Terms and Conditions of Use (Customers)

• (a)
  These Terms and Conditions (“Terms”) govern your access to and use of the Bay Eats website and mobile application (together, the “Platform”), through which you may browse menus from independent restaurants (“Restaurant Partners”) operating in our delivery zones and place orders for delivery by an independent courier (“Driver”).
• (b)
  By creating an account, placing an order, or otherwise using the Platform, you (“you” or “Customer”) agree to be bound by these Terms, our Privacy Policy, and any additional terms referenced on the Platform (including our delivery fee schedule at /delivery-fees). If you do not agree, you must not use the Platform.
• (c)
  You must be at least 18 years old, or have the consent of a parent or legal guardian, to create an account and place an order.
• (d)
  We may amend these Terms from time to time. Where a change materially affects your rights, we will notify registered Customers via the Platform or email before the change takes effect. Continued use of the Platform after a change takes effect constitutes acceptance of the revised Terms.

• (a)
  Bay Eats operates a technology platform that connects Customers, Restaurant Partners, and Drivers. Bay Eats is not a restaurant, food preparer, or common carrier.
• (b)
  Restaurant Partners are independent businesses responsible for the preparation, quality, safety, labelling, pricing, and legal compliance (including health, food safety, and liquor licensing where applicable) of the food and beverages they list and supply. Bay Eats does not prepare, inspect, or guarantee any food item.
• (c)
  Drivers are independent contractors responsible for collecting orders from Restaurant Partners and delivering them to Customers in accordance with the Bay Eats Driver Agreement. Drivers are not employees or agents of Bay Eats.
• (d)
  Bay Eats’s role is limited to: operating the ordering and payment interface, allocating orders to Restaurant Partners and Drivers, processing payments via our third-party payment processor, and providing customer support in relation to the use of the Platform.
• (e)
  Independence of Restaurant Partners and Drivers. Restaurant Partners are independent businesses and Drivers are independent contractors. Neither is an employee, partner, agent, or representative of Bay Eats, and Bay Eats does not direct or control how a Restaurant Partner prepares food or how a Driver carries out a delivery. Each Restaurant Partner and Driver is responsible for its own legal compliance, taxes, and insurance — including, where appropriate, public liability insurance and, for Restaurant Partners, product liability insurance. You acknowledge that your contract to buy food is with the relevant Restaurant Partner, and that the Driver provides delivery in an independent capacity; Bay Eats is therefore not liable for their acts or omissions except as expressly set out in these Terms (see clause 12).

• (a)
  When you place an order, you make an offer to purchase the listed items from the relevant Restaurant Partner, on the terms displayed at checkout (including price, delivery fee, and estimated delivery time).
• (b)
  A Restaurant Partner has up to eight (8) minutes from the time an order is submitted to accept it. If the order is not accepted within this window, it will be automatically cancelled and you will receive a full refund of the amount paid, as set out in clause 6.
• (c)
  Once accepted by the Restaurant Partner, a binding contract for the sale of those items is formed directly between you and the Restaurant Partner. Bay Eats facilitates that contract but is not a party to it, save as expressly set out in these Terms.
• (d)
  We will make reasonable efforts to ensure menu items, descriptions, images, and prices displayed on the Platform are accurate and up to date, but these are provided by Restaurant Partners and may occasionally be incorrect or unavailable. Where an item you ordered is unavailable, the Restaurant Partner or Bay Eats will offer you a substitution, removal of the item with a partial refund, or cancellation of the order with a full refund, at your election.
• (e)
  Restaurant Partner profiles. Each Restaurant Partner is responsible for creating and maintaining its own profile and menu on the Platform, including item descriptions, images, prices, availability, and allergen information. Bay Eats is not responsible for store-related issues such as product quality or pricing errors. If you experience such an issue, please use the complaints process in clause 15 and we will help where we can.

• (a)
  Prices displayed on the Platform for menu items may differ from the prices charged by the same Restaurant Partner for the same items purchased in-store or through other channels. Where this is the case, it reflects the cost of operating the delivery service and is not an error.
• (b)
  Delivery fees are a single flat amount determined by the delivery area your address falls into, and are displayed before you confirm your order. The fee does not vary with distance. A full, current schedule of delivery fees by area is published at /delivery-fees and forms part of these Terms by reference. Deliveries from pharmacy partners and parcel deliveries are priced by delivery area and the distance driven, and the fee is displayed before you confirm and pay.
• (c)
  What you pay. Your order total is made up of the price of the items you order (the meal subtotal), a service fee, and the flat delivery fee for your area (see the schedule at /delivery-fees), and any optional tip you choose to add for your Driver. The full breakdown is shown at checkout before you confirm and pay.
• (d)
  All prices are quoted in South African Rand (ZAR) and, where applicable, are inclusive of value-added tax (VAT) at the rate prescribed by law.
• (e)
  Payments are processed by PayFast, an independent, PCI-DSS compliant payment service provider. Bay Eats does not receive, store, or have access to your full card number, expiry date, or CVV. By making a payment, you also agree to PayFast’s applicable terms.
• (f)
  If a payment is declined, disputed, or charged back after an order has been prepared and/or delivered, Bay Eats reserves the right to recover the value of that order from you by any lawful means, including offsetting it against wallet credit or future refunds due to you.

• (a)
  From time to time we may offer Customers promotional credit (e.g., Referral credits). Promotional and referral credit has no cash value, cannot be exchanged for cash or refunded, may be subject to an expiry date which will be displayed in your account, and may only be used to pay for orders on the Platform, subject to any minimum order value specified for the relevant promotion.
• (b)
  Loading money into your Wallet (top-ups). You can load money into your Bay Eats Wallet to pay for future orders. Loaded funds can only be used to pay for orders on the Platform and cannot be withdrawn as cash in the ordinary course. Your total Wallet balance is capped at a maximum of R5,000 at any time. If you close your account, or ask us in writing, we will refund any unspent funds that you loaded (that is, your own top-ups — not promotional or referral credit) to your original payment method.
• (c)
  We may amend, suspend, or discontinue any referral or promotional programme at any time. This will not affect credit already validly earned and not yet expired at the time of the change, save where the programme is discontinued due to suspected abuse or fraud, in which case we may withhold or reverse credit obtained through that abuse.

• (a)
  When you can cancel free of charge. You may cancel an order free of charge at any time before the Restaurant Partner accepts it. Once the Restaurant Partner has accepted your order, preparation begins and the order can no longer be cancelled, so no refund is due if you simply change your mind at that stage. This does not affect your right to a refund if your order is not delivered, or arrives incorrect or not as described (see clauses 6(b) and 6(c)).
• (b)

  When you automatically receive a full refund. You will receive a full refund of all amounts paid (including the service fee, delivery fee, and any tip) where:

  • (i)
    the Restaurant Partner does not accept your order within eight (8) minutes and it is automatically cancelled (clause 3(b));
  • (ii)
    Bay Eats or the Restaurant Partner cancels your order — for example because the order cannot be completed, no Driver is available, you have breached these Terms, or we reasonably suspect fraud; or
  • (iii)
    you cancel before the Restaurant Partner has accepted the order.
• (c)
  Wrong, missing, or unsatisfactory orders. If your order arrives incomplete, incorrect, or not as described, please report it through the support channel on the Platform. We recommend reporting within 2 hours of delivery so that we can investigate while the details are still fresh. We will review the issue with the relevant Restaurant Partner and/or Driver and, depending on the cause, resolve it by way of a full or partial refund, a replacement, or wallet credit. Where a refund is due for items that were not supplied or were not as described, it will include a fair portion of the delivery fee where appropriate.
• (d)
  How refunds are paid. An approved refund is credited to your Bay Eats Wallet by default and applied to your account immediately, so you can use it on your next order. If you would prefer, you can ask for the refund to be returned to the payment method you used instead — to the same card, or, where you paid by bank transfer, to the same bank account. For your security and to prevent fraud, a refund can only be made to the original payment method used or to your own Bay Eats Wallet; we will never refund to a different card, a different bank account, or any other person. Where you paid using Wallet credit, that portion is always returned to your Wallet. We aim to action approved refunds within 3 business days; a refund to a card or bank account is then processed through PayFast and may take up to a further 10 business days to reflect, depending on your bank. A full refund includes everything you paid for the affected order — the meal subtotal, the service fee, the delivery fee, and any tip.

