Privacy Policy

Responsible party (as defined in POPIA):

Our venues operate at the following trading addresses:

• TopDog Moreleta (Pretoria, Gauteng): 660 Rubenstein Dr, Moreleta Park, Pretoria, 0044
• TopDog Rustenburg (North West): 41 Bokmakierie Rd, Cashan, Rustenburg, 0299
• TopDog Potchefstroom (North West): Cnr R501 & Kremetart Street, Van Der Hoff Park, Potchefstroom, 2531
• TopDog Klerksdorp (North West): 58 William St, Wilkoppies, Klerksdorp, 2571

Top Dog Holdings is in the process of appointing an Information Officer to oversee compliance with POPIA. Until that appointment is finalised, all privacy-related enquiries and requests may be directed to us using the contact details set out in this policy.

You may direct any privacy enquiry, access request, correction request, or deletion request to us using the contact details set out in this policy. We will acknowledge your request within 3 business days and respond substantively within 30 days, in accordance with POPIA.

This policy applies to:

• Visitors to our website at www.topdog.pub;
• Persons who contact us or make booking enquiries via WhatsApp;
• Persons whose personal information is recorded in our booking register at any of our venues.

This website is intended for use by South African residents aged 18 years and older. We do not knowingly collect personal information from persons under the age of 18. If you are under 18, please do not submit any personal information to us.

4.1 Information you provide when making a booking

When you contact us via WhatsApp to make a booking or enquiry, we may collect:

• Your name;
• Your WhatsApp number (provided automatically when you message us);
• Booking details: date, time, number of guests, and any special requests you communicate.

This information is recorded in a hard-copy booking register held at the relevant venue.

4.2 Information collected automatically by the website

Our website uses Vercel Web Analytics, a privacy-respecting analytics service provided by Vercel Inc. Vercel Analytics does not use cookies, does not track you across websites, and does not collect any personally identifiable information. It collects only anonymised, aggregated data such as page view counts and general geographic region (country level). This data cannot be used to identify you as an individual.

Our website does not use Google Analytics, Meta Pixel, TikTok Pixel, or any other advertising or behavioural tracking tool.

4.3 Information we do NOT collect

Our website contains no forms, no email capture fields, no login or account functionality, and no payment processing. We do not collect payment card details, identity numbers, or any sensitive personal information through this website.

4.4 Images of individuals

Our website contains photographs and media that may include images of individuals (such as staff or models used in marketing material). All such images are owned by Top Dog Holdings and were obtained with the knowledge and consent of the individuals depicted. We do not use images of customers taken without consent.

We collect and use personal information only for the following purpose:

• Booking management: To confirm, manage, and fulfil table bookings and venue enquiries made via WhatsApp.

We do not use your personal information for marketing, profiling, automated decision-making, or any purpose other than booking management. We will not contact you for any purpose unrelated to a booking you have made with us.

Under POPIA, we process your personal information on the following lawful grounds:

• Contract / pre-contract steps (section 11(1)(a)): Processing is necessary to take steps at your request to confirm and fulfil a booking.
• Legitimate interest (section 11(1)(f)): Maintaining an accurate booking record is a legitimate operational interest of the business, balanced against your right to privacy.

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information to any third party.

We share your information only as follows:

• Cryptex IT Solutions (Pty) Ltd — our website developer and operator — has access to anonymised, aggregated Vercel Analytics data only. They have no access to booking records or any personal information you provide via WhatsApp. A Data Processing Agreement (operator agreement in terms of POPIA) is in place governing their access to this data.
• Vercel Inc. — our website hosting provider — processes anonymised analytics data as described in section 4.2. Vercel's privacy policy is available at vercel.com/legal/privacy-policy.
• WhatsApp (Meta Platforms Ireland Ltd) — when you initiate a WhatsApp conversation with us, your messages are transmitted via WhatsApp's platform. WhatsApp's privacy policy governs that transmission. We have no control over WhatsApp's data practices.

No personal information is shared with any marketing agency, event partner, delivery platform, or any other third party.

Vercel Inc. is a United States-based company and may process anonymised analytics data on servers located outside South Africa. As this data is fully anonymised and cannot identify you, it does not constitute a transfer of personal information for the purposes of POPIA section 72.

WhatsApp messages you send to us may be routed through servers operated by Meta Platforms outside South Africa. This occurs as part of WhatsApp's own infrastructure and is governed by WhatsApp's terms and privacy policy, not by this policy.

All personally identifiable booking records (your name and number, as recorded in our booking register) remain in South Africa at our venue premises.

We retain booking records (name, contact number, booking details) in our hard-copy booking register for a period of 12 months from the date of the booking, after which the records are securely destroyed.

WhatsApp conversations initiated by you remain in the business WhatsApp account in accordance with WhatsApp's own retention practices. You may request deletion of your contact details from our WhatsApp contact list at any time — see section 11.

Anonymised Vercel Analytics data is retained by Vercel in accordance with their data retention policy.

We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal information against loss, unauthorised access, alteration, or disclosure. These measures include:

• Our website is served exclusively over HTTPS (TLS encryption);
• The website collects no personal information directly — all booking communication occurs via WhatsApp's end-to-end encrypted platform;
• Hard-copy booking registers are kept at venue premises and are not accessible to the public;
• Access to booking records is limited to staff members who require it for operational purposes.

In the event of a security breach involving your personal information that is likely to harm you, we will notify you and the Information Regulator as required by POPIA.

As a data subject under POPIA, you have the following rights:

• Right of access: You may request confirmation of whether we hold personal information about you and request a copy of that information.
• Right to correction: You may request that we correct inaccurate or incomplete personal information.
• Right to deletion: You may request that we delete your personal information where we no longer have a lawful basis for processing it.
• Right to object: You may object to the processing of your personal information on legitimate interest grounds.
• Right to lodge a complaint: If you believe we have not handled your personal information lawfully, you may lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator of South Africa:

To exercise any of the above rights, contact our Privacy contact as detailed in section 2. Requests are free of charge. We may ask you to verify your identity before processing a request.

This website displays alcoholic beverages and related promotions. In accordance with the Liquor Act 59 of 2003 and applicable provincial liquor legislation, alcohol may only be consumed by persons aged 18 years and older. This website is not intended for persons under the age of 18.

We do not knowingly collect personal information from persons under 18. If you are the parent or guardian of a minor and believe they have provided us with personal information, please contact us immediately using the details in section 2.

This website contains links to third-party platforms, including:

• WhatsApp (wa.me)
• Instagram (instagram.com)
• Facebook (facebook.com)
• TikTok (tiktok.com)
• Google Maps (google.com/maps)
• Cryptex IT Solutions (cryptexsolutions.co.za)

Once you leave our website by clicking these links, this Privacy Policy no longer applies. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of these third-party platforms. We encourage you to read their respective privacy policies.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or in applicable law. The version number and effective date at the top of this page will be updated accordingly. We encourage you to review this policy periodically. Continued use of the website after an update constitutes acceptance of the revised policy.

This Privacy Policy is governed by the laws of the Republic of South Africa. Any disputes arising from this policy will be subject to the jurisdiction of the competent South African courts.