PAAN Co., Ltd. ("we", "us", or "our") provides MENU-PAAN, a multilingual restaurant-menu translation service for diners ("the Service"). This Privacy Policy ("Policy") explains how we handle personal data and user information in connection with the Service, in compliance with Japan's Act on the Protection of Personal Information ("APPI"), the EU/UK General Data Protection Regulation ("GDPR") where applicable, and other applicable laws. We also operate RESTO-PAAN (a menu-management service for restaurant owners) and plan to offer related food-and-dining services in the future (including "FOOD-PAAN", described in Section 4). This English edition serves users in all supported languages other than Japanese; a Japanese edition is also available.
| Controller | PAAN Co., Ltd. (株式会社PAAN) |
|---|---|
| Representative | Rokusaburo Inui, Representative Director |
| Data protection manager | Rokusaburo Inui, Representative Director |
| Contact | https://www.paan.co.jp/contact |
Email address, display name, and authentication credentials. If you register via Apple ID or Google (SSO), the identifier and email address we receive from that provider. Your profile avatar (initial, icon, or an image you set). The avatar is shared across the same account in our services (MENU-PAAN, RESTO-PAAN, etc.).
Language, currency, display settings (text size, theme), country of stay / residence / origin, year of birth, and gender (all optional). Also ingredients you would rather avoid (dislikes) and taste preferences (optional).
Menu images you upload for translation, and the derived data the Service generates from them (OCR, AI translation, reference information) such as dish names, descriptions and prices. These are stored so you can view your history, and you can view or delete them through the history feature.
If you use the sharing feature, we generate a share URL containing an unguessable token for that translation result. Anyone who knows the URL can view that result (dish names, prices, restaurant name, approximate area) without signing in. Cautions, preferences and profile information are not included in a shared page. Note that deleting the item from your history does not automatically disable a share URL that has already been issued; if you wish to stop sharing, please contact us at the point in Section 1.
Where you grant device permission, we collect an approximate location at the time of translation. To resolve a place name (country, region, city, district) we send the location coordinates to a map service provider (Google Maps Platform); that lookup is limited to city/district level and we do not obtain a street address. The location data we store and analyse is rounded to roughly a 1 km grid square (it does not identify a precise address or your home). The resolved place name is used to display your translation result and for the statistical analysis described below. On completion of a translation, we may also collect the original dish names and the rounded grid square in a form that does not identify you (one-way hashing of the user identifier). Translation results, prices, descriptions, preferences, order content and images are not included in this data. We use it for statistical analysis of dish/menu trends by area ("PAAN-DATA").
Order-related actions within the app (adding to a candidate list, showing staff, paying), order history (selected dishes, quantities, approximate amounts), items you save (favourites, short notes), and ratings/feedback (optional).
When you import a partner restaurant's published menu by scanning a store code or QR code (restaurants using RESTO-PAAN, etc.), the store identifier and the imported menu content (translated text, etc.).
Purchase and billing information for paid plans. Card numbers and other payment-instrument details are handled by Apple (in-app purchase) or our payment processor; we do not store card numbers ourselves.
Access timestamps, operation/usage history, usage status (translations consumed, plan held), device/OS/browser information, IP address (anonymised for analytics), and identifiers stored in cookies / local storage.
We operate and develop several food-and-dining services. We may also use information obtained or generated through the Service to provide, improve and develop our other services and services we may offer in the future (such as FOOD-PAAN). All of these are operated by the same entity (PAAN Co., Ltd.), so such use does not constitute provision to a third party, and we handle the data in accordance with this Policy.
Where the GDPR applies, we process personal data on the following legal bases: (a) performance of a contract with you (providing the Service you request); (b) your consent (e.g., optional profile and preference data, analytics cookies, approximate location, marketing) — which you may withdraw at any time; (c) our legitimate interests (securing and improving the Service, preventing fraud, statistical analysis using non-identifying data), balanced against your rights; and (d) compliance with a legal obligation.
We use the following external services/infrastructure to provide the Service, transmitting and storing information to the extent necessary. Each provider handles information under its own terms.
