Terms & Conditions

1. Who We Are

Behind the Sauté is a private-chef booking product operated by PMLTECH PILE LLC. In these Terms, Behind the Sauté, BTS, we, us, or our refers to PMLTECH PILE LLC. Chef, you, or your refers to the chef, culinary business, or customer using our services. Event client or booking guest refers to a person who submits an inquiry, booking request, deposit, or payment through a BTS-powered booking page.

These Terms apply when you visit our website, use a BTS booking page, submit an inquiry, make or receive a payment, start onboarding, pay an invoice, or continue using the service.

2. What BTS Provides

BTS helps private chefs create and operate a branded booking experience for private events. The exact scope, pricing, commission, subscription level, setup work, and support level for each chef are confirmed separately in writing by invoice, order form, email, or signed agreement.

• Private-chef website or booking page setup
• Service, menu, and offer structure
• Event inquiry and booking request flows
• Chef and client notification flows
• Stripe Connect setup support
• Launch QA and test booking support
• Ongoing hosting, maintenance, and support

3. Chef Responsibilities

Chefs are independent businesses. You are responsible for the food, hospitality services, staffing, event execution, customer communication, refunds, taxes, permits, licenses, insurance, and legal compliance related to your chef business.

You are also responsible for reviewing and approving your page content, pricing, event policies, menu claims, allergy language, availability, and client communications before launch.

• Business name, service area, contact information, and event types
• Menus, sample menus, service descriptions, pricing, minimum spend, deposit rules, and payment rules
• Photos, logo, brand materials, reviews, and other content you want displayed
• Booking rules, availability guidance, cancellation/refund policy, allergy policy, travel policy, and event policy
• Any approvals needed before BTS publishes or updates your booking page

4. Event Clients and Chef Policies

BTS provides booking infrastructure. BTS is not the chef, caterer, food provider, event operator, employer, agent, or guarantor of any chef or event client.

The chef's own cancellation, refund, deposit, allergy, travel, event, and service policies control the chef-client relationship unless BTS expressly states otherwise in writing. Event clients should review the applicable chef policies before submitting a request or payment.

5. Payments Through Stripe Connect

BTS uses Stripe Connect to support online booking payments, deposits, platform fees, and related payment flows. During onboarding, BTS may help a chef create or connect a Stripe account.

Client payments are processed by Stripe. Where configured, payments are associated with the chef's connected Stripe account, and BTS may collect agreed platform fees, subscription fees, commissions, setup fees, or other fees through Stripe Connect or by separate invoice.

Stripe's own terms, account requirements, payout schedules, dispute processes, and fees may apply. Chefs are responsible for refunds, chargebacks, disputes, taxes, and payment obligations connected to their chef services unless BTS caused the issue through its own error.

6. Pricing and Billing

BTS pricing is determined after reviewing the chef's business, booking needs, setup complexity, and support requirements. In general, BTS charges a monthly or yearly maintenance subscription plus a commission percentage on bookings processed through the site. Any setup fees, customization fees, commission percentages, subscription amounts, or other fees will be confirmed before paid work begins.

7. Refunds for BTS Fees

If you pay a setup or launch fee to BTS, that fee is fully refundable before your site is launched. After launch, setup fees are non-refundable unless we agree otherwise in writing.

Subscription fees and commissions are not refundable once the applicable billing period or processed booking has begun, unless required by law or agreed in writing.

8. Launch Timeline

If BTS commits to a 10-business-day launch timeline, that timeline begins only after BTS receives all required assets, business information, approvals, and onboarding inputs from the chef.

If BTS does not launch your site within 10 business days after all required assets are received, your first month of maintenance is free. This is a delivery guarantee, not a guarantee of bookings, revenue, leads, sales, search ranking, ad performance, or business growth.

9. Ongoing Service and Cancellation

BTS may offer monthly or yearly subscriptions. You may cancel ongoing service with 30 days' written notice. Cancellation does not remove your obligation to pay fees already due, commissions on bookings already processed, or charges for work already approved.

After cancellation, BTS may disable hosting, booking forms, payment flows, admin access, and related services after the notice period ends.

10. Ownership of Materials

Chefs retain ownership of their business name, brand, domain, photographs, menus, customer information, policies, and other materials they provide to BTS.

BTS retains ownership of its templates, code, platform components, workflows, designs, processes, and reusable implementation materials. You grant BTS permission to use the materials you provide solely to build, operate, maintain, support, and promote your booking experience, unless you tell us otherwise in writing.

11. Domains and Account Access

Chefs own and control their own domains unless otherwise agreed in writing. BTS may help connect a domain to a booking site, but domain ownership remains with the chef.

Do not send BTS passwords, full card numbers, bank credentials, or unnecessary access to unrelated systems. If account access is needed, provide only the access reasonably required through secure account invitations, delegated access, or setup flows whenever possible.

12. Data Export and Removal

Upon cancellation or written request, BTS can provide an export of submitted booking inquiry data, customer records collected through BTS, site content, and uploaded business materials, where reasonably available.

BTS may delete or remove business materials and customer data after cancellation, subject to legal, tax, accounting, fraud-prevention, backup, security, and dispute-resolution retention requirements. Backup copies may remain for a limited time before being deleted through normal backup rotation.

13. Food Safety, Allergies, and Event Services

BTS is not responsible for food safety, allergen handling, ingredient sourcing, menu accuracy, kitchen conditions, health permits, insurance, event staffing, service quality, event execution, client refunds, or chef-client disputes. Chefs are responsible for their own services and for communicating accurate allergy, dietary, cancellation, refund, and event terms to clients.

14. No Professional Advice

BTS may provide operational, technical, copywriting, and setup support. BTS does not provide legal, tax, accounting, food safety, insurance, or regulatory advice. You should consult your own qualified professionals for those matters.

15. No Guarantee of Results

BTS does not guarantee bookings, revenue, conversion rates, client quality, repeat customers, search ranking, ad performance, or business growth. Your results depend on your offer, market, pricing, reputation, availability, client communication, and other factors outside our control.

16. Indemnity

To the maximum extent allowed by law, you agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless BTS, PMLTECH PILE LLC, and their owners, contractors, and service providers from claims, damages, liabilities, costs, and expenses arising from your chef services, event conduct, food, staff, policies, content, customer disputes, taxes, permits, insurance, legal compliance, misuse of the service, or breach of these Terms.

17. Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent allowed by law, BTS is not liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, punitive, or lost-profit damages. BTS's total liability for claims related to the service will not exceed the fees paid by you to BTS during the three months before the event giving rise to the claim, unless a different limit is required by law.

18. Service Changes and Termination

BTS may update, improve, suspend, or discontinue parts of the service over time. BTS may suspend or terminate service if invoices are unpaid, the service is used unlawfully, required onboarding information is false or incomplete, a Stripe or payment issue prevents safe operation, continued service creates legal/security/reputational/operational risk, or you materially breach these Terms.

19. Governing Law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Texas, without regard to conflict-of-law rules. Any dispute that cannot be resolved informally will be handled in the state or federal courts located in Texas, unless applicable law requires a different forum.

20. Updates and Contact

BTS may update these Terms from time to time. The updated version will be posted on this page with a new effective date.

Behind the Sauté

Email: pmltechpile@gmail.com