Security

Your restaurant's data is stored in a managed Postgres database run by Supabase, in the United States (Oregon). The app itself runs on Vercel, also in Oregon. Both providers are independently audited for security (SOC 2 Type 2).

Everything travels over encrypted connections (HTTPS), and the database is encrypted at rest.

• Each restaurant sees only its own data. This is enforced inside the database itself (row-level security), not just by the app, so a bug in a page can't show one restaurant another's orders.
• Staff see what their role needs. There are four roles: owner, manager, kitchen and staff. A kitchen account sees the kitchen board, not your takings, and only owners and managers see reports, payment history and guest insights.
• Diners see only their own order. Scanning a table's QR code starts a private visit for that phone. Diners don't need an account, and can't see anyone else's order, even at the same table.
• Tableside's own team reaches restaurant data only to run and support the service, and our admin tools require two-step verification.

Staff sign in with an email and password of at least eight characters. Passwords are never stored in readable form. Anyone can turn on two-step verification with an authenticator app from their Account page. Anyone can also delete their own account there.

Card payments go through Stripe, which is certified to the highest level of the card industry's security standard (PCI DSS Level 1). Card numbers go straight to Stripe and never reach Tableside. Each restaurant connects its own Stripe account, so the money goes to you, not through us.

• It answers from your menu, not from imagination. It looks up every dish, price and ingredient as it answers, and checks in the app stop it from naming dishes you don't serve.
• Allergens are shown only once you've confirmed them. If you haven't, it tells the diner to ask your staff.
• It can't be talked into things. What a diner types is treated as a message, never as an instruction. It can't change prices, and it only places or cancels an order after the diner says yes in a separate message.
• What it sends to AI providers. To answer, the diner's message and the relevant menu details go to an AI model through our provider, OpenRouter. We don't send diners' names, emails, phone numbers or payment details.

The kitchen board updates live, and checks in regularly in case a live update is missed, so a dropped connection catches up on its own. Order changes are made one at a time inside the database: if two people tap the same order at once, exactly one change wins. Errors are reported to our monitoring (Sentry) with personal details removed, so we often know about a problem before you do.

Owners can download everything Tableside holds for their restaurant at any time, in one file: Settings → Your data. Reports can also be exported as spreadsheets. How we handle personal information is in our privacy policy.

If you think you've found a security issue, email privacy@tableside.menu. Tell us what you saw and how to reproduce it. We'll reply, keep you updated, and won't take action against anyone reporting in good faith.