1.About these Terms#
These Merchant Terms of Service ("Merchant Terms") are an agreement between Forkfluence LLC, a North Carolina limited liability company ("Forkfluence," "we," "us," "our"), and the business listing and selling items through Forkfluence ("you," "Merchant," "Restaurant").
They apply in addition to the general Terms of Service. Where the two conflict on a matter concerning your business, these Merchant Terms control. The Privacy Policy and the Content and Media Rights Policy also apply to you.
By submitting a merchant application, accepting these Merchant Terms, or listing items on Forkfluence, you agree to them. The person accepting represents that they are authorized to bind the business.
Section 19 contains a binding arbitration agreement and a class action waiver, with a 30-day opt-out.
2.Eligibility and onboarding#
To list on Forkfluence you must be a legally operating food business with all licenses, permits, and health department approvals required where you operate, and you must keep them current.
Approval is at our discretion. Submitting an application does not create an agreement to list you. We review applications and will tell you the outcome. We may decline or later remove a listing.
You will complete payment onboarding with our payment processor, Stripe, including the identity and business verification it requires. You cannot receive orders until that onboarding is complete — the Service will not take payment for a Merchant without a verified payout destination.
You are responsible for the accuracy of everything you give us: your legal business name, address, phone number, hours, and menus.
3.Your account and staff#
You control who at your business has access to your Forkfluence account, and you are responsible for what they do with it — accepting orders, changing menus and prices, marking items unavailable, and issuing refunds.
Keep credentials secure, remove access when someone leaves, and tell us promptly at support@forkfluence.com if you suspect unauthorized access.
Your staff must be 18 or older to hold an account.
4.Fees and subscription#
Two standard charges: a commission on each order, and a monthly subscription. Section 4.6 describes an optional fee that applies only if you turn on POS order sending.
4.1Commission
Forkfluence retains a percentage of the gross food value of each order placed through the Service. The current standard rate is 15%. Your actual rate is the one stated in your onboarding or shown in your dashboard, which controls if it differs.
No commission is taken on tips. Tips pass through to you in full.
4.2Monthly subscription
A platform subscription fee of $49.99 per month, month-to-month, which you may cancel at any time. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period and we do not pro-rate a partial month.
Your first 3 months are free. The free period begins on the day your listing goes live — not the day you apply — so time spent in review or setting up your menu does not consume it.
We do not ask for a payment method during signup. You add one before the free period ends. We will email you 14 days, 7 days, and 1 day beforehand, and once more if it lapses, so the end of the free period is never a surprise. When you do add a card, any remaining free days are honoured — subscribing early costs you nothing extra.
If the free period ends and no payment method has been added, we will contact you. We will not remove your listing or stop your orders without telling you first and giving you a reasonable opportunity to resolve it.
4.3Partner venues
Some venues are designated Forkfluence partners and are not charged the monthly subscription at all, for as long as that designation lasts. It is granted by Forkfluence, is not something you can apply for, and we may withdraw it on 30 days' written notice.
Commission under section 4.1 still applies to a partner venue. Only the subscription is waived.
4.4Changing fees
We may change commission rates or the subscription fee on at least 30 days' written notice to the email on your account. A change never applies retroactively to orders already completed or to a billing period already paid. If you do not accept a change, you may cancel before it takes effect under section 16.
4.5Promotions
Where you fund a discount, it is deducted from your proceeds for that order. Where Forkfluence funds one, it is not. Which applies is shown when the promotion is created.
4.6Optional POS order sending
If you turn on order sending to your point-of-sale system (for example Square), each paid order is also recorded in that system and marked as paid through Forkfluence. Order sending carries an additional fee of the rate shown when you turn it on (currently 1% of the order total for Square). It is charged when the order is sent and deducted from your proceeds for that order. The fee is not refunded if the order is later refunded or cancelled, in full or in part, because the POS provider does not refund its charge to us. If a refund reverses your proceeds for an order before the fee is recovered, we may deduct the fee from your next order's proceeds under section 5. You can turn order sending off at any time. Your Forkfluence tablet and printer remain the system of record for orders. We can't confirm that your POS displayed or printed any order.
5.Payments and payouts#
Forkfluence collects payment from the diner and is the merchant of record for the transaction. We process the charge on our own payment account and route your share to your connected Stripe account.
Payouts are made per order, automatically, at the time the order is charged. Your share is the order total less the Forkfluence commission and less any amounts properly deducted under these Merchant Terms. Stripe then transfers funds to your bank on its own payout schedule, which you control in your Stripe dashboard.
Payouts depend on your Stripe account remaining in good standing. If Stripe restricts or holds your account, we cannot release funds until that is resolved — that is between you and Stripe, though we will help where we can.
We may withhold or offset amounts against your proceeds for refunds, chargebacks, unpaid subscription fees, or amounts you owe us under these Merchant Terms. We will tell you when we do.
Your dashboard shows your orders, proceeds, and deductions. Tell us within 60 days if you believe a payout is wrong.
6.Sales tax#
The sales tax treatment of orders placed through Forkfluence is being finalized with our tax advisors, and this section will be updated before it changes anything for you.
