We recommend that you read this privacy policy in full to ensure you are fully informed.
Definitions and abbreviations:
CRM = Customer Relationship Manager (Hubspot) - a third party service provider/platform, used to manage customer service, conversational and inbound marketing, and sales relationships. https://legal.hubspot.com/privacy-policy
EMP = Email Marketing Platform (MailChimp) - a third party service provider/platform, used to send email communication to people who have opted in to the mailing list via in-person registration at events such as offsite cooking demonstrations, via our social media or blog registration pages, or through the use of our class calendar. https://mailchimp.com/legal/privacy
OCC = Occasion - a third party service provider/platform, used to register students online for our classes and and accept payment for those services. https://occasion.app/privacy
SQU = Square - a third party service provider/platform, used to process payment for products purchased online (i.e. gift cards) and in-store retail purchases. https://squareup.com/us/en/legal/general/privacy
Please note: The above may be referred to in the aggregate as “partners”, “affiliates”, “platforms”, “third party platforms”, “service providers”, or “third party service providers”.
IP = Internet Protocol - the method or protocol by which data is sent from one computer to another on the Internet. Each computer (known as a host) on the Internet has at least one IP address that uniquely identifies it from all other computers on the Internet.
PII = Personally-Identifying Information or Personally Identifiable Information - information that can be used on its own or with other information to identify, contact, or locate a single person, or to identify an individual in context.
NPII = Non-Personally-Identifying Information or Non-Personally-Identifiable Information - information that web browsers and servers typically make available, such as the browser type, language preference, referring site, and the date and time of each visitor request.
As part of the GDPR implementation on May 25, 2018, we’ve updated this Privacy Policy to make it easier for you to understand what information we collect, why we collect it, and how we use it.
Here’s a quick summary of our privacy policy updates:
We encourage you to regularly check for updates to this Privacy Policy, as well as the Privacy Policies of our third party service providers and partners (links above).
The Chopping Block is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. This policy sets out the basis on which any personal data we collect from you, or that you provide to us, will be processed by us. Please read the following carefully to understand our views and practices regarding your personal data and how we will treat it.
By visiting thechoppingblock.com, you are accepting and consenting to the practices described in this notice. This privacy policy applies solely to information collected by this website. It will notify you of the following:
The Chopping Block will make every reasonable effort to protect your privacy when you’re using our website, online class calendar ("OCC"), customer relationship manager (“CRM”), email marketing platform (“EMP”), and online payment processor (“SQU”) and when you have consented to receiving email communication from us via any of the platforms and service providers mentioned above. We ask that you help us safeguard your Personally-Identifying Information (“PII”) by keeping your account(s) secure.
The Chopping Block operates and uses the services of this website http://www.thechoppingblock.com. It is The Chopping Block’s policy to respect your privacy regarding any information we may collect while operating our websites and in collaboration with any of our CRM, EMP, OCC and SQU partners.
You can opt out or update your communication preferences at any time by clicking here to opt out of our newsletter emails or here to opt out of email correspondence regarding forms you have filled out on our website (i.e. Cooking Resources, Contact Us, etc.). You may also call 773-472-6700 or email info@thechoppingblock.com at any time to opt out or update your communication preferences. You can always refuse to supply personally-identifying information, with the caveat that it may prevent you from engaging in certain website-related activities, such as paying for services or downloading our content.
You may also contact us via phone or email to:
Although most changes are likely to be minor, The Chopping Block may occasionally and at its sole discretion change its Privacy Policy as necessary. The Chopping Block encourages visitors to regularly check this page for any changes to its Privacy Policy. If you have a OCC or SQU account, or are included in our CRM or EMP platforms via previous purchase or by opting in to an email list, you should also check those sites for alerts to changes in their Privacy Policies. Your continued use of these sites after any changes in this or other Privacy Policies will constitute your acceptance of such change(s).
Like most website operators, The Chopping Block collects non-personally-identifying information (“NPII”) of the sort that web browsers and servers typically make available, such as the browser type, language preference, referring site, and the date and time of each visitor request. The Chopping Block’s purpose in collecting non-personally identifying information is to better understand how The Chopping Block’s visitors use its website. The Chopping Block may occasionally release non-personally-identifying information in the aggregate, e.g., by providing analytics to a third party or consultant to identify usage trends and areas for improvement. The Chopping Block also collects potentially personally-identifying information like Internet Protocol (“IP”) addresses for logged in users and for users leaving comments on our sites. The Chopping Block only discloses logged in user and commenter IP addresses under the same circumstances that it uses and discloses personally-identifying information as described below, except that blog commenter IP addresses are visible and disclosed to the administrators of the blog where the comment was left.
