Privacy Policy

INTRODUCTION

Festival Hot Sauce (“Company,” “we,” “our,” or “us”) is committed to protecting your personal information. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you visit our website, place an order, or interact with us in any way.

By using our services, you agree to the terms described in this policy. This Privacy Policy applies solely to individuals located in the United States of America. If you are located outside the United States, please do not use our services.

1. INFORMATION WE COLLECT

We may collect the following categories of personal information:

A. Information You Provide Directly

• Contact Information: Full name, email address, mailing address, phone number.
• Account Information: Username, password (encrypted), account preferences.
• Payment Information: Credit/debit card number, billing address, CVV (processed via PCI-DSS-compliant third-party payment processors; we do not store raw card data).
• Order Details: Items purchased, special instructions, gift messaging.
• Communications: Emails, chat logs, or other messages you send us.
• Marketing Preferences: Newsletter subscriptions, promotional opt-ins.

B. Information Collected Automatically

• Device & Browser Data: IP address, browser type and version, operating system, device identifiers.
• Usage Data: Pages visited, time spent, links clicked, referral URLs, search queries on our site.
• Cookies & Tracking Technologies: We use cookies, web beacons, and similar tools. See Section 6 for details.
• Transaction Logs: Order history, returns, refunds, customer service interactions.

C. Information from Third Parties

• Social Media Platforms: If you connect a social media account or interact with our social content.
• Analytics Providers: Aggregated and anonymized behavioral data (e.g., Google Analytics).
• Advertising Partners: Audience segments for targeted advertising purposes.
• Payment Processors: Transaction confirmation and fraud signals.

2. HOW WE USE YOUR INFORMATION

We use collected information for the following purposes:

• Order Fulfillment: Processing purchases, coordinating shipping, sending order confirmations and tracking updates.
• Account Management: Creating and maintaining your customer account, resetting passwords, and managing preferences.
• Customer Support: Responding to inquiries, resolving disputes, handling returns and refunds.
• Payment Processing: Authorizing transactions, detecting and preventing fraud and unauthorized activity.
• Marketing & Communications: Sending promotional emails, newsletters, and product announcements where you have opted in or where permitted by law.
• Personalization: Tailoring product recommendations and offers based on your browsing and purchase history.
• Legal Compliance: Fulfilling obligations under applicable federal and state laws, including tax reporting and consumer protection statutes.
• Analytics & Improvement: Understanding how customers use our website to improve functionality and product offerings.
• Security: Monitoring for fraudulent activity, unauthorized access, and other potential threats.

We will not sell your personal information to third parties for their own direct marketing purposes.

3. HOW WE SHARE YOUR INFORMATION

We may share your personal information with:

A. Service Providers

Third-party vendors performing services on our behalf (payment processing, shipping, email delivery, website hosting, fraud prevention, customer support). These providers are contractually obligated to use your data only as directed by us.

B. Shipping & Logistics Partners

Carriers such as USPS, FedEx, and UPS receive your name and delivery address to fulfill your order.

C. Legal & Regulatory Authorities

We may disclose information when required by law, subpoena, or court order, or to protect the rights, property, or safety of Festival Hot Sauce, our customers, or the public.

D. Business Transfers

In the event of a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, your information may be transferred. We will notify you of any such change.

E. Advertising & Analytics Partners

We may share anonymized or pseudonymized data to measure campaign performance and deliver relevant advertisements. We do not share your name or payment information with these partners.

F. With Your Consent

We may share information with additional third parties when you have given us explicit permission to do so.

4. STATE-SPECIFIC PRIVACY RIGHTS

A. California Residents – CCPA / CPRA

If you are a California resident, you have the following rights:

• Right to Know: Request disclosure of categories and specific pieces of personal information collected about you.
• Right to Delete: Request deletion of your personal information, subject to certain exceptions.
• Right to Correct: Request correction of inaccurate personal information.
• Right to Opt-Out: Opt out of the sale or sharing of your personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising.
• Right to Limit Use of Sensitive Personal Information: Restrict our use of sensitive data categories.
• Right to Non-Discrimination: We will not discriminate against you for exercising your privacy rights.

To exercise these rights, contact us at privacy@festivalhotsauce.com. We will respond within 45 days as required by law.

B. Other State Rights

Residents of Virginia (VCDPA), Colorado (CPA), Connecticut (CTDPA), Texas (TDPSA), and other states with comprehensive privacy laws have similar rights. We honor verified requests from residents of all states with applicable privacy legislation. Contact us using the information in Section 11.

5. DATA RETENTION

We retain your personal information for as long as necessary to:

• Fulfill the purposes described in this policy;
• Comply with legal, tax, and accounting obligations (generally 7 years for financial records);
• Resolve disputes and enforce our agreements;
• Maintain security and fraud prevention records.

When data is no longer needed, we securely delete or anonymize it in accordance with our internal data retention schedule.

6. COOKIES AND TRACKING TECHNOLOGIES

We use the following types of cookies and tracking technologies:

• Strictly Necessary Cookies: Required for the website to function (e.g., shopping cart, login session). Cannot be disabled.
• Functional Cookies: Remember your preferences such as language and region settings.
• Performance / Analytics Cookies: Collect anonymized data about how visitors use our site.
• Advertising / Targeting Cookies: Used to deliver relevant ads and track conversions across partner networks.

You can manage cookie preferences through your browser settings or our cookie consent banner. Disabling certain cookies may limit website functionality. For California residents, we honor Global Privacy Control (GPC) signals as an opt-out of sale/sharing of personal information.

7. DATA SECURITY

We implement industry-standard security measures including:

• SSL/TLS encryption for all data transmitted between your browser and our servers;
• PCI-DSS-compliant payment processing;
• Access controls limiting employee access to personal data on a need-to-know basis;
• Regular security assessments and vulnerability testing;
• Secure data storage with encryption at rest.

Despite these measures, no system is completely secure. In the event of a data breach affecting your personal information, we will notify you as required by applicable state breach notification laws.