We are not asking you to change how you currently handle sales tax on Forkfluence orders. If you are collecting and remitting sales and use tax on these orders today, keep doing so until we tell you otherwise, in writing, with notice.
Two things you should know in the meantime:
- North Carolina has specific rules for marketplace platforms. Depending on how they apply to Forkfluence, responsibility for collecting and remitting sales and use tax on orders placed through the Service may sit with us rather than with you. We are working through that with professional advice and will give you at least 30 days' written notice before anything about your obligations changes.
- Nothing here affects your other taxes. Sales tax on your dine-in, phone, and other-platform orders remains entirely yours, as do income tax, payroll tax, and every other tax obligation of your business.
We will provide a monthly statement of your gross sales and transaction count through the Service so you and your accountant can reconcile against your own records.
Nothing in this section is tax advice, and it is not a representation about who bears a tax liability. Consult your own tax professional about your obligations.
8.Order acceptance and fulfillment#
An order is a diner's offer to you. You accept or decline it in your dashboard. Accepting creates your obligation to prepare and provide the items.
You will:
- Respond to incoming orders promptly, and decline rather than leave an order unanswered
- Prepare items to the specification ordered, including item notes where you are able
- Meet the quoted preparation time, or update it when you cannot
- Package food safely and appropriately for pickup or delivery
- Hand orders only to the correct diner or courier, verifying the pickup code where used
- Comply with all applicable food safety, hygiene, labelling, and health regulations
You are solely responsible for the food — its preparation, safety, quality, and legality. Forkfluence does not prepare, handle, inspect, or store any item.
You must not use the Service to sell alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, or any other age-restricted or prohibited product.
9.Refunds, cancellations, and chargebacks#
Refunds you issue are deducted from your proceeds, along with a proportionate reversal of the Forkfluence commission on the refunded amount.
Refunds we issue. We may refund a diner without your prior agreement where an order was not fulfilled, arrived materially wrong, or where a refund is required by law or by our payment processor's rules. We will tell you and explain why. Where the cause was within your control, the refund is deducted from your proceeds.
Chargebacks. If a diner disputes a charge with their bank, we handle the dispute with the processor and will ask you for evidence — order records, timestamps, photographs. Where the chargeback relates to your fulfilment, the amount and any associated fee may be deducted from your proceeds. A pattern of chargebacks is grounds for suspension.
Diner complaints. We may contact you to investigate. Respond within a reasonable time.
10.Delivery#
Where delivery is enabled for your listing, it is performed either by you or by a third-party courier service arranged through the Service.
If you deliver yourself, you are responsible for the delivery, for your drivers, and for their insurance, licensing, and conduct. They are your personnel, not ours.
If a third-party courier delivers, the courier is independent of both of us. To dispatch one, we share the diner's name, phone number, delivery address, and the item manifest with the courier service. You are responsible for having the order ready at the quoted time and for handing it to the correct courier.
Delivery fees, and how any courier cost is shared, are shown in your dashboard.
11.Catering#
Catering requests submitted through the Service are introductions, not transactions. Forkfluence passes you the request and the contact details, and the diner's dietary notes.
No money moves through Forkfluence for catering. You contract, price, invoice, and collect directly with the customer, and you are responsible for the tax treatment of that transaction. Forkfluence takes no commission on catering and is not a party to any catering agreement you reach.
We may change this in future. If we do, we will give notice under section 20 before any catering order carries a fee.
12.Content and brand#
You keep ownership of your content — logos, banners, menu photographs, descriptions, and anything else you upload. You represent that you have the rights to all of it and that it does not infringe anyone else's rights.
You grant Forkfluence a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to host, reproduce, adapt for format, publish, and display your content in connection with operating and promoting the Service, including in advertising for Forkfluence and for your listing.
Creator content that tags you. When a Creator posts content tagging your restaurant, you get the right to repost and reuse that content, including in your own paid advertising. The reverse also applies to content you post. The full terms — including how long those rights last — are in the Content and Media Rights Policy. That policy answers the question merchants ask most often, and it forms part of this agreement.
Trademarks. You grant us the right to use your business name and logo to identify you as a Forkfluence merchant, in the Service and in marketing. We grant you the right to use the Forkfluence name and logo to advertise that you are on Forkfluence — in the form we supply and without modification. Either of us may withdraw that permission on written notice.
13.Customer data#
To fulfil an order you receive the diner's name, phone number, order contents and notes, pickup code, and — for delivery — their address and instructions.
You may use that information only to fulfil the order and to handle any question or complaint about it. In particular, you must not:
- Add diners to a marketing list, or send them marketing messages, without their separate consent
- Sell, rent, or otherwise disclose their information to anyone else
- Use it to solicit diners away from the Service in breach of section 15
You are an independent controller of the information you receive and must handle it in accordance with applicable privacy and data protection law, keep it secure, and retain it no longer than you need it. Tell us promptly at support@forkfluence.com if you suffer a breach affecting Forkfluence diner information.
