Terms of service

Article 1. Definitions

In these terms:

• Chefstr, we, us: ASD Solutions, trading as Chefstr, with its registered office at Wilhelminastraat 32, 1054 WJ Amsterdam, Chamber of Commerce (KvK) number 82907730.
• The Service: the Chefstr software: the dashboard in the browser, the app for employees, the kiosk on a tablet, and everything that comes with them.
• Customer, you: the business that creates an Account and uses the Service as an employer.
• Account or Workspace: the Customer's own environment within the Service, with all the data it contains.
• Administrator: a user with full rights over the Account. Whoever creates the Account is its first Administrator.
• Manager: a user who manages schedules, hours and the team on the Customer's behalf.
• Employee: a person the Customer adds to the Workspace, who views their schedule and records their hours through the app or the kiosk.
• Trial worker: a person who is scheduled on a trial basis and is not yet employed.
• Active employee: an Employee who is not archived and works shifts in the schedule. Everyone who works shifts counts, including a Manager or Administrator who works shifts themselves. Trial workers and archived employees do not count.
• Price list: the rates shown on the subscription page in Chefstr.
• The free plan: use of the Service with up to the number of active employees that the Price list sets as free.
• A paid plan: any tier of the Price list with a price above zero.
• Direct debit mandate: a recurring SEPA direct debit mandate that an Administrator signs in Chefstr.
• Data processing agreement: the agreement on personal data at chefstr.com/data-processing-agreement.
• Business day: any day from Monday to Friday, including public holidays.
• In writing: on paper or by email. We send messages to you at the email addresses of your Administrators; you send messages to us at support@chefstr.com.

Article 2. Applicability

These terms apply to every use of the Service. You accept them, together with the Data processing agreement, when you create an Account, by ticking the relevant box. Whoever creates the Account thereby declares that they are authorised to sign on the Customer's behalf.

The Service is intended for businesses, not consumers. If your business has its own purchasing terms, they do not apply to the Service. Deviations from these terms are only valid if we have agreed to them in writing. Where these terms and the Data processing agreement conflict, the Data processing agreement prevails with regard to personal data.

These terms, the Data processing agreement, the Price list, any Direct debit mandate, and anything else we agree with you in writing together form the entire agreement between you and us. They replace any earlier agreements on the same subject.

Article 3. Account and registration

You create an Account with your name, the name of your business, a phone number, an email address, a password and the country your business is in. You warrant that this information is correct and will keep it up to date. You create one Account per business. Creating multiple Accounts to get around the free plan's limit is not permitted.

After you sign up, we send an email with a confirmation link that is valid for 48 hours. Your Account only exists once you open that link and enter your password. Whoever creates the Account is its first Administrator. An Administrator can add other Administrators, Managers, Employees and kiosk devices.

We may refuse a new Account without giving reasons. If we do, we let you know within 10 business days of its creation and delete the Account. We may also close an Account at any time in the event of fraud, abuse or a serious breach of these terms.

You are responsible for everything that happens through your Account. Keep passwords and PIN codes secret, make sure users who leave no longer have access, and notify us immediately at support@chefstr.com if you suspect abuse. You are also responsible for the devices, browsers, tablets and internet connection you use to access the Service, and for their security. The country you choose at registration determines your time zone; only we can change it later, at your request.

Article 4. The free plan and paid plans

4.1 The free plan

A free plan is available in every country where we offer the Service. You can use the Service without payment details and without a time limit, as long as you have no more active employees than the Price list sets as free. The free plan has the same features as a paid plan.

4.2 What counts

The price is based on the number of active employees in your Workspace. Trial workers do not count, and neither do archived employees. For each invoice, we look at the highest number of active employees during that month.

4.3 Paid plans and the Price list

If you have more active employees than the free plan allows, you pay the price of the Price list tier that number falls into. The current amounts per tier are shown on the subscription page in Chefstr. All amounts are in euros and exclude VAT. For customers in an EU country other than the Netherlands with a valid VAT number (which we check against VIES, the European Commission's system), VAT is reverse-charged.

4.4 SEPA direct debit only

A paid plan is only possible with a Direct debit mandate. An Administrator enters the Customer's billing details and signs the Direct debit mandate online in Chefstr. When it is signed, we record the text of the Direct debit mandate, the time, the IP address and the browser details of the signer as proof. You cannot choose to pay by bank transfer: it is only the fallback described in article 4.6.

