Chef agreement

Version of 2 November 2026. This is the agreement between you, the chef, and the company that runs La Savor at lasavor.com ("La Savor", "we"). You accept it when you sign up as a chef, and it applies every time you take a booking, sell a ticket or cook a night through La Savor.

1. You are an independent chef

You run your own business. You are not our employee, agent or partner, and nothing in this agreement makes you one. You decide when you cook, which bookings you accept, your menus and your prices. You use your own skills and equipment, and you may work anywhere else, including on other platforms.

You are responsible for your own income tax, VAT (if you are registered or must register), and any permits your work needs. We do not deduct tax from your earnings. You can download your La Savor statement from Studio → Finances at any time for your tax return.

2. Joining and staying verified

Before guests can book you, we check your identity document, talk to you on a short call, and review your profile. If you tell us you hold a food-safety or food-handler certificate, you upload it so we can check it. Everything on your profile must be true: your name, experience and certificates, and every photo and video must show food you cooked yourself. You keep your contact and bank details up to date.

3. Food safety and allergies

Guest safety comes before everything else on La Savor.

You cook and handle food in line with South African food-safety and hygiene law, and keep yourself, your tools and the guest's kitchen clean.
You read the guest's allergy and dietary record before you quote, and confirm in La Savor that you have. If you cannot cook safely for an allergy, you decline the booking or change the menu and say so clearly.
You keep allergens apart, use clean equipment for allergy-safe dishes, and tell the guest about every allergen in every dish when asked.
You serve alcohol only to guests aged 18 or older, and you do not sell alcohol unless you hold the licence the law requires.
If a guest falls ill or has an allergic reaction, you call emergency services first (10177 or 112 from a cellphone), then tell us the same day.

4. Bookings

A booking is confirmed only once the guest has paid through La Savor. When you send a quote or offer an instant-book menu, you commit to cooking that booking at that price. You arrive on time, cook what was agreed, serve it, and leave the kitchen clean. Waiters or helpers you bring work for you: you pay them and you are responsible for them. You can take at most 2 La Savor bookings on the same day, so every guest gets your full attention.

You treat guests, their homes and their belongings with respect. Any damage you or your helpers cause is yours to put right.

5. Prices, commission and fees

You set your own menu prices and quotes.
Our commission is a percentage of the food and staff part of each booking: currently 15%, or lower once you reach the Pro or Elite level in La Savor Rewards, or if we have agreed a different rate with you in writing. Your studio always shows the rate you are on.
We take no commission on travel fees or tips: those are 100% yours. There are no sign-up or monthly fees.
Guests pay La Savor a separate service fee (currently 5% on top of their booking). It is not taken from you.
On same-day bookings the guest pays a same-day premium; you receive 80% of it.
For events and tickets, our commission is taken from the ticket price. For La Savor Restaurants nights, you earn the share of the night's menu takings shown on that night (by default 40%).

We tell you at least 30 days before any change to commission or fees that lowers your earnings. Changes apply to bookings made after that date, never to bookings already confirmed.

6. How you are paid

Guests pay La Savor, and we collect that money on your behalf and pay your share to you.

Ingredient money: 50% of your earnings on a booking is paid to you when the guest's free cancellation ends (48 hours before the event), so you never buy ingredients with your own money.
The rest is paid after you mark the booking completed in La Savor.
Payouts go to a South African bank account in your name, normally within 2 working days of the payout run. Balances under R 20 wait for the next run, except ingredient money, which is always paid.
We may hold a payout while we look into a complaint, a refund claim, a chargeback or suspected fraud, and we tell you why. If a guest is refunded because of something you did or did not do, we may take that amount from your future earnings.

7. Cancellations

The guest cancels 48 hours or more before the event: the guest is refunded in full and no ingredient money has been paid to you yet.
The guest cancels later, or does not let you in: you keep the ingredient money already paid to you. We review the rest of the booking case by case, taking into account what you had already spent and prepared.
You cancel a confirmed booking: the guest is refunded in full, and you pay back any ingredient money you received unless we agree otherwise. Cancel only for a real emergency, and tell the guest and us as early as you can.
You do not arrive without cancelling: this is a serious breach, and we may suspend your profile.

8. Keep La Savor bookings on La Savor

Guests who find you through La Savor book and pay through La Savor, for as long as you are both members. You do not ask for or accept payment outside La Savor for them, and you do not share contact details to move a booking off the platform. It is how we keep guests' allergy records, payments and refunds safe. This does not cover clients you already had before La Savor or found yourself: you can manage those in your studio, commission-free.

9. Reviews

Only guests who completed a paid booking or attended your event can review you. You do not write reviews of yourself, ask friends to, or offer anything in exchange for a review or for changing one. You may reply to reviews politely.

10. Your photos, videos and recipes

You own what you upload. You give La Savor a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to show it on La Savor and in our marketing, with the La Savor mark, for as long as it is on your profile and for marketing already published. You only upload content you created or have the right to use.

11. Guests' personal information

You receive guests' names, addresses, phone numbers and allergy information only to cook their booking. You keep it private, use it for nothing else, do not keep it after the booking unless the guest becomes your own client, and tell us at once if it is lost or seen by someone who should not have it. This is how we both meet the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA).

12. Responsibility and insurance

You are responsible for the food you cook, how you cook it, the people you bring, and any loss or damage you cause, and you will cover La Savor for claims that arise from them. We recommend public liability insurance. La Savor provides the platform and payments; to the extent the law allows, our responsibility to you for any one booking is limited to the commission and fees we earned on it.

13. Suspending and ending

You can stop taking bookings at any time, and close your account in your settings once your confirmed bookings are done and you have been paid. We may pause or remove your profile if guest safety is at risk, after a serious breach of this agreement, after repeated cancellations or poor reviews, or if your verification documents turn out to be false. Unless there is a safety or fraud reason, we tell you first and give you a chance to respond. Money you earned before your account ends is still paid to you.

14. Changes to this agreement

We may update this agreement. We show you the new version in your studio, and you accept it before you send your next quote or take another instant booking. If you do not agree to a change, you may close your account without penalty.

15. The law and disagreements

South African law applies to this agreement. If we disagree, we first talk it through in good faith. If that does not resolve it within 30 days, either of us may refer it to mediation, and after that to a South African court.

16. Contact

Email hello@lasavor.com.