• (a)
  Restaurant Partners are solely responsible for the safe preparation of food, for accurately describing ingredients and allergens in their menu listings, and for holding any health, food safety, or other licences required by law to operate.
• (b)
  If you have a food allergy, intolerance, or other dietary requirement, you should contact the Restaurant Partner directly (where a contact option is provided) before ordering, and should not rely solely on menu descriptions on the Platform. Bay Eats does not verify allergen information provided by Restaurant Partners and accepts no liability for its accuracy, save to the extent caused by Bay Eats’s own gross negligence or wilful misconduct in operating the Platform.
• (c)
  Where alcohol or other age-restricted items are offered on the Platform, you confirm that you are of the legal age required to purchase them. The minimum age to purchase alcohol is 18. Your age will be verified on delivery: the Driver will ask for valid proof of age (such as a South African ID, driver’s licence, or passport) before handing over any alcohol or other age-restricted item, and we reserve the right to refuse delivery of those items where age cannot be verified.

• (a)
  Estimated delivery times shown on the Platform are estimates only and are not guaranteed. Delays may occur due to factors outside our control, including weather, traffic, load shedding, or order volumes.
• (b)
  You are responsible for ensuring that the delivery address and any access information (such as gate codes) provided to us are accurate and that someone is available to receive the order. If you are not available to receive the order when the Driver arrives, the Driver will try to contact you; if you have not received the order within 5 minutes of the Driver’s arrival, the Driver may, where it is safe and reasonable to do so, leave the order at your door. Where a Driver is unable to deliver an order due to an incorrect address, inaccessible location, or your unavailability after reasonable attempts to contact you, the order is treated as completed for billing purposes and no refund is due, save at Bay Eats’s discretion.

• (a)
  Your account. You must provide accurate information, keep your account credentials confidential, and not share your account with others. You are responsible for all activity that occurs under your account. You may hold only one account unless we agree otherwise in writing. Your account is personal to you and may not be transferred to anyone else.
• (b)

  You agree to use the Platform lawfully, honestly, and fairly. In particular, you must not:

  • (i)
    use the Platform for any unlawful, fraudulent, or harmful purpose, or in breach of any law or any third party’s rights;
  • (ii)
    provide false, misleading, or impersonating information, including false delivery addresses, contact details, or age declarations;
  • (iii)
    use a payment method you are not authorised to use, or make a chargeback or payment dispute in bad faith;
  • (iv)
    abuse promotional offers or wallet or referral credit, including by creating multiple or fake accounts, or by exploiting an obvious pricing, menu, or promotional error;
  • (v)
    order for resale or for any commercial purpose — orders are for personal or household consumption only;
  • (vi)
    harass, threaten, defame, discriminate against, or otherwise abuse Restaurant Partners, Drivers, other users, or Bay Eats staff, whether on the Platform or during delivery;
  • (vii)
    contact a Driver or Restaurant Partner outside the Platform for any purpose unrelated to fulfilling your order, or use their personal information for any other purpose;
  • (viii)
    submit ratings, reviews, or other content that is false, defamatory, offensive, infringing, or that you do not have the right to submit (you grant Bay Eats a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to use, display, and moderate content you submit on the Platform);
  • (ix)
    attempt to gain unauthorised access to, interfere with, disrupt, or place an undue load on the Platform or its systems, or introduce any malware;
  • (x)
    copy, scrape, harvest, reverse engineer, or use automated means (such as bots) to access or extract data from the Platform, except as expressly permitted by us in writing;
  • (xi)
    use the Platform, your Wallet, or any payment or refund to launder money, to handle or disguise the proceeds of crime, to finance terrorism, or to send or receive funds on behalf of any other person; or
  • (xii)
    order, or attempt to order, anything that is unlawful or prohibited — including illegal drugs or other illegal substances, weapons, counterfeit or stolen goods, or any other item that is unlawful to buy, sell, or deliver under South African law, as well as anything our payment provider prohibits. We may refuse or cancel any such order.
• (c)
  You confirm that you are not subject to any applicable sanctions and do not appear on any sanctions list, and you agree not to use the Platform if that changes.
• (d)
  Consequences of breach. We may issue a warning, restrict features, withhold or reverse promotional or wallet credit obtained through abuse, recover losses we suffer, and suspend or terminate your account, with or without notice. For serious breaches (such as fraud, threats, violence, abuse of our staff, or creating multiple accounts to qualify for promotions) we may act immediately and report the matter to the relevant authorities. Where we reasonably suspect fraud or financial crime, we may also decline, hold, or reverse a transaction, freeze or suspend your account and Wallet, and request further information from you before continuing. Where practicable, we will give you the reason for any suspension or termination and a reasonable opportunity to respond.

Keeping the Platform and your data secure is a priority for us.

• (a)
  Reporting a vulnerability. If you believe you have discovered a security vulnerability in the Platform or our Service, please report it to us responsibly at support@bayeats.co.za rather than disclosing it publicly or attempting to exploit it. We will validate and address valid reports as soon as reasonably possible.
• (b)
  Good-faith reporting. We will not pursue legal action against, or suspend the access of, anyone who discovers and reports a vulnerability in good faith and in compliance with this clause. Bay Eats reserves all of its legal rights in the event of any non-compliance.
• (c)
  Compromised accounts. If you notice unauthorised activity on your account, or suspect that your account has been compromised, contact us immediately at support@bayeats.co.za so we can investigate and, where necessary, suspend the account to protect you.

We work to keep the Platform available and to minimise disruption, but access may be interrupted from time to time for maintenance, updates, or technical reasons, and we do not guarantee that the Platform will be uninterrupted or error-free. We may suspend or restrict access where necessary to protect the Platform, our users, or our systems; the grounds on which we may suspend or terminate your account are set out in clause 9(d).

• (a)
  Nothing in these Terms limits or excludes any liability that cannot lawfully be limited or excluded, including liability arising under the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008 (“CPA”) for death, personal injury, or gross negligence.
• (b)
  Use at your own risk. Except to the extent required by the CPA and other applicable law, the Platform and its content are provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis. You use the Platform at your own risk and are responsible for how you use or rely on it.
• (c)
  Limit on our liability. Subject to clause 12(a), and to the maximum extent permitted by law, if Bay Eats is found liable to you for any loss or damage connected with the Platform or an order — whatever the cause of that liability — Bay Eats’s total liability to you is limited to the amount you paid for the order to which the claim relates. This means that the most Bay Eats will pay you is the amount you paid for that order, even if your actual loss is greater.
• (d)
  Bay Eats is not liable for any loss arising from the acts or omissions of a Restaurant Partner or Driver, including food quality, food safety, or conduct during delivery, save to the extent such loss arises directly from Bay Eats’s own breach of these Terms or negligence in operating the Platform.
• (e)
  Responsibility of Restaurant Partners and Drivers. As independent businesses and independent contractors, Restaurant Partners and Drivers are responsible, and accept liability, for their own products, services, and actions — and Bay Eats does not accept liability on their behalf. This includes, for example: (i) for Restaurant Partners, the preparation, quality, safety, hygiene, labelling, and accuracy of the food and beverages they supply, and their compliance with food-safety, liquor, and other applicable laws; (ii) for Drivers, the manner in which they collect, transport, and deliver orders, including their driving, roadworthiness, and conduct during delivery; and (iii) for both, any loss, injury, or damage they cause to a Customer or third party in the course of providing their products or services. Your statutory rights against the relevant supplier under the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008 are not affected.
• (f)
  Indemnity. You agree to indemnify and hold Bay Eats harmless against any claims, losses, or damages that arise from your use of the Platform or any external websites linked from it, or from your breach of these Terms, except to the extent that the loss is caused by Bay Eats’s own serious misconduct.
• (g)
  Events beyond our control. Bay Eats is not liable for any failure or delay in performance caused by circumstances beyond its reasonable control, including power outages, network or third-party service provider failures (including Supabase, Vercel, PayFast, Twilio, Google Maps Platform, Firebase, or Resend), natural disasters, fire, or other events of force majeure. Where such an event causes a delay but delivery remains possible, you remain liable to pay for your order; where the order cannot be fulfilled at all, you will not be charged, or any amount already paid will be refunded.
• (h)
  In respect of the services Bay Eats itself provides (operating the Platform and facilitating delivery), Bay Eats acts as a “supplier” under the CPA, and you, as the consumer of those services, have the rights afforded to consumers under the CPA, including in relation to the quality of those specific services. This clause does not limit any right you have against a Restaurant Partner as the supplier of the food itself.

