Maitre Ahlan Standard Restaurant Agreement

1. Who this agreement is between

This agreement is between Maitre Ahlan, a pilot service run by its founders in Doha, Qatar pending the incorporation of a Qatari company ("Maitre Ahlan", "we", "us"), and the restaurant named in the Order ("the Restaurant", "you").

Maitre Ahlan is in its pilot phase. The pilot is run by the founders of Maitre Ahlan pending the incorporation of a Qatari company. Once that company is formed, its legal name, commercial registration number and registered address will be published here, and it will take over the rights and obligations described in these documents.

The person who accepts this agreement confirms that they are authorised to sign for the Restaurant. The agreement starts on the date it is accepted online or signed.

The Order is the plan and any special terms shown to you when you accept (in the Maitre Ahlan back office or in a written quote from us). If the Order and this agreement disagree, the Order wins for that point only.

2. The service

Maitre Ahlan is a WhatsApp host and concierge for your restaurant. Depending on your plan, it:

• answers guests on the Restaurant’s WhatsApp Business number, in English, with Arabic replies once our native-speaker review is complete;
• takes booking requests, confirms them where your settings allow, and sends confirmations and reminders;
• answers questions using only the information you have approved (hours, menu, location, policies);
• hands a conversation to your staff whenever a guest asks for a person, or the request is outside what it is set up to handle;
• gives you a back office (dashboard) with bookings, knowledge, staff contacts and reports;
• may list the Restaurant in The Black Book, our public directory, only after you approve the page.

We will provide the service with reasonable skill and care. We may improve or change features, but we will not reduce the core service of your plan during a paid month without telling you first.

3. Pilot terms

If the Order says the Restaurant is on the pilot, the pilot terms in the Order (length, fees or any waiver, and what happens at the end) apply in addition to this agreement. At the end of the pilot, the service continues on the plan in the Order only if you confirm it in writing or in the back office. If you do not, the service stops and we handle your data as described in the Data Processing Schedule.

The pilot is a live trial: features may change during it and we will tell you about material changes.

4. Plans and fees

Plans (pricing v5, Qatari riyals):

• Entry: QAR 999 one-time setup fee, then QAR 750 per month.
• Growth: QAR 2,750 one-time setup fee, then QAR 1,750 per month.
• Pro: from QAR 8,000 one-time setup fee, then from QAR 3,000 per month (the exact Pro fees are set out in the Order).

Bolt-ons are optional extras, priced as quoted to you in the Order.

Third-party costs. Paid third-party costs needed to run your WhatsApp service, such as WhatsApp (Meta) conversation or message fees and the WhatsApp Business messaging provider’s number licence, are passed through to you at cost, unless the Order says otherwise. Broadcast messages you choose to send are charged as set out in the Order.

Fees exclude any taxes that may apply in Qatar; if a tax applies, it will be added as required by law.

5. Billing and payment

The setup fee is charged when the service is set up. Monthly fees are billed monthly in advance. Pass-through costs are billed monthly in arrears, with the detail available on request.

Payment is due on the date shown on the invoice or payment request. Card payments are processed by our payment provider; we do not store full card numbers.

If a payment is more than 14 days late, we may pause the service after giving you notice. We will restart it once the payment is made.

6. Term and cancellation

The agreement runs month to month. If the Order states a minimum term, it applies first; after that, it rolls monthly.

You can cancel at any time by telling us in writing ([email protected]) or in the back office. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the paid month (or at the end of any minimum term, if later). The setup fee and fees for the current month are not refunded unless the law requires it or we agree otherwise.

We can end the agreement with 30 days’ notice, or straight away if you seriously breach it (for example, misuse of the service to send unsolicited messages) and do not fix the breach within 7 days of our notice.

7. Your responsibilities

You agree to:

• keep your information accurate and up to date in the back office, especially opening hours, menus, prices, allergen information and booking rules;
• make sure your staff respond to handovers and escalations promptly; the AI host tells guests when a person will follow up, and relies on your team to do so;
• own and keep in good standing the WhatsApp Business account and number used for the service, and comply with WhatsApp’s and Meta’s terms, policies and commerce rules;
• send marketing messages only to guests who have opted in, and honour opt-outs (including a guest replying STOP);
• have the right to share with us any content, logos, photos and menus you give us;
• keep your back-office logins secure and tell us at once if you suspect misuse.

8. Personal data

Guests’ personal data is handled under Qatar Law No. 13 of 2016 on the Protection of Personal Data Privacy. For the guests who contact your restaurant, you are the controller and we are your processor. The Data Processing Schedule at the end of this agreement forms part of it.

