Privacy Policy

Grubbin has no log-in. You are never asked for a name, email, or password to use it. Instead, your browser is identified by a single random, anonymous token (a “Member token”) that Grubbin generates so it can recognize the same browser across a shared decision Room and across repeated requests. The token is just a random string; it is not tied to your identity and is not sold or shared.

Grubbin needs a center point to search around. You choose how to give it one:

• Browser location.If you allow it, Grubbin reads your device’s location through your browser’s standard location prompt. You can decline, and you can revoke this in your browser or device settings at any time.
• A typed address. Instead of sharing your location, you can type any address or place name. Grubbin sends that text to Google to convert it into coordinates.

Either way, the resulting coordinates define your Search Area: the circle Grubbin searches for places. Your location is used to find nearby spots and to draw a small map and directions for the place you pick. It is not used to track you or to build an advertising profile.

Grubbin is built to keep as little as possible, and to let what little it keeps expire on its own.

• On your device (localStorage).Three things live only in your browser and never leave it except as described below: your anonymous Member token, your current Filters (mode, price, open-now, cuisines, and so on), and your Session Picks: the list of places you’ve already been shown this session, so Grubbin doesn’t repeat them. You can clear all of this at any time by clearing your browser’s site data for Grubbin.
• A short-lived search cache (server-side). To avoid paying Google for the same lookup twice and to keep things fast, Grubbin briefly caches search results on the server. The cache key uses your Search Area center rounded to roughly a tenth of a mile, not your exact point, and entries expire automatically after a few minutes. Address-to-coordinate lookups are cached longer because an address rarely changes location.
• Rooms (Redis, with a self-expiring timer).When you create or join a shared decision Room, the Room’s center point, its candidate list, and the anonymous Member tokens of participants are stored in a Redis database under a short random code. Every Room is written with a time-to-live (currently two hours) and self-expires; there is no account to delete and no cleanup step, because abandoned Rooms simply vanish on their own.

Grubbin is a thin layer over services run by other companies. The data flows are:

• Google (Places, Maps, photos).Your Search Area coordinates and your Filters are sent to Google Places to find nearby places. A typed address is sent to Google to look up its coordinates. The small map and the place photos you see are fetched from Google as well. Google’s handling of this data is governed by Google’s Privacy Policy.
• Reservation and delivery Providers.When you tap a “reserve” or “order” Handoff link, Grubbin opens an external Provider (OpenTable, Resy, DoorDash, or Uber Eats) with a search pre-filled from the place’s name and location. From that point you are on the Provider’s site, under the Provider’s own privacy policy.
• Hosting and infrastructure. Grubbin runs on standard web hosting and uses a Redis service for Rooms and basic rate-limiting. These providers process requests (including IP addresses, as any web server does) to deliver and protect the service.

Some of the outbound Handoff links to Providers (such as OpenTable, Resy, DoorDash, and Uber Eats) are affiliate links. If you make a reservation or place an order after following one of these links, Grubbin may earn a commission from that Provider, at no extra cost to you. These links may carry a tracking tag so the Provider can attribute the click. Affiliate commissions do not influence which place Grubbin picks for you; picks are chosen from Google’s results by quality and your Filters, not by who pays Grubbin.

Grubbin is not directed to children under 13 and does not knowingly collect personal information from them.

You can decline browser location and type an address instead. You can clear your Member token, Filters, and Session Picks at any time by clearing site data for Grubbin in your browser. Because Grubbin holds no account and no long-term profile, there is no login to delete; the server-side search cache and any Rooms expire on their own.

If this policy changes, the “last updated” date above will change with it. Continued use of Grubbin after an update means you accept the revised policy.