Food Trucks East Coast Privacy Policy

Effective Date: August 25, 2026

Welcome to Food Trucks East Coast ("the Site," "we," "us," or "our"). We operate a community platform and directory designed to connect food enthusiasts with mobile food vendors across East Coast communities from Maine through Florida.

This Privacy Policy applies to Food Trucks East Coast websites, tools, forms, newsletters, and related services, including foodtruckseastcoast.com, future FTEC owner tools, newsletter signup and preference tools, advertising inquiry forms, and administrative review workflows.

This Privacy Policy describes how we collect, use, and disclose your personal information when you visit our website, use our services, claim or update a business listing, sign up for a newsletter, submit an advertising inquiry, or otherwise communicate with us (collectively, the "Services").

Please read this Privacy Policy carefully. By using and accessing any of the Services, you agree to the collection, use, and disclosure of your information as described in this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to this Privacy Policy, please do not use or access the Services.

1. How We Collect Information

Because Food Trucks East Coast functions as a community directory and platform, the information we collect depends on how you interact with the Services and the features you choose to use.

The types of personal information we obtain may include:

A. Directory and Business Information

To operate a useful community directory, FTEC may collect, receive, review, organize, maintain, update, and display information about food trucks, mobile food vendors, events, markets, service areas, and related businesses as part of the Services.

This may include business names, cuisine types, general service areas, operating details, profile descriptions, menus, schedules, links, contact details, media, and other information used to help users discover, evaluate, contact, or visit food trucks and related vendors.

FTEC’s methods for collecting, reviewing, organizing, enhancing, and maintaining directory information are proprietary. This Privacy Policy describes the categories of information we may process and how we may use that information; it does not disclose or grant rights to FTEC’s internal systems, operational processes, review methods, platform methods, proprietary compilations, or business methods.

B. Information Submitted by Food Truck Owners and Authorized Representatives

When a food truck owner or authorized representative claims a listing, registers for an account, submits a request, updates a profile, or communicates with FTEC, we may collect the information reasonably needed to review the request, verify authority, operate the account, maintain the listing, support platform quality, and communicate about the profile or related services.

This may include business information, contact information, account information, verification-related information, submitted profile content, communications with FTEC, request history, review status, and internal notes needed to manage the account, listing, or request.

C. Information Collected From General Users & Community Members

If you create a consumer account, sign up for alerts, or engage with the platform as a community member, we collect:

• Basic Contact Details: Your name, email address, phone number, and account preferences.
• User-Generated Content: Reviews, ratings, comments, tips, photos, bookmarks, and collections of your favorite food trucks.
• Customer Support: Information you choose to include when sending a message through our contact forms, feedback tools, or support channels.

D. Newsletter & Email Preference Data

If you sign up for an FTEC newsletter or update your newsletter preferences, we may collect your email address, name if provided, audience type (such as fan, food truck owner, event organizer, advertiser, or partner), city or market interests, content preferences, email frequency preferences, subscription status, confirmation status, unsubscribe status, and consent history. We use this information to send relevant updates, manage subscription preferences, support unsubscribe or resubscribe requests, and understand audience interest by market.

E. Advertising Inquiry & Advertiser Data

If you submit an advertising inquiry, we may collect your contact information, business information, advertiser type, market or state interests, promotion goals, budget range if provided, message details, and related internal review notes. If an inquiry becomes an advertising relationship, we may also maintain advertiser records, campaign details, placement information, creative status, and manual reporting notes.

F. Information Collected Automatically & Location Data

Like most map-reliant and community platforms, we automatically track certain metrics and usage patterns when you navigate the Site:

• Precise Geolocation Data: With your explicit, affirmative consent via your browser or mobile device, we may collect precise location data (such as GPS coordinates) to show you real-time food trucks nearest to you.
• Usage Data & Device Identifiers: IP addresses, browser types, mobile device identifiers, operating systems, mobile carrier details, browser language, and requested/referring URLs.
• Cookies and Tracking Pixels: Small data files used to power the Site, remember your preferences, keep you logged in, evaluate marketing performance, and measure traffic.

G. Security & Operational Logs

For security, fraud prevention, abuse prevention, and troubleshooting, we may collect operational logs related to account access, form submissions, failed login attempts, rate limits, spam prevention, IP addresses, browser information, timestamps, source paths, and related request metadata.

2. How We Use Your Personal Information

We leverage the collected information to operate, maintain, and optimize a thriving community platform. Specifically, we use your data for the following purposes:

