Welcome to Tastemade!
These Expert Terms and Conditions (“Expert Terms”) govern your hosting of Tastemade events and offering of content as a host or expert (“Expert”) on the Tastemade websites, mobile, desktop and “over-the-top” applications, services and software (and any associated content including email and RSS) of Tastemade, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates (collectively, “Tastemade”, “we”, “us”, or “our”). Tastemade provides websites and mobile, desktop, and other applications (collectively, the “Apps”) and through these Apps connects Tastemade users (“Users”) with Content, Experiences, and Events (collectively with the Apps, the “Services”).
By signing up with Tastemade as an Expert, you agree to be bound by and abide by the Tastemade General Terms (“General Terms”) as supplemented and modified by these Expert Terms (collectively, the “Terms”). If there is a conflict between the Expert Terms and the General Terms, the Expert Terms control. Capitalized terms used but not defined in these Expert Terms will have the meaning given to such terms in the General Terms. Please read the Terms carefully and refer to our Privacy Policy, found at www.tastemade.com/privacy, for information on how we collect, use and disclose information from our users (including Experts). If you don’t agree to be bound by and abide by both the Terms and our Privacy Policy, you may not sign up with Tastemade as an Expert.
EXPERT-PROVIDED SERVICES
The Services may allow Experts to use Tastemade’s interactive Apps and Services to engage with Users in order to teach Users about their field of expertise, such as favorite dishes and restaurants through articles, recommendations, reviews and videos. The Apps also offer an online marketplace that allows Experts to host recorded or live events, such as food and beverage-based events, and offer other types of content programming, marketing, subscriptions, and services, on an in-person or virtual basis, (“Experiences” or “Events”) to Users who are interested in attending or watching Experiences (“Guests”). Experts, Guests and other registered Users who have a Tastemade account for the Services may upload photos and comments from their Experiences.
Experts may also have access to Expert-only features, including the ability to post information, make recommendations, host Experiences, and register interest in our marketplace. Tastemade’s Services also provide Experts with a platform to (1) promote, organize, and host Events and Experiences, (2) publish expert opinions and information regarding cultural cuisine, cooking methods, personal recipes, food experiences, and other approved lifestyle categories and (3) connect to commercial opportunities via brand sponsorships.
By hosting any Experience, you agree that Tastemade may elect to utilize Recordings of your Experience in accordance with the permission granted in the Section titled “Publicity Release” of the General Terms, and that any User Content included or embodied in such Recording will be subject to the license granted to Tastemade in the Section titled “Content – Permissions to Your User Content.”
CHANGES TO TERMS
We may update the Expert Terms from time to time, in our sole discretion. If we do, we’ll let you know by posting the updated Expert Terms on the Apps. Your use of the Apps as an Expert after the effective date of the updated Expert Terms constitutes your agreement to the updated Expert Terms. It’s important that you review the Expert Terms whenever we update them or you use the Apps. If you don’t agree to be bound by the changes, then you may not use the Apps as an Expert anymore. Because our Apps are evolving over time, we may change or discontinue all or any part of the Services, at any time and without notice, at our sole discretion.
IMPORTANT NOTICE REGARDING ARBITRATION FOR U.S. CUSTOMERS: WHEN YOU AGREE TO THESE EXPERT TERMS YOU ARE AGREEING (WITH LIMITED EXCEPTION) TO RESOLVE ANY DISPUTE BETWEEN YOU AND TASTEMADE THROUGH BINDING, INDIVIDUAL ARBITRATION RATHER THAN IN COURT. PLEASE REVIEW CAREFULLY THE SECTION “DISPUTE RESOLUTION” IN THE GENERAL TERMS FOR DETAILS REGARDING ARBITRATION.
WHO MAY BE AN EXPERT
You may sign up as an Expert only if you are at least 18 years or older and capable of forming a binding contract with Tastemade and are not barred from using the Services under applicable law. To be an Expert, you must comply with any criteria or requirements provided to you by Tastemade from time-to-time, including as may be communicated to you through the Services or otherwise.
