Privacy

What Cognova records when you use this site, and why.

What we record

A random visitor ID stored in a cookie, the pages you view, and the buttons you tap to order, message, call or visit a restaurant. We don't record what you type on a restaurant's own website.

When you order or book a table on Cognova, we store your name, phone number, what you ordered, and your delivery address or table number. Only that restaurant sees your phone number and address, so they can prepare your order and reach you about it. We also keep a scrambled (hashed) form of your network address for a short time to stop fake orders; we never store the address itself. You pay the restaurant directly, to its own M-Pesa till or paybill or in cash, so money never passes through Cognova. If you type in your M-Pesa confirmation code, we store it with the order so the restaurant can match your payment; we never see your M-Pesa PIN or balance. If the restaurant offers the automatic M-Pesa prompt, your phone number and the amount are sent to the restaurant's own payment account (Safaricom or IntaSend) to show the prompt, and we keep the M-Pesa receipt number with the order.

Ask Cognova and “Remember my orders”

What you type into Ask Cognova is saved without your name, linked only to the random visitor ID, so we can see what people look for and improve suggestions. Your question and a short list of matching restaurants are sent to our AI provider (Groq) to write the answer; your name and phone number never are.

If you tick Remember my orders when ordering, we keep a list of the dishes you ordered from then on, and Ask Cognova uses it to suggest things you'll like on this browser. It is off unless you tick it. You can switch it off at any time with Forget my orders on the Ask page; we then stop using your past orders for suggestions and delete your taste profile. Restaurants still keep the orders you sent them.

To save typing, your name, phone number and last delivery address are kept in your browser on this device after you order or book, and filled in next time. They stay on your device. Tap Not you? on the order form to clear them.

Reviews

Reviews are public and shown with your first name and the initial of your last name, marked as a verified order or visit. We keep the phone number from that order with the review, never shown, so one number can only review a restaurant once a month; this stops fake reviews. The restaurant can reply publicly but can't edit or remove your review. To delete a review you wrote, contact us.

Why

To rank guides by what people actually choose, and to show each restaurant how many visitors Cognova sends them. Links to restaurants carry a short reference code so they can see the visit came from Cognova.

Your choices

You can clear the cookie at any time in your browser. If you message a restaurant on WhatsApp, that conversation is between you and them. We don't use your order details for marketing. We follow Kenya's Data Protection Act, 2019. To ask what we hold or to delete it, contact us.