Terms & Conditions

1. Acceptance of Terms

By accessing and using STOOM Kitchen, you agree to be bound by these Terms & Conditions. If you do not agree, do not use STOOM.

2. The Service

STOOM Kitchen is a web-based application designed to help chefs and home cooks manage recipes, timers, and kitchen service. The app runs in your browser and syncs data across your devices.

We make reasonable efforts to keep STOOM available and functional, but we do not guarantee uninterrupted service. We may perform maintenance, updates, or other changes that temporarily affect availability.

3. Accounts & Kitchens

You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account credentials. You agree to use STOOM only for lawful purposes and in accordance with these Terms.

A "kitchen" is your isolated workspace within STOOM. You can create multiple kitchens on a paid plan. You are responsible for the content you create in your kitchens.

4. Subscriptions & Billing

Plan options

• Free: £0, 1 device, 7-day starter access, no renewal
• Pro: £2.99/month or £29.99/year introductory pricing, up to 5 devices, auto-renews unless cancelled
• Restaurant: £9.99/month or £99.99/year introductory pricing, up to 20 devices for one venue, auto-renews unless cancelled
• Corporate: contact us for 20+ devices, multiple venues, custom support, or custom AI and storage requirements

Billing

• Paid plans renew automatically on the monthly or annual renewal date shown at checkout
• Payment is processed through Stripe
• You can cancel your subscription anytime via the Stripe Customer Portal inside the STOOM app
• Cancellation takes effect at the end of your current billing cycle — you retain access until then
• No refunds for partial periods unless required by law

Payment failures

• If your payment fails, we will attempt to retry
• If payment ultimately fails, your subscription will be downgraded to Free

5. Acceptable Use

You agree not to:

• Use STOOM for illegal or unlawful purposes
• Harass, abuse, or harm others through the service
• Attempt to gain unauthorized access to STOOM or its systems
• Disrupt or overload the service with automated requests or attacks
• Reverse-engineer, decompile, or extract the source code of STOOM
• Sell, redistribute, or lease STOOM or its content to others

6. AI Features

STOOM includes optional AI-powered features, such as recipe extraction from images or text, drinks pairing, and menu parsing:

• Processing: AI features may run through STOOM's hosted AI service or through an AI provider you connect yourself
• Allowances: plans may include a starter or monthly AI allowance; purchased AI top-ups are separate from subscription allowances
• Fair use: excessive or abusive use may be throttled, paused, or require additional top-ups
• No guarantee: AI features are provided on an "as-is" basis and may not always produce accurate results
• Data: images and text submitted for AI processing are used to provide the requested feature and are not intended to be retained after processing unless you save the resulting content in STOOM

Protective suspension

AI processing costs us money for every request, and a single kitchen can generate a very large number of requests in a short time — sometimes deliberately, more often because something has gone wrong. So that one account cannot degrade the service for everyone else, we reserve the right to suspend a kitchen's access to our hosted server features where:

• the kitchen's AI usage exceeds its allowance, or is running at a rate its allowance cannot support
• we see usage that a normal pattern of work does not explain — for example a repeating request loop, an automated script, or a shared credential
• a technical fault, overload, or security concern means continuing to serve the kitchen would put the service, your data, or other customers at risk

Where we do this:

• It is a pause, not a deletion. Suspension affects hosted features — AI, sync and backup. Your data remains yours, stays on the devices you have already synced, and can still be exported.
• We will tell you. We will contact you at the account email, explain what we saw, and say what needs to happen to lift it.
• It lasts only as long as the investigation. We will restore access as soon as the cause is understood and resolved.
• If we were wrong, you are not out of pocket. Where we suspend a paid kitchen and the cause turns out not to be something you did, we will credit the affected period.

This does not affect your statutory rights, and nothing here allows us to suspend a paid service arbitrarily — we can only do so for the reasons set out above.

7. Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law:

• STOOM is provided "as is" without warranties of any kind, express or implied
• We do not warrant that STOOM is error-free or fit for a particular purpose
• In no event shall STOOM, its founders, or service providers be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages
• Our total liability for any claim is limited to the amount you paid us in the 12 months prior to the claim (or £0 if you used only the Free plan)

8. Data Loss

While we take reasonable care to back up and protect your data, you are responsible for maintaining independent copies of any critical information. We are not liable for data loss caused by your actions, service interruptions, or third-party failures.

9. Intellectual Property

STOOM, including its design, code, and content, is our property. You own the content (kitchens, recipes, notes) you create. You grant us a license to use your content only to provide the service and improve STOOM.

10. Termination

We may suspend or terminate your account if:

• You violate these Terms
• Your account is inactive for an extended period and we cannot contact you
• We are required to do so by law
• Your kitchen meets one of the conditions for protective suspension in section 6 (this is a temporary pause, not termination)
• You request deletion

Upon termination, we will make reasonable efforts to allow you to export your data. After a grace period, your account and associated data may be permanently deleted.

11. Changes to Terms

We may update these Terms at any time. We will notify you of material changes by updating the "Last updated" date and, if significant, by email. Your continued use of STOOM constitutes acceptance of updated terms.

12. Governing Law

These Terms and Conditions are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales, without regard to its conflict of law provisions. Any disputes shall be resolved in the courts of England and Wales.

13. Contact

If you have questions or concerns about these Terms, contact us at legal@stoom.kitchen.