9. Content, logos and photos

You keep all rights in your name, logos, photos, menus and other content. You give us a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to use them only to provide the service: in guest conversations, confirmations and invitations, in your back office and, if you approve it, on your page in The Black Book.

We use your logo and photos publicly only after you (the owner or general manager) have approved them through the approval step in the back office or claim link. You can withdraw approval at any time; we then remove them from public pages within a reasonable time.

We keep all rights in the Maitre Ahlan software, designs, brand and templates. You may not copy or resell them.

10. The AI host and handover

The host is automated software. It works from the information and rules you approve, and it can make mistakes, for example misunderstanding a message or giving incomplete information. It is not a substitute for your staff on matters of health, allergies, safety, complaints or anything outside its set-up, which it hands to your team.

Guests can ask for a person at any time, and the host then hands the conversation to your team. You remain responsible for your bookings, your service to guests and any decision your staff make after a handover. Please check the information the host uses, and tell us promptly if you see an error so we can correct it.

11. Liability

Nothing in this agreement limits liability that cannot be limited under Qatari law, including for fraud or wilful misconduct.

Otherwise, our total liability to you under or in connection with this agreement in any 12-month period is limited to the fees you paid us in that period (excluding pass-through costs). Neither of us is liable for indirect or consequential loss, such as loss of profit, revenue, goodwill or bookings.

We are not responsible for outages or changes caused by WhatsApp, Meta, telecom networks or other third parties outside our reasonable control, but we will do what we reasonably can to restore the service.

12. Confidentiality

Each of us will keep the other’s non-public business information confidential and use it only for this agreement, except where disclosure is required by law.

13. Changes to this agreement

We may update this agreement. Each version has a number and date. We will give you at least 30 days’ notice of changes that affect you materially and ask you to accept the new version in the back office. If you do not accept it, you can cancel before it takes effect and the previous version applies until then. Changes to fees apply only from the start of your next billing month after notice.

14. Governing law

This agreement is governed by the laws of the State of Qatar. We will first try to resolve any dispute in good faith by discussion. If that does not work within 30 days, the courts of Qatar have jurisdiction.

This agreement, the Order and the Data Processing Schedule are the whole agreement between us about the service. If any part is found invalid, the rest continues. Notices are given by email: ours to the email address on your account, yours to [email protected].

15. Data Processing Schedule

Roles. The Restaurant is the controller of the personal data of guests who contact it (names, WhatsApp numbers, booking details, messages and preferences). Maitre Ahlan processes that data on the Restaurant’s behalf. Where a guest consents to their details being used across restaurants on Maitre Ahlan (for example, saved preferences), that shared use relies on the guest’s consent and is limited to what the guest agreed to.

Instructions. We process guest data only to provide the service and on your documented instructions (this agreement, your settings and your written requests), unless the law requires otherwise. We tell you if we believe an instruction breaks the law.

Security. We use appropriate technical and organisational measures, including encrypted connections, access limited to authorised people with multi-factor authentication for our team, database row-level security separating each restaurant’s data, and logging of key actions. Our people are bound by confidentiality.

Sub-processors. You authorise these sub-processors:

• Supabase: database, authentication and file storage;
• Vercel: application hosting;
• 360dialog and Meta (WhatsApp Business Platform): sending and receiving WhatsApp messages;
• Tap Payments: card payments and billing (restaurant billing data only);
• Resend: delivery of service emails and opt-in email updates.

The conversation engine that answers your restaurant’s guests is rule-based and does not send their messages to an external AI model provider. No AI model provider is currently a sub-processor for your guest data. Before we add one, or change any sub-processor, we will update this list and give you at least 30 days’ notice, so that you can object or cancel.

International transfers. Some sub-processors may store or process data outside Qatar. Where they do, we rely on their contractual and security commitments and take the steps required by Qatari law for cross-border transfers.

Helping you. We help you respond to guests exercising their rights (access, correction, deletion, objection) and with any assessment or regulator enquiry, as far as reasonably possible.

Breaches. If we become aware of a personal data breach affecting your guests’ data, we tell you without undue delay, and in any case within 72 hours, with the information we have, and help you meet any duty to notify the authority or guests.

Marketing. Marketing messages are sent only to guests who opted in. Opt-outs (such as replying STOP) are recorded and honoured.

On exit. When the agreement ends, you can ask for an export of your guest and booking data within 30 days. After that, we delete or anonymise it within a further 60 days, except where we must keep some records by law (for example, invoices), or where a guest has consented to keep their own Maitre Ahlan profile.