Your paid period starts on the day your first Direct debit mandate is signed. A Direct debit mandate that you provide again later does not change a period that is already running, or one that we stopped earlier.

4.5 Invoices

You pay in arrears. At the start of each month, the Administrator receives the invoice for the month just ended by email, calculated on the basis of the highest number of active employees during that month and the Price list that applied to you at the time. A partial month is charged pro rata by the number of days. If the price for a month is zero, you receive no invoice.

The invoice email also serves as the pre-notification of the direct debit: we collect the amount on or after the date stated in that email, and at least 2 business days after sending it, as set out in the Direct debit mandate.

4.6 Failed or revoked direct debits

If a direct debit fails or is reversed, we try again at most once, after a new pre-notification by email. If it fails again, or if you have revoked your Direct debit mandate, you receive a payment request and pay the invoice by bank transfer within 14 days. If you do not pay within that period, article 5 (payment arrears) applies. Without a valid Direct debit mandate, you no longer have a paid plan: article 5 then applies and you have 42 days to provide a new Direct debit mandate or return to the free plan.

4.7 Late payment

An invoice remains payable even if a direct debit fails or is reversed, if we block your Account, or if your Account ends. You may not set off an invoice against anything we may owe you, and you may not suspend your payment. An objection to an invoice does not suspend payment; do let us know as soon as possible, and we will look into it.

If you do not pay within the period stated in the payment request, you are in default without further notice. From that moment, you owe the statutory commercial interest on the outstanding amount, plus extrajudicial collection costs in accordance with the statutory scale. If we have to go to court, you also bear those costs, to the extent the law allows.

4.8 No refunds

Because you pay in arrears, you never pay anything in advance. We do not refund or set off an invoice for a month that has already passed, even if during that month you returned to the free plan, revoked your Direct debit mandate or ended your Account. An outage or maintenance does not suspend your obligation to pay; for loss or damage, article 11 applies.

4.9 Price changes

We may change the Price list. We announce a price increase at least 30 days in advance by email to the Administrators; a changed Price list applies from the first invoice after the announced date. If you do not agree with an increase, you can return to the free plan or end your Account before that date (article 12).

Article 5. Exceeding the free limit without a Direct debit mandate, or with payment arrears

If on any day you have more active employees than the free plan allows and there is no valid Direct debit mandate, a 42-day period starts. That day is day 0. You can see this in Chefstr, and all Administrators receive an email on days 0, 7, 14, 21, 27, 28, 35 and 42.

• Day 0 to day 13: everything works as usual. We ask you to provide a Direct debit mandate or to get back within the free limit.
• Day 14 to day 27: the number of active employees may no longer grow. Adding an employee, restoring one from the archive, hiring one after a trial or letting one work shifts again is refused. Adding a Trial worker remains possible, and everything else works.
• Day 28 to day 41: the dashboard is read-only for Administrators and Managers. Employees can still see their schedule and clock in and out in the app and on the kiosk. An Administrator can still: enter the billing details and provide a Direct debit mandate, archive or delete employees, re-pair a kiosk, and export reports by email.
• From day 42: your Account is blocked. Nobody in your business can change anything any more; clocking in and out in the app and on the kiosk also stops, and the app and the kiosk show this. Viewing is still possible. An Administrator can log in and sees only the ways to resolve this: enter the billing details and provide a Direct debit mandate, or archive or delete employees until you are back within the free limit; if you have payment arrears, pay the outstanding invoices. If you had a paid plan, your invoicing stops on day 42 and resumes the day after the block is lifted. Nothing is deleted, unless the block lasts six months (article 10).

As soon as an Administrator provides a Direct debit mandate, the number of active employees falls back within the free limit, or the outstanding invoices are paid, all restrictions end immediately, including the block. The counter then pauses. If none of these situations occurs for 90 days, we reset the counter. If you end up in one of these situations again within those 90 days, the counter resumes where it left off: if it was at day 42, your Account is blocked again immediately. If the paused counter was at day 14 or later, during those 90 days we refuse any addition that would take you above the limit again, because that addition would immediately bring back the restrictions that applied at that point.