Tastemade reserves the right to approve, disapprove, terminate or suspend your status as an Expert for any reason or for no reason, in its sole discretion. If Tastemade terminates or suspends your status, you shall not host Experiences or Events unless and until your status as an Expert is reinstated.
HOSTING EXPERIENCES AND EVENTS
As an Expert, you may create Experiences for interested Guests subject to our approval and then-current requirements and procedures as communicated to you through or in connection with the Services. If you choose to host an Experience, you will be asked a variety of questions about the Experience to be listed, including, but not limited to the location, capacity, menu, date, pricing, rules, and financial terms. Experiences will be made publicly available via the Services. Guests will be able to book your Experience based upon the information provided in your Experience. You understand and agree that once a Guest requests a seat at your Experience, the price for such booking may not be altered.
You acknowledge and agree that you are solely responsible for any Experiences you post. Accordingly, you represent and warrant that any Experience, and the booking of, or Guest’s attendance at, an Experience, (i) will not breach any agreements you have entered into with any third parties, (ii) will be in compliance with all applicable laws, Tax requirements, and rules and regulations that may apply to any event or venue included in an Experience you post, including, but not limited to, zoning laws, health laws, license laws and any other applicable laws governing properties, food, and unique ingredients (iii) will be in compliance with all applicable laws, policies, and procedures of governmental authorities of the state or local jurisdiction in which you operate, which includes without limitation, any state or local laws or regulations relating to the production, ingredients, manufacture, labeling, advertising, promotion, sale, or safety of your food or Experience, (iv) will not conflict with the intellectual property, privacy or other rights of third parties, or be libelous or defamatory to any other person or entity. You further represent and warrant that (a) your Experiences (and any Recordings of your Experiences) are not, and are not intended to be, covered by any guild, union, collective bargaining, management, agency, or similar agreement and there will be no residual or any other type of payment due from Tastemade to you, to any third party, guild, union, management, or agent, or pursuant to any collective bargaining agreement, in connection with any such Experience or Recording, or payment from us to you; (b) we are not responsible for, and will not make any deduction to payments made to you for any fees, commissions, costs, expenses, or payments of any kind to or with respect to any third party, including any manager, agent, attorney, representative, or service provider, in connection with any revenue earned by or payments made to you in connection with our Services; (c) we are not responsible for any contributions, payments, taxes, or deductions for Social Security, retirement benefits, unemployment insurance, annuities, or pension or welfare fund payments required by law or any labor union, or any withholding or income taxes; and (d) your Experiences will be conducted in a professional, workmanlike manner in accordance with any rules and guidelines provided to you in writing or electronically by Tastemade. Please note that Tastemade assumes no responsibility for an Expert’s compliance with any applicable laws or an Expert’s failure to comply with the terms stated above.
If you are an Expert who wishes to create an Experience that includes cannabis, alcohol, or any other regulated substances, you must obtain and maintain all applicable licenses and permits in order to do so as required by applicable laws, and you must provide the appropriate licensing information in the description of your Event, such that the appropriate license is easily identifiable by Guests.
You understand and agree that Tastemade does not act as an insurer or as a contracting agent for, or representative of, you as an Expert (except as a limited authorized payment agent as described in these Expert Terms), and if a Guest requests a booking of your Experience and participates in your Experience, any agreement you enter into with such Guest is between you and the Guest and Tastemade is not a party thereto.
You agree not to host any Experience (or permit, condone, or encourage any behavior or activity at any Experience) that would be inappropriate, disrespectful, constitute hate speech, incite violence, encourage illegal or dangerous behavior, tarnish the reputation(s) of Guests, Tastemade, or others, or tarnish or devalue Tastemade brands. You further agree not to engage in or permit any discriminatory behavior or unlawful or offensive activity in connection with any Experience, including with respect to your approval or rejection of any Guests or the establishment of any eligibility rules or criteria in connection with the creation of any Experience. You have not and will not commit any morally repugnant act that may, in Tastemade’s sole discretion, bring Tastemade or Guests into public disrepute, contempt, scandal or ridicule by association or which may insult or offend the public or any protected group or class thereof including, without limitation, the general community to which Tastemade’s products or services are directed, and as such, may reflect unfavorably upon Tastemade’s reputation or its products or services through Tastemade’s association with you, irrespective of whether such act is related to your Experience or to your performance under the Terms and of the length of time that has elapsed since such act was committed. You have not and will not make public damaging statements regarding Tastemade, Tastemade’s products, or your association with Tastemade in a manner that may discredit Tastemade or injure the success of any of Tastemade’s products or services. Without limiting its rights or remedies, in the event of any breach or alleged breach by you of your obligations in this paragraph, Tastemade will have the right in its sole discretion to immediately terminate your use of the Services by terminating your account and deleting any Apps from your devices immediately upon written notice to you without any further obligation to you and without any opportunity to cure such breach.
Please note that Tastemade reserves the right, at any time and without prior notice, to remove or disable access to any Experience (including live Experiences then in session) for any reason, including Experiences that Tastemade, in its sole discretion, considers to be objectionable for any reason (including due to inclusion of irrelevant or inappropriate subject matter), in violation of these Terms, or otherwise harmful to the Services.
When you create an Experience, Tastemade may provide you with the ability to approve or confirm eligibility of Guests in a manner consistent with applicable laws, rules and regulations to book your Experience and any such ability will be contingent upon your acts being consistent with our policies as communicated to you from time-to-time. You acknowledge that as between you and Tastemade, it is solely your responsibility to verify and ensure that your Guests meet the requirements of our policies.
If you are an Expert, Tastemade provides you with options to lawfully control your guest list. You can make Experiences open to all Guests, first come first served, or can control your guest list by either manually approving each Guest who books an Experience or by distributing passwords that Guests must input in order to buy a ticket to your Experience. We also make certain information available to you to help you decide which Guests you choose to confirm for your Experiences. You acknowledge and agree that, as an Expert, you are responsible for your own acts and omissions and the acts and omissions of any individuals who are present at the Experience at your request or invitation.
BOOKINGS AND FINANCIAL TERMS FOR EXPERTS
If you are an Expert and a booking is requested for your Experience via the Services, the booking will automatically be accepted if room for the Experience is available unless you opted to manually approve each Guest. When a booking is requested via the Services, we will share with you, to the extent available: (i) the first and last name of the Guest who has requested the booking and (ii) a link to the Guest’s Tastemade Account profile page or, when available, relevant information about the Guest, including any dietary restrictions noted by the Guest, and whether the Guest has been to any of your previous Experiences as booked through the Services. You acknowledge that any such information is shared by Tastemade with you solely as a convenience and on an “AS IS” basis, and that Tastemade will not be responsible for verifying or confirming the accuracy or completeness of any such information. If you've opted to approve bookings and don't approve a Guest's request to attend by the date and time of the Experience, the Guest will be unable to attend the Experience and any amounts collected by Tastemade for the requested booking will be refunded to the applicable Guest’s credit card and any pre-authorization of such credit card will be released.
When you confirm a booking requested by a Guest, Tastemade will send you an email, text message or message via the App or Services confirming such booking, depending on the selections you make via the Services.
The fees displayed for each Experience include Experience Fees, Service Fees, and applicable Tax (collectively, “Total Fees”). Tastemade will make reasonable efforts to collect the Total Fees at the time of booking confirmation and will remit to the Expert the Experience Fees, less any applicable Expert Fees and chargebacks of Experience Fees initiated by Guests prior to such remit, within one week following the applicable Experience, subject to and conditioned upon successful receipt of the associated payments from Guests. In the event Guests request refunds after Tastemade has remitted the Experience Fee to you, you agree to promptly reimburse and hold harmless Tastemade for any such chargebacks of the Experience Fees initiated by Guests within thirty (30) days after any request by Tastemade.
EXPERIENCE FEES
The amounts due and payable by a Guest solely relating to an Expert’s Experience are the “Experience Fees.” Please note that it is the Expert, and not Tastemade, that determines the Experience Fees. At the Expert’s discretion, the Experience Fees may include a cleaning fee.
SERVICE FEES
In consideration for providing the Services, Tastemade collects Guest Fees from Guests and may, in the future, collect Expert Fees from Experts (collectively, “Service Fees”).
Tastemade charges a fee to Guests, which are the “Guest Fees”. We currently set Guest Fees based upon a percentage of applicable Experience Fees but reserve the right to set Guest Fees according to other methods.
Please note that Tastemade does not currently charge Experts any fees for the creation of Experiences (“Expert Fees”). However, Tastemade reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to charge and collect Expert Fees from Experts for the creation of Experiences, which Expert Fees, if applicable, will be communicated to you via the Services on or around the time that you create an applicable Experience. Expert Fees will be deducted by Tastemade from the Experience Fees before remitting the Experience Fees to the Expert.
TAXES
In order to comply with U.S. Federal tax reporting requirements, we may be required to collect social security numbers or taxpayer identification numbers on IRS Form W-9 from all Experts that host Experiences in the United States. You agree that you are solely responsible for determining your applicable sales tax, value added tax (VAT), goods and services tax (GST) and other similar municipal, state and federal indirect or other withholding and personal or corporate income tax (collectively, “Tax”) reporting and payment requirements in consultation with your tax advisors. We cannot and do not offer Tax-related advice to any persons. Additionally, please note that each Expert is responsible for determining local indirect Tax and for including any applicable Tax to be collected or obligations relating to applicable Tax on Experiences. Where applicable, or based upon a request from an Expert, Tastemade may issue a valid VAT invoice to such Expert.
PAYMENTS
Each Expert hereby appoints Tastemade as the Expert’s limited payment collection agent solely for the purpose of accepting the Experience Fees from Guests. Each Expert agrees that payment made by a Guest through the Services shall be considered the same as a payment made directly to the Expert, and the Expert will make the Experiences available to the Guest in the agreed-upon manner as if the Expert has received the Experience Fees. Each Expert agrees that Tastemade may, in accordance with the cancellation policy selected by the Expert and reflected in the relevant listing, (i) permit the Guest to cancel the booking and (ii) refund to the Guest that portion of the Experience Fees specified in the applicable cancellation policy. Each Expert understands that Tastemade accepts payments from Guests as the Expert’s limited payment collection agent and that Tastemade’s obligation to pay the Expert is subject to and conditioned upon successful receipt of the associated payments from Guests. Tastemade does not guarantee payments to Experts for amounts that have not been successfully received by Tastemade from Guests. In accepting appointment as the limited authorized agent of the Expert, Tastemade assumes no liability for any acts or omissions of the Expert.
Balances net of the Service Fees will be remitted to Experts via PayPal, direct deposit or other payment methods described on the Services or via the App, in the Expert’s currency of choice (as available by the payment processor), depending upon the selections the Expert makes via the Services. Please note that for any payments by Tastemade in currencies other than U.S. dollars, Tastemade may deduct foreign currency processing costs from such payments. Except as otherwise provided herein, Service Fees are non-refundable.
SPONSORSHIPS
By hosting any Experience, you acknowledge that Tastemade may elect to utilize Recordings of your Experience including your name and likeness as used therein (in accordance with the permission granted in the Section titled “ Publicity Release” of the General Terms) in connection with third party sponsorship and advertising opportunities, which opportunities may involve branding such Recordings with sponsorship branding and materials (“Sponsorship Opportunities”). If Tastemade uses a specific Recording of your Experience in a Sponsorship Opportunity on a standalone basis, then Tastemade may offer you certain benefits and compensation on terms to be specified by Tastemade in its sole discretion. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the Terms, any compensation payable in connection with a Sponsorship Opportunity will be limited solely to a percentage or amount of revenue received directly from the applicable third party sponsor solely to the extent attributable to the use of such Recording in such Sponsorship Opportunity, and Tastemade will have no obligation to compensate you for any Recording to the extent used in connection with any general or platform-wide sponsorship deal that applies to any of the Services.