We do not provide personal data to third parties without your prior consent, except: where required by law; where necessary to protect a person's life, body or property and consent is difficult to obtain; where particularly necessary for public health or child welfare and consent is difficult to obtain; where cooperating with a public authority performing statutory duties; in connection with a business transfer; or when providing statistical or anonymised information in accordance with the APPI. We may entrust all or part of the handling of personal data to processors to the extent necessary, under appropriate supervision. We do not sell your personal information.
Our primary database and storage infrastructure (Supabase) is located in Japan (Tokyo region).
However, among the services in Section 6, AI services, authentication, hosting and certain other infrastructure may be provided by entities located in the United States and other countries, and personal data may therefore be stored on or transmitted to servers located outside your country. For transfers of personal data to third parties in foreign countries we take the measures required by applicable law (including, where required, appropriate safeguards such as standard contractual clauses and the information notices required under the APPI). For Japan, information about foreign data-protection regimes is available on the Personal Information Protection Commission website.
Menu images you upload are sent to the processors in Section 6 (Netlify, Supabase, etc.) and AI services (Anthropic, Google, OpenAI, Mistral, etc.) for OCR and translation; these providers process them on our instructions and do not use them to train AI models. When you import a partner restaurant's published menu, the menu text is stored as it was at the time of import; dish images are displayed by reference (link) to images provided by the partner restaurant and are not copied or stored by us.
The Service uses cookies and browser local storage to keep you signed in, remember display settings, cache dictionaries and screens, and understand usage. You can disable these in your browser settings, but some features (such as staying signed in) may then be unavailable. On first access we show a cookie-consent banner allowing you to accept or decline by category, and you can change your choice at any time. We may use Google Analytics to understand usage; it is activated only if you consent to analytics cookies. We do not send personally identifying information (name, email, etc.) to Google Analytics.
We take organisational, personnel, physical and technical measures appropriate to prevent leakage, loss or damage of the information we handle, including encryption in transit (HTTPS/TLS), least-privilege and row-level access control to the database, hashed storage of login credentials, and a design that does not store payment-card details on our servers.
We retain information for as long as necessary to achieve the purposes of use, and erase or anonymise it appropriately when no longer needed. You can request deletion of your account and related data via the in-app account-deletion feature or our contact point. On withdrawal we promptly delete your personal data, except information we are legally required to retain (such as transaction records).
When you delete history items (translation results, order history, etc.), they become inaccessible within the Service immediately and are then physically deleted from our servers within a maximum of 90 days.
You may request notification of the purpose of use, disclosure, correction, addition, deletion, suspension of use, erasure, and suspension of third-party provision of your personal data. Where the GDPR applies, you also have the rights of access, rectification, erasure, restriction, data portability, and objection, and the right to withdraw consent at any time. To exercise these rights, contact us at the point in Section 1. We will verify your identity and respond without undue delay in accordance with law. If you are in the EEA/UK, you also have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection supervisory authority.
The cautions the Service displays about ingredients you have registered as ones you would rather avoid, together with dish-name/description/price translations and reference images, are reference information only, including content generated automatically by AI, and we do not warrant their accuracy or completeness. The Service does not provide any food-allergy detection or warning function, and we do not ask users to enter information about food allergies or any other health condition. Final confirmation of a dish's ingredients, preparation and cross-contact must be made by checking against the original and by asking restaurant staff directly. If you have a food allergy, you must confirm directly with restaurant staff. We accept no liability whatsoever for any allergic reaction, harm to health or other loss or damage arising out of or in connection with the presence, absence, error or omission of any allergy/allergen/dietary information in the Service (see Section 12 of the Terms of Service), except to the extent such liability cannot be excluded under applicable law. Even where information you choose to enter happens to relate to your health, we treat it as voluntarily provided by you and handle it with the care its sensitivity warrants.
The Service is intended for users aged 13 and over. Persons under 13 may not use the Service. Minors (under 18) should use the Service with the consent of a parent or guardian. If we learn that we have collected personal data from a person under 13, we will delete it promptly.
We may amend this Policy in response to changes in law or the Service. For material changes we will give notice within the Service or on this page; the amended Policy takes effect when posted here. For enquiries or complaints regarding this Policy or the handling of personal data, contact us at the point in Section 1.