Terms of service

Version of 2 November 2026. These terms apply when you use La Savor at lasavor.com or in the La Savor app: browsing, booking a chef, buying tickets, reserving a table, or cooking as a chef. Please read sections 5 to 8 carefully; they explain payments, cancellations, refunds and your safety.

1. Who we are

2. What La Savor does

La Savor is an online marketplace. We connect you with independent private chefs who cook in your home, run supper clubs, classes and events, and cook nights in La Savor's own dining rooms. Chefs are independent businesses, not our employees: they set their own menus and prices and work under our chef agreement. We check every chef's identity before they can be booked, take your payment, hold it safely and pay the chef, and help when something goes wrong.

3. Your account

• You must be 18 or older to create an account, book or pay.
• Give us true details, keep your password private, and tell us if you think someone else has used your account. You are responsible for bookings made from it.
• You can close your account at any time in Notification settings → Close my account. Records the law requires us to keep (payments, for example) are kept without your name.

4. Booking a chef

• Requests and quotes. You send a request with the date, time, number of guests, address and any allergies. The chef reads your allergy record and sends a quote. Nothing is charged until you accept the quote and pay.
• Instant booking. Some menus can be booked and paid straight away, but only when none of the dishes contain the allergens on your profile. Otherwise the chef quotes first.
• Confirmed only when paid. A booking is confirmed once the payment succeeds. You get a confirmation by email and in the app.
• What is included. Unless the quote says otherwise, the chef shops for the ingredients, cooks in your kitchen, serves the food, and leaves the kitchen clean. Waiters and table styling are included only when you asked for them and they appear in the quote.
• Same-day bookings. Chefs who are free today can be booked for later the same day. The food then costs 25% more (the same-day premium), shown before you pay.
• Changes. To change the date, time, guest numbers or menu after paying, message the chef in your booking. Changes that alter the price need a new quote.

5. Prices and payment

• Prices are in South African rand (or the chef's own currency when you book a chef abroad) and include everything you pay: food, travel, any waiters, the same-day premium if any, and La Savor's service fee (currently 5% of the booking). The quote lists each part before you pay.
• You pay through La Savor's payment partners by card or Instant EFT. We never see or store your card or banking details.
• Pay only through La Savor. A booking arranged or paid outside La Savor with a chef you found here has no allergy record, no refund protection and no support from us.
• Tips are optional, go 100% to the chef, and can be added after a completed booking (up to R 15,000).
• Your booking, receipt and messages stay in your account, where you can read or print them at any time.

6. Cancellations and refunds

The full table is on our cancellations and refunds page. In short:

• You cancel a chef booking 48 hours or more before it starts: full refund, service fee included.
• You cancel later than that: by then the chef has been paid ingredient money and has shopped for you. As the Consumer Protection Act allows, we may keep a reasonable cancellation charge to cover what the chef has spent and prepared. We look at each case and refund the rest.
• The chef cancels, or does not arrive: full refund, and we help you find another chef.
• La Savor Restaurants tables: full refund if you cancel 48 hours or more before your sitting.
• Event tickets: full refund if the event is cancelled or changes date. If you can no longer go, tell us at least 48 hours before and we refund you, less a reasonable charge for food already bought.
• Refunds go back to the card or bank account you paid from, usually within 5 to 10 working days of our approval.
• Every booking is for a specific date, so the cooling-off period in the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act does not apply to it.

7. Allergies and your safety

• Keep your allergies and dietary needs up to date in your taste profile, including those of your guests, and confirm them when you book. Chefs plan around what you tell us; they can't plan around what they don't know.
• Chefs must read your allergy record before they quote, and keep allergens apart. No kitchen can promise to be completely free of an allergen, so ask the chef if you have any doubt.
• In an emergency, call 10177 or 112 from a cellphone first, then tell us.
• Give the chef safe access to a working kitchen, and keep pets and children out of the kitchen while they cook. Alcohol is only served to guests aged 18 or older.

8. When something goes wrong

Tell us within 48 hours of your booking or event: use Report a problem on the booking, or the form in our help centre. Photos help. We reply within 2 working days and aim to resolve every complaint within 10 working days. If the service was not delivered as agreed, the Consumer Protection Act gives you the right to ask that it be done properly or to a refund for the part that was not; we apply that fairly. If you are still not satisfied, you may contact the Consumer Goods and Services Ombud or the National Consumer Commission.

9. How we all behave

Treat chefs, their helpers and other guests with respect. Harassment, discrimination, violence, threats or unsafe behaviour towards anyone on La Savor means we may cancel bookings and close the account. Reviews must be honest and about your own experience.

10. Reviews, rewards and sponsored content

• Only guests who completed a paid booking or attended an event can review it. We remove reviews that are fake, abusive or about something else, but never just because they are negative.
• La Savor Rewards points are earned for payments, reviews and completed actions in La Savor. They have no cash value, can't be sold or transferred, and are removed if a payment is refunded or points were earned by abuse. Alcohol gifts are only for people aged 18 or older.
• Paid partnerships with brands are always marked "Sponsored". Shopping links take you to the retailer's own shop.

11. Content

Chefs own their photos, videos, recipes and tutorials. You may view them on La Savor for your own use. Downloading, recording or republishing them is not allowed. When you upload a photo or write a review, you allow La Savor to show it on La Savor.

12. Our responsibility

We take reasonable care to run La Savor well and to check the chefs on it. The chef is responsible for the food and the service at your booking. Nothing in these terms limits any right you have under the Consumer Protection Act, or our responsibility for loss caused by our gross negligence. Otherwise, and as far as the law allows, our responsibility for any one booking is limited to the amount you paid for it.

13. Your personal information

How we collect, use and protect your information, including your allergy information, is in our privacy policy.

14. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms. We show the new version when you next sign in, book or pay, and changes never apply to bookings you have already paid for. If you don't agree, you can close your account.

15. The law

South African law applies. If you are a consumer, you may take a dispute to the courts or bodies the Consumer Protection Act allows; nothing here takes that away.