14.Working with creators#
Creators are independent contractors of Forkfluence, not our employees and not yours.
You may work with Creators directly — hosting them, comping meals, agreeing content, running promotions. Any such arrangement is between you and the Creator. Forkfluence is not a party to it, does not police it, and is not liable under it. Keep those arrangements off-platform and settle them yourselves.
What Forkfluence does provide is attribution and commission: when a diner uses a Creator's code at checkout, that Creator earns a commission on the order, funded as described in your fee schedule. Attribution lasts 30 days from the diner following the Creator's link, and only a code typed at checkout earns a commission.
Creators are not obliged to produce anything. They are independent contractors, and we do not mandate deliverables. If you want specific content, agree it with the Creator directly.
If a dispute arises between you and a Creator, either of you may ask us to help informally. We may decline, and anything we do is a courtesy rather than an obligation or a determination of rights.
15.Your obligations#
You will:
- Maintain all licenses, permits, and health approvals, and provide proof on request
- Maintain general liability insurance appropriate to your business
- Treat diners, couriers, creators, and Forkfluence staff professionally
- Not discriminate against any diner on any protected ground
- Comply with all applicable laws, including food safety, employment, advertising, and consumer protection law
- Not misrepresent your relationship with Forkfluence
- Not attempt to circumvent the Service to avoid commission on an order that originated on it
16.Suspension and termination#
You may cancel at any time, effective at the end of your current billing period. Tell us at support@forkfluence.com. You must fulfil orders already accepted.
We may suspend your listing immediately where there is a food safety concern, a suspected legal or licensing problem, suspected fraud, a serious or repeated breach of these Merchant Terms, or a risk to diners or to the Service. We will tell you why.
We may terminate for material breach that you do not cure within 14 days of written notice, or on 30 days' notice for convenience.
On termination: your listing comes down, you must fulfil orders already accepted, and we pay out amounts owed to you less any deductions properly made, subject to a reserve for pending refunds and chargebacks. Sections 12 through 14 and 17 through 21 survive. Content already licensed under the Media Policy remains subject to that policy — see how long the license lasts.
17.Disclaimers and liability#
The service is provided "as is" and "as available." Forkfluence LLC disclaims all warranties, express or implied, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. We do not warrant any level of order volume, revenue, or creator activity, and nothing said in a sales conversation or marketing material is a guarantee of results.
To the maximum extent permitted by law, Forkfluence shall not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for lost profits, revenue, data, goodwill, or business opportunity. Our total aggregate liability for all claims in any 12-month period shall not exceed the total commission and subscription fees you paid us in that period.
Nothing here limits liability for fraud, for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or for anything else that cannot be limited by law.
18.Indemnification#
You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Forkfluence LLC and its officers, members, employees, and agents from any claim, demand, loss, liability, or expense — including reasonable attorneys' fees — arising out of:
- The food and items you prepare and provide, including any illness, injury, allergic reaction, or contamination
- Your breach of these Merchant Terms
- Your content, and your use of any content licensed to you under the Media Policy
- Your violation of any law, or of anyone else's rights
- Your handling of diner information
- Any arrangement between you and a Creator
19.Dispute resolution and arbitration#
Talk to us first. Send a written description of the dispute and what you want to support@forkfluence.com. If it is not resolved within 60 days, either of us may start arbitration.
Binding individual arbitration. Except as stated below, you and Forkfluence agree that any dispute arising out of or relating to these Merchant Terms or the Service will be resolved by binding individual arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association under its Commercial Arbitration Rules, before a single arbitrator, in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. The award may be entered as a judgment in any court of competent jurisdiction. The Federal Arbitration Act governs this agreement.
You and Forkfluence agree to bring claims only in an individual capacity, and not as a plaintiff or class member in any purported class, collective, consolidated, or representative proceeding.
Exceptions. Either of us may bring an individual claim in small claims court, and either may seek injunctive relief in court to stop infringement or misuse of intellectual property or confidential information.
Opt out. You may opt out of this arbitration agreement by emailing support@forkfluence.com with the subject "Arbitration Opt-Out", naming your business, within 30 days of first accepting these Merchant Terms. Opting out affects nothing else in this agreement.
Governing law. These Merchant Terms are governed by the laws of the State of North Carolina, without regard to its conflict of laws rules. For disputes not subject to arbitration, both parties consent to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina.
20.Changes to these Terms#
We may update these Merchant Terms. The version and date at the top of this page identify the current version.
For material changes — including any change to fees under section 4 — we will give at least 30 days' written notice to the email on your account. Continuing to list on Forkfluence after the effective date means you accept them. If you do not, cancel under section 16 before they take effect.
21.Contact#
Independent contractors. Nothing in these Merchant Terms creates a partnership, joint venture, franchise, employment, or agency relationship between you and Forkfluence. Neither party may bind the other.
Entire agreement. These Merchant Terms, with the Terms of Service, the Privacy Policy, and the Media Policy, are the entire agreement between us about the Service. If any provision is unenforceable, the rest stays in force. You may not assign these Merchant Terms without our written consent; we may assign them in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets.