Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

This Privacy Policy explains how Meadowhawk Franchise Consulting Inc. ("Meadowhawk," "we," "us," or "our") collects, uses, discloses, and protects personal information in connection with our website at meadowhawkfc.com (the "Site") and our franchise development consulting services.

Meadowhawk is a corporation incorporated federally under the laws of Canada, with its business address in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. We provide fractional franchise development consulting services to franchisors located in Canada and the United States.

2. Scope of this policy

This policy covers personal information we collect:

• Through the Site, including the contact form on our Contact page;
• Through direct communications with you (email, phone, or in person) once you've reached out to us or become a client; and
• In the course of delivering our consulting services to franchisor clients, where those services involve access to candidate or prospect data your organization controls.

Where we process personal information on behalf of a franchisor client — for example, candidate data inside your CRM or pipeline, as part of a consulting mandate — that processing is governed by our engagement agreement with that client, not this policy. This policy governs Meadowhawk's own collection and use of information as a business, primarily through this Site.

3. Information we collect

Information you give us directly. When you submit our Contact form, we collect: first name, last name, company name, phone number, email address, your franchise system's current unit count, and whatever you tell us in the message field. Fields marked required must be completed to submit the form; the rest are optional.

Information collected automatically. Our Site is hosted on Netlify and the contact form is processed through Netlify Forms. Like most websites, our hosting provider automatically logs standard technical information — IP address, browser type, device type, referring page, and timestamps — for security and operational purposes. We do not currently run any analytics or advertising tracking software on this Site.

Fonts. This Site loads typefaces from Google Fonts (fonts.googleapis.com). Loading a webpage that references Google Fonts sends your browser's IP address and user-agent string to Google as part of that request. We do not control what Google does with that request; see Google's own privacy policy for details.

Cookies. Our contact form includes a hidden "honeypot" field used only to detect automated spam submissions — it is not a tracking cookie and collects nothing about you as a real visitor. Beyond what Netlify's hosting infrastructure sets to serve the Site reliably, we do not knowingly set marketing, analytics, or advertising cookies.

We do not collect any special categories of information (health, financial account numbers, government identification numbers, etc.) through this Site, and we ask that you not include such information in the contact form's message field.

4. How we use your information

We use the personal information described above to:

• Respond to your inquiry and evaluate whether our services are a fit for your franchise system;
• Communicate with you about our services, including by phone or email;
• Operate, maintain, and improve the Site;
• Detect and prevent spam, fraud, or misuse of our contact form; and
• Comply with our legal obligations, and establish, exercise, or defend legal claims.

We do not use the information you submit through this Site for automated decision-making that produces legal or similarly significant effects about you.

5. How we share your information

We do not sell personal information, and we do not share it with third parties for their own independent marketing purposes.

We may share personal information with:

• Service providers who process it on our behalf, under contract, solely to help us operate the Site or run our business — currently Netlify, Inc. (form submission and hosting) and Microsoft (business email, Microsoft 365).
• Professional advisors (accountants, lawyers) where necessary to run our business;
• Law enforcement or regulators, where required by law, court order, or to protect our legal rights; and
• A successor entity, if Meadowhawk is ever involved in a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets — subject to that successor honoring the commitments in this policy for information collected under it.

Some of these service providers (notably Netlify and Microsoft) may store or process information on servers located outside Canada, including in the United States — see Section 10 (International Data Transfers) below.

6. Data retention

We retain contact-form submissions and related correspondence for as long as reasonably necessary to evaluate and respond to your inquiry, and — if a client relationship results — for the duration of that relationship plus a period afterward to meet our legal, accounting, and tax obligations (typically up to seven years, consistent with Canadian tax record-keeping requirements). Inquiries that do not lead to a client relationship are retained for 24 months and then deleted, unless you ask us to delete them sooner.

7. How we protect your information

We use reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards appropriate to the sensitivity of the information we hold, including relying on reputable service providers (Netlify, Microsoft) that maintain their own security programs. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

If we become aware of a breach of security safeguards involving personal information that creates a real risk of significant harm, we will notify affected individuals and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (and any other regulator legally entitled to notice, including under Quebec's Law 25) as required by applicable law.

8. Your privacy rights — Canada

Meadowhawk handles personal information in accordance with the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and, where applicable to individuals in Quebec, An Act respecting the protection of personal information in the private sector (Law 25). Subject to certain legal exceptions, you have the right to:

• Access the personal information we hold about you;
• Correct inaccurate or incomplete information;
• Withdraw consent to our collection, use, or disclosure of your information at any time (subject to legal or contractual restrictions, and understanding this may limit our ability to assist you);
• Know the purposes for which your information has been used or disclosed;
• If you are in Quebec: request that we cease disseminating your personal information or de-index a hyperlink to it, in certain circumstances, and receive your information in a structured, commonly used technical format (data portability), where technically feasible.

To exercise any of these rights, contact our Privacy Officer at privacy@meadowhawkfc.com. If you're not satisfied with our response, you have the right to file a complaint with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (priv.gc.ca) or, for Quebec residents, the Commission d'accès à l'information du Québec (cai.gouv.qc.ca).

9. Your privacy rights — United States

Meadowhawk is a small business and we do not sell your personal information, use it for cross-context behavioral advertising, or meet the size/revenue thresholds that trigger most U.S. state comprehensive privacy laws (such as the California Consumer Privacy Act, as amended by the CPRA). As a matter of practice, however, and regardless of whether a specific law applies to us, if you are a resident of California or another U.S. state with a comprehensive privacy law, we will honor requests to:

• Know/access the categories and specific pieces of personal information we hold about you;
• Delete personal information we hold about you, subject to legal exceptions (e.g., information we must retain for tax or legal-defense purposes);
• Correct inaccurate personal information; and
• Confirm that we do not sell or "share" (as that term is defined under California law) your personal information, and that no such practice is occurring for you to opt out of.

We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of these rights. To make a request, email privacy@meadowhawkfc.com. We may need to verify your identity before completing certain requests.

10. International data transfers

Because we use service providers such as Netlify and Microsoft, personal information collected through this Site may be transferred to, stored, and processed in the United States or other countries outside of Canada. Once information is located outside Canada, it may be subject to the laws of that jurisdiction, including lawful access by that jurisdiction's authorities. By using this Site, you acknowledge this cross-border transfer. We select service providers that maintain privacy and security standards consistent with this policy.

11. Children's privacy

This Site is directed at business professionals and is not intended for, or directed at, children. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under the age of 18. If you believe a minor has provided us with personal information, contact us at privacy@meadowhawkfc.com and we will delete it.

12. Third-party links

This Site may reference or link to third-party websites, including social platforms or partner sites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of any third-party site, and we encourage you to review their privacy policies directly.

13. Marketing communications and anti-spam compliance

If we send you marketing or promotional communications by email, we will do so consistent with Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) and the U.S. CAN-SPAM Act — meaning we identify ourselves clearly, obtain your consent (express or implied, as those laws define it) before sending commercial messages where required, and include a working unsubscribe mechanism in every such message. You can withdraw consent or unsubscribe at any time.

14. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or for legal, operational, or regulatory reasons. We will post the revised policy on this page with an updated "Last updated" date. If changes are material, we will provide additional notice as appropriate.

15. Contact us

Questions, requests, or complaints about this policy or how we handle your personal information can be directed to: