Terms and cancellation policy

The basics

Once offers three kinds of evening: Once (a twelve-course dinner by invitation), A Private Table (four courses cooked in your home) and Supper Club (family-style platters at your home). By sending a request you agree to these terms and to our privacy policy. A request is not a booking until we confirm it by email.

Requests, confirmation and your date

For Private Table and Supper Club, you choose a date and time that is shown as available. We check it and confirm by email, usually within [one working day]. Once we confirm, that time is yours and is no longer offered to anyone else.

For Once, you join the waitlist and we invite people to a dinner as seats become available. An invitation holds your seats for a short while (the payment page holds them for 15 minutes once you start paying), and lapses after 48 hours if the seats are not paid for, so that they can be offered to the next person.

Prices and payment

The price shown when you ask for a Private Table or Supper Club is an estimate (a price per guest, a minimum, and a travel fee outside our usual area). We confirm the final price when we confirm your date. Prices are in South African rand.

Once seats are paid for online through Paystack. For home evenings we may ask for a deposit of [a percentage of the price] to secure the date; any deposit is paid the same way and counts towards the total. We never see or keep your card details.

The balance for home evenings is due [on the evening / a week before].

Gift vouchers

A gift voucher is for an evening with Once and is worth the amount paid. It is valid for [12 months] from the day it was bought. The holder gives us the code when they book and we take its value off the price; we mark the code as used so it cannot be used twice. A voucher cannot be exchanged for cash, and we cannot replace a lost code unless you can show it was bought by you (we can send it again to the email it was bought with). Any part of the price not covered by the voucher is paid in the usual way.

If you buy a voucher by mistake, write to us before it is used and we will refund it. [Confirm refund terms for vouchers with the client.]

Cancelling and changing

You can cancel an unpaid request at any time from My bookings on the website. To change a date, time or number of guests, use “Request a change” there; we will confirm if the new time is free.

Cancelling a confirmed home evening: [more than 14 days before: full refund of any deposit; 14 to 7 days before: 50% of the deposit is kept; less than 7 days before: the deposit is kept]. If we have to cancel, you get a full refund or a new date of your choice.

Cancelling a paid Once seat: [more than 21 days before: full refund; 21 to 7 days before: refund less 20%; less than 7 days before: no refund, but you may pass the seat to someone else if you tell us in good time]. Paid seats are cancelled by emailing us, so that we can refund you.

Refunds go back to the card or account that paid, usually within [5 to 10 working days].

Allergies and dietary needs

Please tell us about every allergy and dietary need for every guest when you book, and again if anything changes. We will do our best to cater safely, but our dishes are prepared in a home or pop-up kitchen where nuts, shellfish, gluten, dairy and other allergens are present, so we cannot promise any dish is completely free of them.

Evenings in your home

• We need access to a working kitchen, a table that fits your guests, and a way in at the agreed time. We will tell you what we need beforehand.
• You are responsible for your guests and for your home. Please keep pets away from the kitchen while we cook.
• Guest numbers are the numbers you booked. Tell us as early as you can if they change; we may not be able to cater for more than the price covers.
• We may need to end an evening early if anyone is unsafe or abusive to our team.

Photos

We may take photographs on the evening for our own use (the website and Instagram). If you would rather not appear, tell us when you arrive and we will keep you out of the shot. Pictures you send to our photo wall are shown only after we approve them, and you confirm you took them.

Our responsibility

We take care to run every evening safely and well. To the extent the law allows, we are not responsible for loss or damage that we could not reasonably have prevented or foreseen, or for events outside our control (loadshedding, extreme weather, illness). Nothing here limits any right you have under the Consumer Protection Act.

Questions

Write to us at [hello@your-domain.co.za] or use the enquiry form in the Questions box on the website.