TERMINATION
You may terminate your use of the Services at any time by terminating your account and deleting any Apps from your devices. Termination of your account is your sole right and remedy with respect to any dispute with Tastemade regarding the Services or these Expert Terms. Tastemade may suspend or terminate your access to the Services at any time, for any reason. If Tastemade suspects that you have violated any provision of the Terms, Tastemade may also seek any other available legal remedy. Your rights under the Terms will terminate automatically if you fail to comply with any of the Terms. Upon termination, you must destroy or delete any copy of any Apps in your possession.
You remain solely liable for all obligations related to use of the Services, even after you have stopped using the Services. Neither Tastemade nor any of its licensors, suppliers, or publishers is liable to you or to any third party for any loss caused by any termination of the Services or termination of your access to the Services.
RELATIONSHIP OF THE PARTIES
You are an independent contractor and nothing in the Terms will be construed as establishing an employment or agency relationship between you and Tastemade. You have no authority to bind Tastemade by contract or otherwise. You will determine, in your sole discretion, the manner and means by which you provide your hosted Experiences, subject to the requirement that you will at all times comply with all applicable laws and regulations.
LIABILITY AND INDEMNITY FOR DAMAGE TO VENUE OR CLAIMS BY GUESTS
You are solely responsible for any damage to the venue for Experiences you host or claims brought by Guests relating to your Experiences, regardless of whether that damage or claim is caused by you, by a Guest, or by a third party. You accept full liability for all such damages and claims, and you will defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Tastemade, its affiliates, directors, officers, agents, employees, licensors, suppliers, distributors (including distributors of the Apps) from any costs, damages, expenses, and liability (i) resulting from damage to the venue; or (ii) arising from claims brought by Guests relating to any Experience hosted or offered by you or on your behalf.
COMPLAINTS AND CLAIMS BY GUESTS
Expert agrees to, at its sole expense, cooperate with and assist Tastemade in good faith, and to provide Tastemade with such information and take such actions as may be reasonably requested by Tastemade, in connection with any complaints or claims made by Guests relating to Experiences or any personal or other property located at the venue of an Experience or with respect to any investigation undertaken by Tastemade or a representative of Tastemade regarding use or abuse of the Services.
INSURANCE
Tastemade recommends that Experts obtain their own appropriate insurance for their Experiences. Please review any insurance policy that you may have for your Experience carefully, and in particular please make sure that you are familiar with and understand any exclusions to, and any deductibles that may apply for, such insurance policy, including, but not limited to, whether or not your insurance policy will cover the actions or inactions of persons (including the Guests and any individuals the Guests invite to the Experience, if applicable) while at your Experience.
Tastemade may or may not purchase insurance coverage to protect Experts. If we purchase such insurance, additional insurance terms, limitations, and exclusions apply. We do not procure insurance for, nor are we responsible for, personal belongings left at any location by the Guests.
CLAIMS
YOU AGREE THAT ANY CAUSE OF ACTION BY YOU ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO THE SERVICES OR ANY EXPERIENCE MUST COMMENCE WITHIN ONE YEAR AFTER THE CAUSE OF ACTION ACCRUES. OTHERWISE, THAT CAUSE OF ACTION IS PERMANENTLY BARRED.
GENERAL PROVISIONS
The Terms, including these Expert Terms and the General Terms are the entire agreement between you and Tastemade regarding your use of the Services. For clarity, and without limiting the foregoing, the Sections of the General Terms titled “Warranty Disclaimers,” “Indemnity,” “Limitation of Liability,” “Dispute Resolution,” and “General Terms” are hereby expressly incorporated by reference and will apply to your use of the Services as an Expert.