This contract explains the rules of our relationship. Make sure that you read it carefully to avoid any surprises later.

This contract will apply to anyone who uses the Eat Out App, our services, or interacts with us.

1. Who is your contract with?

Your contract is with Eat Out; part of New Media Publishing (Pty) Ltd.

We are Eat Out, a brand owned by New Media Publishing (Pty) Ltd. We own and run this application (the App) and the website www.eatout.co.za

This contract regulates your use of the App and its features. In order to use the App, you must accept these terms by clicking the ‘I agree’ button, creating a binding contract between us.

Our privacy policy is also part of this contract.

This contract, and any disputes relating to it, is governed by South African law.

2. What features can you expect?

This is a restaurant directory and a booking platform. There are other bells and whistles too.

The App has these features:

• restaurant listings and directory
• restaurant ratings and reviews
• location-based restaurant recommendations
• a booking platform
• advertising based on your preferences

Some features will only be available to you if you give us permission to use your geographic location, for instance the feature where the App recommends restaurants near you.

If you want to make a booking or write a review, you will have to take the additional step of creating a profile.

3. What are the rules for using the App?

You must not do anything malicious, illegal, or dishonest.

Comply with all applicable laws when using this App

Don’t allow anybody else to use your profile and login details.

Don’t use any automated means (like spiders or crawlers or interface that we have not authorised), to access the App or its features, extract data, or otherwise interfere with, or modify functionality or page rendering.

Don’t transmit or post any file that may be contaminated or contain destructive elements that interfere with the performance of the platform, for instance worms or viruses.

Don’t reverse engineer any aspect of our services, or do anything that might discover our source code.

Don’t try to bypass our firewalls and other security measures used to prevent or limit access to any content, area, or code of the App or its features.

4. What are the rules for using the booking platform?

You can use the App to make bookings, but after that the booking is subject to the restaurant’s terms and conditions and policies. It is your responsibility to manage your bookings.

You may use the App to make a booking at a restaurant listed on the App, but after that it is your and the restaurant’s responsibility to manage the booking. Your booking will be subject to the restaurant’s policies on deposits, changes to your booking, cancellations and cancellation penalties.

You must let the restaurant know if you have any special requirements when you request the booking. For instance if you have allergies, or need wheelchair access.

Some restaurants may ask you to pay a deposit to confirm your booking. If you do not pay the deposit on time, the booking will not be confirmed. If you cancel a booking more than 24 hours before it starts, the restaurant may give you a refund of your deposit in line with the restaurant’s cancellation policy. If you cancel the booking less than 24 hours before it starts you will not receive a refund.

Eat Out is not responsible for anything that might go wrong with your booking, penalties that you must pay for cancellations, or if you are not happy with the restaurant’s service .

5. What are the rules for rating and reviewing restaurants?

We only allow fair, independent, and objective ratings and reviews.

You may rate or review a restaurant that you have visited at any time. We will prompt you to leave a review after a restaurant visit if you used our booking platform.

Once you have posted a review, it belongs to us, and we may use it for whatever purposes we see fit. We may use the review with or without your name or username.

Our policy is to only allow fair, independent, and objective reviews. Here are some rules, but you can also read our editorial policy here.

You must not post any content or engage in any activity that:

is harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, indecent, defamatory, discriminatory, vulgar, profane, libellous, hateful, or invasive of others’ privacy
constitutes an inauthentic review, or one that you know to be incorrect
violates any third party right, including the right to privacy, right to publicity, or any intellectual property right
is illegal
is an attempt to impersonate another person or entity

When we become aware of this type of content (and please let us know if you spot anything), we have the right to remove that content.

6. Who owns the App content?

We own the App and its content. We give you a license to use the App and its features.

The App and all content and other materials it contains, including the Eat Out trademark and all designs, text, graphics, pictures, information, data, software, sound files, other files and their selection and arrangement (collectively we call this the ‘content’) are the property of New Media Publishing (Pty) Ltd or are licensed to us, unless we indicate that it is not.

The images used on listings, galleries, and articles are provided by the restaurants, stores, or markets themselves, or their marketing people. While we have permission to use them on the App, we do not own the images and therefore cannot give permission for them to be downloaded from the App and used in any way.

We may embed Instagram images in our articles, which automatically include the owner’s account handle, and click through to their account (if the Instagram account is public).

We grant you a limited, nonexclusive license to access and use the App on any device that you own or control for the sole purpose of accessing the App content and features. You cannot transfer or sublicense the license.

You may only use the services or content for their intended purposes.

Your license does not include any right to:

sell, resell, or use the services or content commercially
distribute, publicly perform, or publicly display any content without our written permission
modify or derive any uses of the services or content, or any portion thereof
use any data mining robots or similar data gathering or extraction methods
download (other than page caching) any portion of the services or content, except where we have given you written permission

We can revoke this license at any time.

The services and content may include software components provided by third parties that are subject to separate licensing terms, in which case those licensing terms will govern those software components.

7. How does paid for content and advertising work?

We publish native content, sponsored content, and advertising, and we will clearly label each.

We publish ‘native content’. That is content that looks and feels like all the other content on Eat Out, but is paid for by an advertiser. We make sure that native content can be identified by labelling it ‘brought to you by ABC’ and a short message from the advertiser at the end of the article.