• (a)
  The Platform, including its software, design, trade marks, and content created by Bay Eats, is owned by or licensed to Bay Eats and is protected by South African and international intellectual property laws. You may not copy, modify, distribute, or create derivative works from the Platform without our prior written consent.
• (b)
  Restaurant names, logos, menu descriptions, and images displayed on the Platform are used under licence from the relevant Restaurant Partner and remain their property.

Our collection, use, and processing of your personal information is governed by our Privacy Policy, available at /privacy, which forms part of these Terms.

• (a)
  Step 1 — Contact us first. If you have a complaint about an order, the Platform, a Restaurant Partner, or a Driver, please log it through the support channel on the Platform in the first instance, quoting your order number and a description of the issue. This is the fastest way to have a problem resolved.
• (b)
  Step 2 — How we handle it. We aim to acknowledge complaints within 3 business days and to provide an outcome as soon as reasonably possible, ordinarily within 7 business days. We will assist you as best we can and, where the issue is store-related, help you reach a resolution directly with the Restaurant Partner. Some matters (such as those requiring input from a Restaurant Partner, Driver, or payment provider) may take longer, in which case we will keep you informed of progress. Any refund that is due is handled as set out in clause 6.
• (c)
  Step 3 — If you are still not satisfied. If we cannot resolve your complaint directly, you may refer a complaint about goods or services to the National Consumer Commission, or, where your complaint relates to the processing of your personal information, to the Information Regulator (South Africa), whose contact details are set out in our Privacy Policy. Nothing in these Terms affects any right you have to approach a court or other competent forum.

• (a)
  Governing law and jurisdiction: These Terms, and your use of the Platform, are governed by the laws of the Republic of South Africa, including the CPA and the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act 25 of 2002 (“ECTA”). As a consumer under the CPA, you have rights that these Terms cannot limit. Subject to any non-waivable rights you have to bring proceedings in another forum under the CPA, the parties submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the Eastern Cape Division of the High Court of South Africa (main seat at Makhanda, with a local seat at Gqeberha, which is the seat nearest our registered address).
• (b)
  Severability: If any provision of these Terms is found to be unlawful or unenforceable, that provision will be severed and the remaining provisions will continue in full force and effect.
• (c)
  Entire agreement: These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy and any documents incorporated by reference, constitute the entire agreement between you and Bay Eats regarding use of the Platform. Any change we make takes effect from the date we publish it on the Platform, and your continued use after that date constitutes acceptance.
• (d)
  Legal notices: We will send formal legal communications to the email address linked to your account (or another contact method you have given us). Please keep these details up to date through your account profile; communications sent to them will be treated as validly delivered to you.
• (e)
  How to contact us: Our company is Now Now Holding (Pty) Ltd (registration number 2026/439799/07), trading as Bay Eats, and our registered address is 4 The Hope Crescent, Cape St Francis, Humansdorp, 6313, Eastern Cape. You can reach us at support@bayeats.co.za, or through the contact support function on the Platform.