details, country of residence, and tax declarations
  • Attribution data: Unique referral codes, tracking links, click events, and 30-day attribution cookies
  • Performance data: Number of referred merchants, active subscriptions, earned commission balances, and historical payout records

    • 4. PAYMENT PROCESSING & CUSTOMER GRIEVANCE ENFORCEMENT

    A. SaaS Subscription Billing (Merchant of Record: Dodo Payments)

    We utilize Dodo Payments as our Merchant of Record for all Mintlight software subscription plans (Starter, Growth, Pro). When you purchase a software subscription:

  • Your payment details (credit/debit card numbers, billing addresses) are transmitted directly to Dodo Payments.
  • Mintlight servers never receive, store, or process raw credit card numbers or CVV codes.
  • Dodo Payments processes and stores payment credentials pursuant to its own privacy policy and PCI-DSS compliance standards.
  • First-time subscribers are protected by our 14-day money-back guarantee by contacting support@mintlight.online.

    • B. Restaurant Dining Checkout & Community Protection

    Dodo Payments processes only Mintlight SaaS platform subscriptions. When a restaurant's diner pays for meals at the table using the digital menu checkout:

  • Dining payments are processed directly through the restaurant's own merchant account via Stripe, Razorpay, or Dynamic UPI QR.
  • Funds settle directly into the restaurant's bank account. Mintlight does not hold, escrow, or intermediate dining funds.
  • Payment Gateway API Key Encryption & Webhook Automation: When a restaurant connects Stripe or Razorpay, the merchant's API credentials are encrypted using application-level AES-256-GCM before database insertion. Mintlight utilizes these credentials programmatically solely to automate secure webhook endpoints for order confirmation, maintain immutable payment audit logs (payment_logs) for dispute reconciliation, and execute refund commands initiated exclusively by authenticated restaurant operators via the dashboard. Mintlight staff never utilizes merchant API keys to independently debit or refund merchant funds.
  • Customer Grievance & Platform Enforcement: While financial refunds for meals are issued directly by the restaurant, diners who experience fraudulent charges, non-delivery of paid orders, or serious merchant misconduct may report the incident to Mintlight at support@mintlight.online or WhatsApp +91 91035 81870. Mintlight investigates all credible reports and reserves the right to suspend or permanently ban non-compliant restaurants from the platform.

    • 5. SUB-PROCESSORS & THIRD-PARTY INFRASTRUCTURE

    We share data with trusted third-party technical infrastructure providers solely to host, operate, and deliver our platform services:

    ProviderPurposeData TransferredProcessing Region
    Dodo PaymentsMerchant of Record / SaaS Subscription BillingMerchant name, email, billing address, card tokensGlobal / US
    Supabase (AWS/GCP)Cloud Database Hosting (Encrypted block storage)Account data, menu catalogs, active orders, AI logsAWS Global / India
    Vercel / Next.jsWeb Application Hosting & Edge RoutingIP address, session telemetry, HTTP headersGlobal Edge Network
    ImageKitCloud CDN & Menu Dish Photo DeliveryMenu dish photographs and restaurant logos (Public)Global CDN
    AI Inference APIsAura AI Multilingual Waiter ProcessingMenu items, diner chat prompts, taste memoryEncrypted API Endpoints

    AI Model Provider Disclosure & Data Sovereignty

    Aura AI routes queries through external inference providers (Google Gemini, Mistral, OpenRouter) exclusively to generate immediate conversational answers. We do NOT sell, license, or provide your proprietary recipes, menu configurations, or customer dialogues to third parties to train public or foundational AI models.

    AI Menu Digitizer Data Handling

    Physical menu images and PDFs uploaded by restaurants for automated digitization are transmitted via encrypted API endpoints to vision-language models for optical character recognition (OCR) and catalog extraction. Extracted items are saved as unpublished drafts in the restaurant's private dashboard. Uploaded menu media is stored in secure cloud storage solely to populate the restaurant's catalog and is never sold, licensed, or used to train public foundation models.

    6. DATA RETENTION, ERASURE & STATUTORY TAX EXCEPTIONS

    User Right to Erasure

    You have the right to request deletion of your account and personal profile data at any time by contacting our Grievance Officer at support@mintlight.online.

    Mandatory Statutory Tax & Accounting Exception

    Pursuant to statutory commercial, tax, and accounting regulations (including Section 36 of the Indian CGST Act 2017, UK HMRC regulations, US State Sales Tax rules, and Australian ATO mandates), businesses are legally required to retain completed financial transaction records, tax invoices, and order ledgers for a minimum statutory period of 5 to 7 years.

    Consequently:

  • Completed Orders & Invoices: Transaction ledgers containing order amounts, tax breakdowns, timestamps, and customer names on historical invoices cannot be deleted until the statutory retention period expires.
  • Anonymization: Upon a verified erasure request, optional profile data (avatars, phone numbers, long-term AI memory notes) will be deleted or scrubbed, while immutable financial snapshots are archived strictly for legal and tax compliance.
  • AI Conversations: Chat transcripts in ai_conversations are decoupled from user IDs upon account closure and purged on a rolling 90-day schedule.
  • Database Backups: Automated encrypted database backups are purged on a rolling 30-day cycle.