Certain visitors to The Chopping Block’s website choose to interact with The Chopping Block in ways that require The Chopping Block to gather personally-identifying information. The amount and type of information that The Chopping Block gathers depends on the nature of the interaction. For example, we ask visitors who set up an account to take cooking classes or request a free download such as one of our Cooking Resources to provide a name and email address. Those who engage in transactions with The Chopping Block are asked to provide additional information, including, as necessary, the personal and financial information required to process those transactions. In each case, The Chopping Block, and/or our CRM, EMP, OCC and SQU providers collect such information only insofar as is necessary or appropriate to fulfill the purpose of the visitor’s interaction with The Chopping Block. The Chopping Block does not disclose personally-identifying information other than as described below. Visitors can always refuse to supply personally-identifying information, with the caveat that it may prevent them from engaging in certain website-related activities, such as paying for services or downloading free content.
The Chopping Block may collect statistics about the behavior of visitors to its websites. For instance, The Chopping Block may monitor visits to our site(s) or user behavior. The Chopping Block may display this aggregate information publicly or provide it to others. However, The Chopping Block does not disclose personally-identifying information other than as described below.
The Chopping Block discloses potentially personally-identifying and personally-identifying information only to those of its employees, contractors, and affiliated organizations that (i) need to know that information in order to process it on The Chopping Block's behalf or to provide services available at The Chopping Block's websites, and (ii) that have agreed not to disclose it to others. Some of those employees, contractors, and affiliated organizations may be located outside of your home country; by using The Chopping Block’s websites, you consent to the transfer of such information to them. The Chopping Block will not rent or sell potentially personally-identifying information to anyone. Other than to its employees, contractors, and affiliated organizations and service providers, as described above, The Chopping Block discloses potentially personally-identifying and personally-identifying information only when required to do so by law, or when The Chopping Block believes in good faith that disclosure is reasonably necessary to protect the property or rights of The Chopping Block, third parties, or the public at large. If you are a registered user of The Chopping Block's websites, or OPP and have supplied your email address, The Chopping Block may send you emails (including weekly newsletters or other forms of electronic communication) to tell you about new features, solicit your feedback, or keep you updated with what’s going on with The Chopping Block and our products and services. If you send us a request (for example via a support email, we reserve the right to publish it in order to help us clarify or respond to your request or help us support other users. The Chopping Block takes all measures reasonably necessary to protect against the unauthorized access, use, alteration, or destruction of potentially personally-identifying and non-personally-identifying information.
We only have access to/collect information that you voluntarily give us via email or other direct contact from you. We will not sell or rent this information to anyone. We will use your information to respond to you, regarding the reason you contacted us. We will not share your information with any third party outside of our organization, other than as necessary to fulfill your request, e.g. to ship an order. Unless you ask us not to, we may contact you via email in the future to tell you about specials, new products or services, or changes to this privacy policy.
We take precautions to protect your information. When you submit sensitive information via the website, your information is protected both online and offline.
Wherever we collect sensitive information (such as credit card data), that information is encrypted and transmitted to us in a secure way. You can verify this by looking for a closed lock icon at the bottom of your web browser, or looking for "https" at the beginning of the address of the web page.
While we use encryption to protect sensitive information transmitted online, we also protect your information offline. Only employees who need the information to perform a specific job (for example, billing or customer service) are granted access to personally identifiable information. The computers/servers in which we store personally identifiable information are kept in a secure environment.
Definition and usage: A cookie is a small text file or string of information that a website stores on a visitor’s computer, and that the visitor’s browser provides to the website each time the visitor returns to make the user experience more efficient. The Chopping Block and its third party platforms and service providers use cookies to help The Chopping Block identify and track visitors, their usage of The Chopping Block’s websites, CAL, CRM, OCC, and SQU platforms, and their website access preferences. The Chopping Block visitors who do not wish to have cookies placed on their computers should set their browsers to refuse cookies before using The Chopping Block's websites and third party service providers, with the drawback that certain features of The Chopping Block’s websites and affiliated third party platforms and service providers may not function properly without the aid of cookies.
For instance, when we use a cookie to identify you, you would not have to log in a password more than once, thereby saving time while on our site. Cookies can also enable us to track and target the interests of our users to enhance the experience on our site. Usage of a cookie is in no way linked to any personally identifiable information on our site.
The Chopping Block’s websites use different types of cookies, some of which are placed by third party service providers that appear on our pages. These cookies are used to personalize content, to provide social media features and customer service, and to analyse our traffic. We also share information about your use of our site with our OCC, CRM, EMP, SQU, and/or analytics service providers or partners who may combine it with other information that you’ve provided to them or that they’ve independently collected from your use of their services. Although most web browsers automatically accept cookies, some browsers' settings can be modified to decline cookies or alert you when a website is attempting to place a cookie on your computer. However, the Websites may not function properly if you disable cookies. Users can opt-out of cookies by utilizing the settings provided in their browsers.
You can see the list of cookies currently in use on our websites here.
The blog on this website contains links to other sites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the content or privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of any other site that collects personally identifiable information.
