Cookie Policy

1. What Are Cookies and Local Storage?

Cookies are small text files placed on your device by websites you visit. Local storage is a technology that allows websites to store data on your browser. The Yum Pandemic uses both cookies and local storage to run secure account sessions, process payments, and improve site features.

2. Essential Cookies and Storage

• User Authentication: Used to keep you logged in to your member or professional account as you navigate the site.
• Session Security & CSRF: Standard security tokens used to verify that requests to our servers originate from your browser and protect against cross-site request forgery.
• Fraud Prevention: Essential security cookies deployed by our payment processor, Stripe, to detect and prevent fraudulent transactions during the checkout process.
• Note: Essential cookies are mandatory to provide the core services of the Platform. They cannot be turned off and do not require prior consent under applicable laws.

3. Preferences and Functional Storage

• Display Settings: Used to remember UI preferences, such as your preference for dark theme or layout choices.
• Regional Settings: Used to retain your country or region selection to display the correct regional terms and enforce regional alcohol or features overrides as described in our Regional Legal Annexes.
• Draft Content: Local storage may temporarily cache recipe draft inputs to prevent content loss in case of network disruptions.

4. Analytics and Diagnostics

• Performance Metrics: Used to collect first-party product and security telemetry, plus optional third-party analytics only where consent and age eligibility allow it.
• Optimisation: Helps us understand page performance, consented user journeys, and usability issues without enabling behavioural or marketing analytics for under-18 users.

5. Payment Processor Cookies (Stripe & Link)

• Hosted Checkout & Billing: When you start a subscription checkout or access the Stripe Customer Portal, Stripe places cookies to manage session state, secure payment method entries, and process transactions.
• Stripe Link: If you choose to use Stripe Link to save your payment details across platforms, Stripe uses cookies to identify your Link account and speed up checkout.
• Please refer to Stripe's Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy at stripe.com for detailed information on how they handle cookies.

6. Managing Your Cookies

• Browser Controls: You can set or amend your web browser controls to accept or refuse cookies. If you choose to reject cookies, you may still use our website, though your access to some functionality and secure areas of our website may be restricted.
• Clearing Cache: You can clear cookies and local storage at any time through your browser settings.
• Consent Banner: We provide cookie settings that let eligible users accept or refuse optional analytics, marketing, and personalisation storage. Essential security, login, payment, and service cookies remain active because they are required to provide the Platform.