Native content must follow our editorial policy. We determine what is in the content, not the advertiser. The content of the article (including the wording, the images used, the restaurants mentioned, the sources contacted, etc.) is independent, and will not be influenced by the advertiser. This means that users can still trust the recommendations and information in the article.

We also publish sponsored content. This kind of content is clearly pushing the advertiser’s message. It is created by Eat Out according to a brief supplied by the advertiser, but it is not published as editorial content. This kind of content can be edited by the advertiser.

You will know this content when you see it, but we will also clearly label it ‘partner content’ in the title.

We also place advertisements. We ask our advertisers to ensure that their advertisements comply with all advertising and consumer protection laws, do not infringe anybody else’s intellectual property rights, and that it is not offensive. The advertisers are responsible for any inaccuracies or any loss caused by their advertisements.

8. How do we treat your personal information?

We will keep your personal information confidential. Read our Privacy Notice to see how we collect and use personal information.

9. What notifications will you receive?

We will send you notifications about bookings, reviews, and special offers. You can opt-out at any time.

We will send you SMS notifications to:

confirm a booking
request that you pay a deposit
remind you of a booking
prompt you to review a restaurant
notify you of special offers in your area
notify you of changes to these terms

You can opt-out of these notifications at any time by using the notifications feature.

10. Can you give feedback?

Yes, please tell us what you think of our App and its features. We may publish it or use it to improve the App.

We welcome your questions, comments, suggestions, or ideas about the App.

We will own any feedback and may use and modify it without any restrictions or payment to you. We will not publish your personal information with the feedback without your permission.

Please send your feedback to support@eatout.co.za

11. What about third-party websites?

Sometimes we link to third-party websites that are not ours or under our control.

We may link to third-party websites on the App. We don’t control these websites or their content, so we cannot accept responsibility for their quality, content, nature, or reliability.

12. Where does our responsibility end (disclaimers, limitation of liability, and indemnity)?

We do not guarantee that the App will always be available or that the content will be accurate. We are not involved in or responsible for the services provided by the restaurants listed on the App.

Our services are not specifically designed to meet individual requirements. It is provided on an ‘as is’ and ‘as available’ basis. We do not make any warranties or representations, other than those specifically contained in this contract

You use the App and its features at your own risk.

You cannot hold us responsible for any loss or harm that you suffer because you used, or could not use, our service.

We are not involved in or responsible for the services provided by restaurants listed on the App and cannot be held responsible for their actions or failure to act, the food or drink that they serve, or any related activity.

We do not actively monitor or moderate restaurant reviews and cannot be held responsible for it. If you notice a malicious, abusive, or threatening review, or an inauthentic or knowingly erroneous review, please notify us immediately at support@eatout.co.za.

You must keep your username and password safe. You cannot hold us responsible for the unauthorised use of your account.

If you breach this contract, you will be held responsible for any claims, demands, causes of action, damages, legal and other costs, expenses, penalties, losses, or liabilities as a result of third-party claims.

Although we will try to prevent it from happening, we are not responsible for any malicious code (such as a virus) which may come from this App.

13. When may we restrict your access to the App?

We may restrict your access for technical, maintenance, or security reasons, or if we find that you are in breach of this contract.

We may restrict or temporarily suspend access to the App for technical, maintenance, or security reasons without compensation. We will do our best to keep this type of interruption to a minimum.

We may also restrict or suspend access if we find that:

your profile is being used by an unauthorised person
you breach this contract or any applicable law
you use the App to harass, abuse, stalk, threaten, defame, or otherwise infringe or violate the rights of any other person.

14. When does this contract end?

You can deactivate your profile at any time by contacting us. We may terminate your contract if you breach this contract or if we withdraw the App.

You can deactivate your profile by sending an email to support@eatout.co.za

We can deactivate your profile by giving you notice at any time if:

• you breach this contract or any applicable law
• we have reason to believe that the App or your profile is being used fraudulently
• you use the App to harass, abuse, stalk, threaten, defame, or otherwise infringe or violate the rights of any other person
• if we decide to withdraw the App from public use
• if we no longer do business.

We are not responsible for any damages or losses you may suffer because your contract is terminated.

When this contract is terminated, for whatever reason:

you won’t have the right to access the App
any licenses and rights granted under this contract will terminate immediately

Even after the contract is terminated, some terms will survive, including sections 5, 6, 8, 13 and 14.

15. About this contract

This is our entire agreement. We will let you know if we make changes to it.

This is our entire contract regarding use of the App.

We may update this contract from time to time. We will let you know by email or an in-app notification and update the date at the top of this page. The ‘new’ contract will be in force from the date published at the top of this page. If you continue to use the App after the contract has changed, it means that you accept the changes. We encourage you to check the contract regularly.

This contract cannot be changed or waived through conduct.

If, for some reason, one part of this agreement becomes invalid or unenforceable, the rest of it remains enforceable.

We may freely assign our rights and obligations under this contract to any of our affiliates or in connection with a merger, acquisition, restructuring, or sale of assets, or by operation of law, or otherwise, and we may transfer your information to any of our affiliates, successor entities, or new owner.

16.How can you reach us?

New Media House, 19 Bree Street, Cape Town, 8001

Email: support@eatout.co.za

Eat Out App - Terms of Service