    • 7. DATA SECURITY & ENCRYPTION BOUNDARIES

    We enforce defense-in-depth security across all software tiers:

  • Application-Level Credential Encryption (AES-256-GCM): Highly sensitive third-party credentials—specifically restaurant Stripe Secret Keys and Admin AI Provider API tokens—are cryptographically encrypted in application memory using AES-256-GCM before database insertion. They are never exposed to browser clients.
  • Database-Level Protection (PostgreSQL RLS): Database tables (orders, customers, menus, staff) are strictly partitioned using PostgreSQL Row-Level Security (RLS) policies. No restaurant can access or view another restaurant's records.
  • Infrastructure Encryption at Rest: Cloud database volumes and snapshots are hosted in SOC-2 / ISO-27001 certified data centers with hardware-level AES-256 block storage encryption.
  • Transport Encryption: All traffic is encrypted in transit using modern SSL/TLS 1.3 cryptographic suites.
  • Public Menu Media: Dish photographs and uploaded menu graphics are hosted on public CDN endpoints so customer mobile devices can render menus with low latency without authentication hurdles.

    • 72-Hour Security Breach Notification Protocol

    We maintain an active security incident response procedure. In the event of a confirmed security incident or unauthorized access leading to the accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, alteration, or unauthorized disclosure of merchant credentials or personal data, Mintlight will notify affected merchants and Data Principals within seventy-two (72) hours of verification, detailing the scope of the incident, likely consequences, and remediation measures undertaken pursuant to statutory DPDPA and GDPR guidelines.

    8. LOCAL STORAGE & COOKIE DISCLOSURES

    In addition to standard HTTP cookies, our application utilizes browser localStorage for functional and performance purposes:

    Storage KeyScopePurpose
    mintlight_cookie_consentAll UsersRemembers cookie consent choices (accepted / rejected)
    mintlight_last_order_time_*DinersEnforces anti-spam order cooldown intervals at restaurant tables
    aura_session_id, aura_chat_limitDinersMaintains active AI waiter conversational sessions & rate limits
    pendingVerifyEmail, affiliate_rmAffiliatesRemembers affiliate login and pending verification sessions
    mintlight_staff_rememberStaffCaches staff terminal identifier for PIN-based fast login
    mintlight_paper_width, mintlight_autoprintPOS StaffConfigures thermal receipt printer paper size (58mm/80mm) & auto-cut
    kds_view_mode, kds_sound_enabledKitchenPreserves kitchen display column density, sound chime, and sort orders

    These values are stored entirely on your local device hardware and are never shared with advertising networks or third-party trackers.

    9. YOUR PRIVACY RIGHTS BY JURISDICTION

    India (DPDPA 2023 & IT Act 2000)

    Under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, Indian Data Principals hold the following statutory rights:

  • Right to Access & Summary: Obtain a summary of personal data being processed.
  • Right to Correction & Erasure: Correct inaccurate data and request erasure of personal data that is no longer required for operational or statutory tax purposes.
  • Right to Withdraw Consent: Withdraw previously granted consent with the same ease with which it was given.
  • Right to Nominate: Nominate another individual to exercise your data privacy rights in the event of death or incapacity.
  • Right to Grievance Redressal: Submit concerns directly to our designated Grievance Officer. All verifiable grievances are investigated and resolved within 30 days.

    • United Kingdom & European Economic Area (UK GDPR / EU GDPR)

    Data subjects in the UK and EEA hold rights to access, rectification, erasure (subject to statutory tax retention), restriction of processing, data portability, and objection. Cross-border transfers rely on Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) and encrypted cloud endpoints.

    United States (CCPA / CPRA — California)

    California residents have the right to know what personal information is collected, request deletion, and opt out of any data sales. We do NOT sell or share personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising.

    Australia (Privacy Act 1988) & Singapore (PDPA 2012)

    We respect Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) and Singapore PDPA obligations. You may access, correct, or request deletion of your personal data by contacting our Grievance Officer.

    10. PRODUCT ANALYTICS (MIXPANEL)

  • Product analytics tracking is opt-out by default (opt_out_tracking_by_default: true).
  • Analytics cookies and event dispatches only initialize if you explicitly grant permission through our Cookie Consent banner.
  • We never transmit diner payment card numbers, passwords, or sensitive PII in analytics events.

    • 11. CHILDREN'S DATA & AGE THRESHOLDS

    The Services are designed primarily for commercial restaurant operations and adult diners.

  • Merchants & Account Holders: Creating a restaurant or affiliate account requires being at least 18 years old (or the legal age of majority in your jurisdiction).
  • Diners & QR Menu Access: Menu viewing and table ordering by individuals between 13 and 17 years of age is permitted strictly with the consent and supervision of a parent, legal guardian, or adult dining party member.
  • Statutory Children's Protection: We do not knowingly collect or solicit personal data from children under the age of 13 (pursuant to US COPPA), under 16 in the EEA/UK (without parental authorization), or under 18 in India (pursuant to Section 9 of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023). If we become aware that personal information from an unsupervised child has been inadvertently collected without verifiable parental consent, we will promptly purge that information from our records.

    • 12. ENTITY DISCLOSURE & INDEPENDENT IDENTITY

    Mintlight is an independent commercial software project developed and operated by individual software engineers based in Baramulla, Jammu and Kashmir, India, 193101. All services and platform infrastructure are provided under this commercial undertaking.

    Independent Identity Notice: Mintlight is an independent project with no legal affiliation, ownership, or operational relationship to third-party entities registered under similar names in the United Kingdom or other overseas corporate registries.

    13. CONTACT & GRIEVANCE REDRESSAL

    For any privacy inquiries, data subject access requests, consent withdrawals, or statutory complaints:

    Grievance Officer, Mintlight Operations

    Baramulla, Jammu and Kashmir, India, 193101

    Primary Email: support@mintlight.online

    Fallback Email: mintmenu.care@gmail.com

    Direct WhatsApp / Phone: +91 91035 81870

    All verifiable requests are acknowledged within 48 hours and investigated within 30 days.