This article also applies if your Direct debit mandate lapses, whether because your bank declares it invalid or because you revoke it yourself. It also applies to payment arrears: if an invoice is still unpaid 14 days after the invoice date, or if a direct debit has failed or been reversed without a new attempt following and the invoice is still unpaid 14 days later, the same period starts on that day, with the same emails and the same steps. It ends as soon as the invoice is paid.

Article 6. Use of the Service

You use the Service for the staff scheduling and time tracking of your own business. You decide which data you enter and are responsible for its accuracy and for complying with the law, including employment law, any applicable collective labour agreement and privacy legislation. You inform your employees about the use of the Service, as the law requires of an employer.

Chefstr's calculations are based on what you enter: hours worked, hourly wages, allowances and tips. The results are an aid for your records and payroll; you check them before you use them. Chefstr is neither a payroll system nor an accounting system. Answers from our support team help you use the Service; they are not legal, tax or payroll advice.

You may not:

• use the Service for anything that conflicts with the law or the rights of others;
• disrupt, circumvent or test the operation or security of the Service without our permission;
• resell, rent out or make the Service available to third parties, other than your own Employees;
• copy or modify the software, or examine it in order to obtain its source code, except where the law allows it.

All rights to the Service, the software and the Chefstr brands remain ours. You receive a non-exclusive, non-transferable right to use the Service for as long as your Account exists. The data you enter remains yours. We may freely use any suggestions you send us to improve the Service.

We may use your business name and logo as a reference on our website and in our sales material, without suggesting that you endorse us. We only publish a quote or customer story in your name with your consent. If you do not want to be named as a reference, email support@chefstr.com; we then remove the reference within 30 days, as we also do after your Account ends.

We may monitor use of the Service to detect outages and abuse; if we ask you to cooperate with such an investigation, you do so. If disproportionately heavy use slows the Service down for others, we may limit that use after a warning. You download the app for employees from the App Store or Google Play; the terms of those stores also apply to it.

Article 7. Availability and maintenance

We do our best to keep the Service available at all times, but we do not guarantee uninterrupted or error-free operation. We schedule maintenance outside busy hours as much as possible and announce major maintenance in advance. We may modify and improve the Service, even without notice, as long as the core of the Service (schedules, time tracking, and the calculation of wages and tips) keeps working.

We make a daily backup of all data, for recovery after an outage on our side. We do not restore data from a backup if you deleted or overwrote it yourself. Send questions and outage reports to support@chefstr.com; we respond as soon as possible.

Article 8. Data and privacy

For the data of your own Account (name, business name, phone number, email address, billing details), we are the controller and our privacy policy applies. For the data of your Employees that you enter in Chefstr, you are the controller and we are the processor. This is governed by the Data processing agreement, which you accept together with these terms and which forms part of our agreement.

At registration, we record which version of these terms and of the Data processing agreement you accepted, at what time, from which IP address and with which browser. We keep that record with your Account. After the Account ends, we delete it together with your Workspace, or keep it together with your invoices until the statutory retention period has expired (article 12).

You can export your data yourself at any time through the reports in Chefstr. After termination, you can ask us for an export (article 12).

Article 9. Confidentiality

Each of us keeps confidential any non-public information we learn about the other: we keep the data in your Workspace and what you tell us about your business confidential, and you keep the non-public information about the Service and the pricing arrangements we agree with you confidential. Sharing is only allowed with each party's own employees, contractors and agents who need the information for their work and are themselves bound by confidentiality, and where the law or a court requires it. This obligation continues after the agreement ends.

Article 10. Inactive free Accounts and Accounts that remain blocked

We delete a free-plan Account that nobody has used for a year. Use means any login: in the dashboard, in the app for employees or through a paired kiosk. We first send the Administrators a notice by email, followed by a reminder 7 days before the deletion. 30 days after the notice, we delete the Account with all its data, including the record of the registration. If somebody logs in during that period, the deletion is cancelled. An Account with billing details is not deleted for inactivity.

We delete an Account that has been blocked for six consecutive months (under article 5 or article 12) in the same way: a notice by email to the Administrators and to the billing address, a reminder 7 days before the deletion, and the deletion 30 days after the notice. If the block is lifted during that period, the deletion is cancelled; a login alone is not enough for that. If the Account has billing details, we delete the Workspace with all of your employees' data and keep your billing details, your invoices, your Direct debit mandate and the record of your registration until the statutory retention period has expired (article 12).

