Privacy Policy

Last updated: 3 June 2026

Holistic Chef Academy respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal information.

This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store and protect your personal data when you visit our website, subscribe to our newsletter, download free resources, leave comments, contact us, or interact with our content.

This policy applies to the website:

https://holisticchefacademy.com

1. Who we are

Holistic Chef Academy is a culinary education, recipe and wellness food platform founded by Jamie Raftery.

For the purpose of data protection law, the data controller is:

Holistic Chef Academy Limited
Registered address: [Insert registered business address]
Email: jamie@holisticchefacademy.com
Website:

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or how your data is handled, please contact us by email.

2. Personal data we collect

We only collect personal data where it is necessary to operate our website, communicate with our community, improve our content, or comply with legal obligations.

Depending on how you use the website, we may collect the following information:

Information you provide directly

This may include:

• Your name
• Your email address
• Your message or enquiry details
• Newsletter subscription information
• Comments left on recipes, blog posts or other pages
• Information you provide when downloading a free resource
• Any other information you choose to send us

Information collected automatically

When you visit our website, some technical data may be collected automatically. This may include:

• IP address
• Browser type and version
• Device type
• Operating system
• Pages visited
• Time spent on the website
• Referring website or search engine
• General location information
• Cookie and tracking data, depending on your cookie choices

This information helps us understand how the website is used, improve performance, protect the website from spam or abuse, and make our recipes, articles and educational content more useful.

3. How we collect your data

We may collect personal data when you:

• Subscribe to our newsletter
• Download a free recipe, guide, meal plan or resource
• Complete a contact form
• Email us directly
• Leave a comment on the website
• Click links to our social media, Substack, YouTube or other platforms
• Interact with embedded videos, recipe cards, forms or third-party tools
• Browse the website and accept cookies

4. How we use your personal data

We may use your personal data for the following purposes:

To send newsletters and updates

If you subscribe to our newsletter, we use your name and email address to send you recipes, blog updates, educational content, free resources, announcements and news from Holistic Chef Academy.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link at the bottom of any newsletter email.

To respond to enquiries

If you contact us by email or through a form, we use your information to respond to your message and manage the enquiry.

To provide free downloads and resources

If you sign up for a free download, recipe guide, meal plan or educational resource, we use your data to send you the requested material and any related follow-up emails you have agreed to receive.

To manage website comments

If you leave a comment on a recipe or blog post, we collect the information shown in the comment form, along with your IP address and browser information to help detect spam.

Your comment, name and website link, if provided, may be publicly visible on the website.

To improve the website

We use analytics and technical information to understand which content is useful, fix errors, improve page speed, review website performance, and create better recipes, resources and educational content.

To protect our website

We may use technical information to help prevent spam, fraud, hacking attempts, misuse of the website or other security issues.

To meet legal obligations

Where business records, communications or legal requirements are involved, we may need to retain certain information for accounting, tax, legal or compliance purposes.

5. Lawful basis for using your data

Under data protection law, we must have a lawful basis for processing your personal data.

Depending on the situation, we may rely on the following lawful bases:

Consent

We rely on consent when you subscribe to our newsletter, accept non-essential cookies, or choose to receive marketing communications.

You can withdraw your consent at any time.

Legitimate interests

We may rely on legitimate interests to operate and improve our website, respond to enquiries, protect website security, understand website performance, manage basic business communications, and improve our content and services.

We only use legitimate interests where we believe this does not override your rights and freedoms.

Legal obligation

We may rely on legal obligation where we are required to keep records for accounting, tax, legal or regulatory reasons.

6. Newsletter and email marketing

We use MailerLite to manage our email newsletter and subscriber list.

When you subscribe to our newsletter, your name, email address, subscription preferences, sign-up source, email engagement and related technical information may be processed by MailerLite on our behalf.

We use this information to:

• Send newsletters and updates
• Deliver free downloads or email sequences
• Understand whether emails are opened or clicked
• Improve our email content
• Manage unsubscribes and subscriber preferences

You can unsubscribe from our emails at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link included in every email.

MailerLite provides information about its GDPR commitments and Data Processing Addendum.

7. Google Analytics

We use Google Analytics to understand how visitors use our website.

Google Analytics may collect information such as:

• Pages visited
• Time spent on pages
• Device and browser type
• General location
• Referring websites
• Website interactions

This helps us understand which recipes, articles and resources are most useful, improve the website, and make better decisions about future content.

Google Analytics may use cookies or similar technologies. Where required, these analytics cookies should only be used after you have given consent through the website's cookie banner or cookie settings.

You can manage cookies through your browser settings and, where available, through the cookie settings on our website.

8. Cookies and tracking technologies

Our website uses cookies and similar technologies.

Cookies are small files placed on your device to help the website function, remember preferences, understand website traffic, support embedded content and improve user experience.

Cookies may include:

Essential cookies

These are required for the website to work properly. They may support security, page loading, forms, spam protection, cookie preference settings and basic website functionality.