• Directory Functionality: To create, operate, maintain, organize, review, update, and display food truck and related business information across the East Coast region.
• Owner Portal Operations: To review and manage owner accounts, listing claims, profile requests, submitted updates, verification needs, communications, approvals, and related administrative needs.
• Community Engagement: To display your public reviews, ratings, and shared photos to other users, enhancing the marketplace for both consumers and vendors.
• Location-Based Tools: To utilize precise coordinates to deliver localized searches (e.g., "Food Trucks Near Me") and map overlays.
• Communication & Alerts: To send service updates, security notifications, transactional alerts, and promotional newsletters or special offers (which you may opt out of at any time), and to manage subscription preferences, unsubscribe, and resubscribe requests.
• Security & Abuse Prevention: To protect the Services, review suspicious activity, support account and listing integrity, prevent misuse, and safeguard users, owners, advertisers, and FTEC.
• Audience Understanding & Outreach Measurement: We collect the information needed to operate newsletter subscriptions, manage preferences, improve FTEC services, understand audience interest, and measure the performance of our outreach. We do not sell your personal information.
• Aggregated Audience Insights: We may use aggregated or de-identified information to understand audience interest and support advertising, sponsorship, editorial, and business planning. For example, we may report subscriber counts by market, popular city interests, general newsletter interest categories, sponsorship interest, or campaign/source performance. These reports are intended to describe audience trends and should not identify individual subscribers.
• Analytics & Optimization: To run diagnostics, fix technology problems reported by users or engineers, and better understand user interaction with the Services.

3. How We Disclose and Share Information

We do not sell your personal information. We may share aggregated, de-identified, or summary information that does not reasonably identify you, such as audience size by market or general newsletter interest trends. To foster a connected community and operate the Services, information is shared under the following conditions:

• Public Display: Any user-generated reviews, ratings, photos, or public vendor profile updates are inherently visible to anyone visiting the Site.
• Service Providers: We share necessary data with third-party vendors who perform support services on our behalf, such as hosting, security, database, authentication, email delivery, analytics, spam prevention, storage, and customer support providers. These providers are authorized to use your information only as needed to deliver services to us.
• Map and Location Providers: When location features are used, we may share information needed to provide map, routing, distance, or location-based functionality.
• Corporate Transactions: If FTEC undergoes a business transaction such as a merger, acquisition, bankruptcy, dissolution, or asset transfer, information handled by the Services may be included as part of the transferred business assets.
• Legal Compliance and Protection: We reserve the right to disclose personal data if required to do so by a subpoena, search warrant, court order, statute, or law enforcement request, or if necessary to defend the safety, property, and rights of Food Trucks East Coast, our users, or the general public.

4. State-Specific Disclosures & Consumer Rights

Depending on where you reside, state privacy and consumer-protection laws may provide rights regarding your personal information. These rights vary by jurisdiction and may change over time.

To ensure fairness, we provide a uniform baseline of privacy rights for all users across these states:

• Right to Confirm and Access: You have the right to confirm whether we are processing your personal data and to request a copy of the specific personal information we have collected about you.
• Right to Deletion: You can request that we delete the personal data we have collected directly from you or maintain regarding your consumer profile.
• Right to Correction: You have the right to correct inaccuracies in the personal information or business listings we maintain.
• Right to Opt-Out of Targeted Ads: You can manage or disable trackers that deliver personalized or targeted advertising based on cross-contextual browsing behavior.
• Consent for Sensitive Data (Geolocation): We treat precise geolocation as sensitive personal information. We will always seek your affirmative, opt-in consent through your app or browser settings before accessing your precise location, and you can revoke this permission at any time.
• Non-Discrimination: We will not discriminate against you, deny you services, or alter your user experience for exercising any of your consumer privacy rights.

5. Email Preferences and Unsubscribe

You may unsubscribe from FTEC marketing or newsletter emails using the unsubscribe link in an email or by contacting us. We may keep a limited record of unsubscribed or suppressed email addresses to help prevent accidental re-subscription.

Unsubscribing from a newsletter stops future newsletter emails but may not delete all related records. We may retain limited unsubscribe or suppression records to avoid accidentally adding you back to a mailing list. If you request deletion of personal information, we will review and process the request as required by applicable law.

6. Cookies and Choice Control

Most web browsers automatically accept cookies by default, but you can configure your browser controls to reject, block, or eliminate them.

Please note that removing or completely blocking cookies can negatively impact your experience on our platform. Core location features, custom dashboard layouts, or user login capabilities may fail to work properly or become entirely unavailable.

7. Children's Privacy

The Services are intended for a general audience and are not directed to children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect or solicit personal information from children under 13. If you are under 13, please do not create an account or send any information about yourself to us.

If we discover that a child under 13 has bypassed our intent and submitted personal information without verified parental consent, we will take steps to purge that data from our servers as quickly as possible. If you are a parent or guardian and believe we have accidentally gathered information from a child under 13, please reach out to us through our contact form.

8. Data Security and Retention

Please be aware that no data transmission over the Internet or electronic storage layout is 100% impenetrable. While we execute commercially reasonable physical, technical, and managerial safeguards to secure your private data, we cannot guarantee absolute security.

We retain information for as long as reasonably needed to provide FTEC services, maintain directory accuracy, manage owner account approvals and listing claims, operate newsletters and unsubscribe records, review advertising inquiries, maintain security logs, resolve disputes, comply with legal obligations, and support legitimate business operations.

9. Contact Information & Exercising Your Rights

If you have questions regarding this Privacy Policy, wish to file a request to exercise your consumer privacy rights (Access, Correction, or Deletion), or if you are a food truck owner looking to update, claim, correct, or request removal of a business profile, please reach us through our contact form.

To help us review requests involving a food truck or business profile, please submit enough information for us to reasonably verify your authority to manage, correct, claim, or request removal of the applicable listing.