Article 11. Liability and force majeure

If you use the free plan, we are not liable for any loss arising from use of the Service, except in the case of intent or deliberate recklessness on our part. If you use a paid plan, our liability per event (a series of related events counts as one event) is limited to 500 euros.

We are never liable for indirect loss, such as lost profit, missed savings, fines, loss caused by incorrectly entered data, or loss resulting from a payroll run that you did not check. These limitations do not apply to the extent the law does not allow them. A claim for damages lapses 6 months after you discovered the loss or could have discovered it.

Repair comes before compensation. If the Service falls short, report it to us in writing and give us a reasonable period to fix it, for example by resolving an outage, correcting an error or restoring data from our backup. Only if the repair is not made within that period, or is no longer possible, can you claim damages.

You indemnify us against claims from your Employees or from third parties arising from your use of the Service in breach of the law or of these terms.

Force majeure (such as outages at our suppliers, in the internet or power supply, or at a bank) suspends our obligations for as long as it lasts, without us owing any damages. If force majeure lasts longer than 30 days, either of us may end the agreement without owing damages.

Article 12. Cancellation, termination and data export

You can stop at any time. If you revoke your Direct debit mandate, you still receive an invoice for the final month (payable by bank transfer), and otherwise article 5 applies. If you want your Account deleted, an Administrator emails us at support@chefstr.com; within 30 days of your confirmation, we delete your Workspace with all of your employees' data. If you never entered billing details, we also delete the record of your registration. If you did, we keep your billing details, your invoices, your Direct debit mandate, the proof of its signing and the record of your registration until the statutory retention period has expired (see below); nobody can log in to the Account any more. Export your data before then; on request, we will send you an export.

We may block your Account for abuse or a serious breach of these terms. Where reasonable, we announce the block and follow the steps of article 5: the emails, day 14, day 28 and the block on day 42. If there is fraud or a persistent breach, or if the law or a court requires it of us, we block immediately and without notice; nobody in your business can then log in any more. For payment arrears, article 5 applies. Your data is retained. Once the reason for the block has been removed, we lift it. If a block lasts six months, we delete the Account in accordance with article 10. If there is fraud or a persistent breach, we may end the agreement immediately.

If your business is declared bankrupt, is granted a suspension of payments, enters statutory debt restructuring or is dissolved, we may end the agreement immediately. All outstanding invoices then become immediately due.

After termination, we delete your data as described in the Data processing agreement. Chefstr is not an archive: you remain responsible for keeping the records the law requires of an employer, such as time records and payroll records, including after we have deleted your data. We keep invoices, Direct debit mandates and other data we are legally required to keep (for example for the 7-year retention period for tax purposes) until that period has expired, in restricted storage, separate from everyday use. Provisions that by their nature continue to apply, such as confidentiality, liability and the payment of outstanding invoices, remain in force after the agreement ends.

Article 13. Changes, transfer and governing law

We may change these terms. We announce a change at least 30 days in advance, by email to the Administrators or in Chefstr. The date at the top of this page is the date from which that version applies. If you do not agree, you can end your Account before that date; if you continue to use the Service after that date, the new terms apply.

You cannot transfer your Account and this agreement to another party without our written consent. We may transfer our rights and obligations to a business that continues the Service, for example in a merger or acquisition; we will let you know in advance.

If a provision of these terms turns out to be invalid, the rest remains in force and we replace that provision with a valid one that comes as close to it as possible. If we do not exercise a right under these terms on one occasion, we do not waive that right.

Dutch law applies to these terms. If we cannot resolve a dispute together, we first try mediation, through a mediator registered with the Mediatorsfederatie Nederland (the Dutch Mediators Federation). While the mediation is ongoing, neither of us goes to court, except for urgent relief or to secure a claim; collecting an unpaid invoice is not covered by this arrangement. If mediation does not resolve the dispute, we submit it to the District Court of Amsterdam.

Article 14. Contact

• Company: ASD Solutions, trading as Chefstr
• Address: Wilhelminastraat 32, 1054 WJ Amsterdam, the Netherlands
• Chamber of Commerce (KvK): 82907730
• Email: support@chefstr.com