These cookies cannot usually be switched off.

Analytics cookies

These help us understand how visitors use the website, such as which pages are visited, how long people stay, and how users find the site.

Analytics cookies are only used where consent is required and has been given through the cookie banner or cookie settings.

Third-party cookies

These may be set by third-party services such as embedded videos, social media platforms, newsletter forms or other integrations.

These cookies may track your activity across websites and are controlled by the relevant third-party provider.

You can manage your cookie choices through the cookie banner or settings on our website. You can also control cookies through your browser settings.

9. Comments on the website

When visitors leave comments on the site, we collect the data shown in the comment form, along with the visitor's IP address and browser user agent string to help detect spam.

If you use a Gravatar profile image, an anonymised string created from your email address may be sent to the Gravatar service to check whether you are using it. After approval of your comment, your profile picture may be visible to the public beside your comment.

10. Embedded content from other websites

Articles, recipes and pages on this website may include embedded content such as YouTube videos, Instagram posts, Pinterest pins, Substack content, maps, recipe tools or other media.

Embedded content from other websites behaves in the same way as if you visited that external website directly.

These third-party websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional tracking, and monitor your interaction with the embedded content, especially if you are logged into an account with that service.

We do not control how third-party platforms collect or use your data. Please review their privacy policies for more information.

11. Third-party services we may use

To run Holistic Chef Academy, we may use trusted third-party services. These may include:

• Website hosting providers
• WordPress, themes and website plugins
• MailerLite for email marketing
• Google Analytics and Google Search Console for website performance and search insights
• Spam protection and security tools
• YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Substack and other social media platforms
• Cloud storage, design and business administration tools

These service providers may process personal data on our behalf or as independent data controllers, depending on the service.

We only share personal data where necessary to operate the website, communicate with subscribers, maintain security, improve content, or comply with legal obligations.

12. Affiliate links, sponsored content and partnerships

Some pages may include affiliate links, sponsored content, brand collaborations or partner links.

If you click an affiliate or partner link, a third-party provider may use cookies or tracking technologies to record the referral. This may help us earn a small commission or track the performance of a collaboration, at no extra cost to you.

Where content is sponsored or includes affiliate links, we aim to make this clear on the relevant page.

13. How long we keep your data

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary for the purpose it was collected, unless a longer retention period is required by law.

General retention periods include:

• Newsletter data: until you unsubscribe or request deletion
• Contact form and email enquiries: usually up to 3 years, unless needed for ongoing business, legal or compliance reasons
• Comments: retained indefinitely unless removed, so the conversation remains visible and follow-up comments can be recognised
• Business and accounting records: usually retained for 6 years where required by Irish tax and accounting rules
• Analytics data: retained according to the settings of Google Analytics
• Cookie consent records: retained for as long as needed to manage and demonstrate cookie preferences

We may keep data for longer if required to resolve disputes, comply with legal obligations, prevent fraud, or enforce our agreements.

14. International transfers

Some of the third-party services we use may process data outside Ireland, the European Union or the European Economic Area.

Where personal data is transferred internationally, we aim to use providers that apply appropriate safeguards, such as adequacy decisions, standard contractual clauses, data processing agreements or other lawful transfer mechanisms.

15. How we protect your data

We take reasonable steps to protect your personal data from loss, misuse, unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration or destruction.

These steps may include:

• Secure website hosting
• HTTPS encryption
• Password protection
• Access controls
• Website security tools
• Regular software updates
• Limiting access to personal data where possible
• Using trusted third-party providers

No method of transmission over the internet is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security. We do our best to keep things safe and sensible.

16. Your data protection rights

Depending on your location and the circumstances, you may have the right to:

• Access the personal data we hold about you
• Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data
• Request deletion of your personal data
• Restrict how we use your data
• Object to certain types of processing
• Withdraw consent at any time
• Request a copy of your data in a portable format
• Complain to a data protection authority

To exercise your rights, contact:

jamie@holisticchefacademy.com

We may need to verify your identity before responding to a request.

If you are based in Ireland or the EU and are unhappy with how we handle your data, you have the right to contact the Irish Data Protection Commission or your local data protection authority.

17. Children's privacy

Our website is intended for a general audience interested in recipes, cooking, wellness food education and culinary learning.

We do not knowingly collect personal data from children without appropriate consent.

If you believe a child has provided personal data to us, please contact us and we will take appropriate steps to delete it.

18. Links to other websites

Our website contains links to external websites, platforms, services and social media pages.

We are not responsible for the privacy practices, content or security of those third-party websites. Please review their privacy policies before submitting personal data to them.

19. Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our website, services, legal obligations, technology or business operations.

The latest version will always be published on this page with the updated date shown at the top.

20. Contact us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or how your personal data is used, please contact:

Holistic Chef Academy Limited
Email: jamie@holisticchefacademy.com
Website: https://holisticchefacademy.com
Registered address: Tanglewood House, Clondoyle, Glenamaddy, County Galway, Ireland