Privacy Policy

Thanks for visiting Winchell’s and trusting us to handle your personal information.  Your privacy is important to us, and so is being transparent about what and how we collect, use, and share information about you.  To summarize, we only collect the information you choose to give us, and we only require the minimum amount of personal information that is necessary to fulfill the purpose of your interaction with us.  Also, we don't sell it to third parties. 

 In a nutshell, this Agreement includes the following:

We understand that some of you may not agree with everything in this Notice.  If that is the case, we ask that you do not access or use our Site or provide us with any information.

One more thing before we get into the nitty gritty; when we refer to "We," "Us," "Winchell’s”, or “the Site” in this notice, we mean Winchell’s Donut House.

1. What information we collect about you

Information from website browsers

If you're just browsing the website, we collect the same basic information that most websites collect.  We use common internet technologies, such as cookies and web server logs.  The information we collect about all visitors to our website includes the visitor’s browser type, language preference, referring site, additional websites requested, and the date and time of each visitor request.  We also collect potentially personally-identifying information like Internet Protocol (IP) addresses.  We collect this information to better understand our website visitors, and to monitor and protect the security of the website.  

We may use aggregated, non-personally identifying information to operate, improve, and optimize our website and service.  This may include anonymous “traffic data” or tracking information provided by the website’s host or similar provider of such information (i.e., Google Analytics and Google Website Optimizer) that does not personally identify you, but may be helpful for marketing purposes or for improving the services we offer. Analytics is the process of collecting, analyzing, and reporting aggregate data.  To learn more about Google Analytics and how to opt out, please visit https://policies.google.com/technologies/types. 

In addition, when you visit our Site, we may also log your anonymous IP addresses, a unique identifier for your computer or other access device.  This helps us diagnose problems with our server, to administer our Site, or to display the content according to your preferences.

Information from customers

When you enter information on this Site, we may collect personal information from you including your:

• First and last name
• Email address
• Geolocation information

 We use this Personal Information to identify you on the Site and to communicate with you.  

2. What information we do not collect

We do not intentionally collect sensitive personal information, such as financial information, social security numbers, genetic data, health information, or religious information.  

We do not knowingly collect information from or direct any of our content specifically to children under 13.  If we learn or have reason to suspect that you are under the age of 13, we will unfortunately have to remove your information. 

3. How we share the information we collect

We do share Personal Information with your permission, so we can perform services you have requested or communicate on your behalf.  We do not share, sell, rent, or trade your Personal Information with third parties for their commercial purposes.  We do not host advertising on the Site.  

We do share Personal Information with a limited number of third-party vendors who process it on our behalf to provide or improve our service.  Our vendors perform services such as customer support, network data transmission, and other similar services.

1. We work with Google Maps and Google Location Services to provide you with store location information and directions.  You can learn more about these services here: https://policies.google.com/technologies/location-data.
2. We use Google reCaptcha to keep out bots and prevent abusive traffic on our Site.  You can learn more about this here: https://www.google.com/recaptcha/intro/v3.html. (server hosted on Linux/Apache)
3. We use third party services to support our infrastructure and services: including, but not limited to KnownHost and Apache (for Linux).

We do share aggregated, non-personally identifying information with third parties. For example, in the event of a security incident, we may share the number of times a particular file was accessed.  We may share Personal Information if we are involved in a merger, sale, or acquisition.  If any such change of ownership happens, we will ensure that it is under terms that preserve the confidentiality of your Personal Information, and we will notify you on our website or by email before any transfer of your Personal Information. 

4. How you can access and control the information we collect

Generally, we will retain Personal Information for as long as needed to provide you services.  We may retain certain Personal Information indefinitely, unless you delete it or request its deletion.  For example, we don’t automatically delete inactive user information, so unless you request deletion, we will retain your information indefinitely.  You can request deletion by contacting our customer service team at wincustservdept [at] winchells.com.

 You also have the following choices:

1. If you no longer wish to receive emails from our team, you can opt-out or to unsubscribe at wincustservdept [at] winchells.com.   If you have multiple email addresses, you will need to opt-out for each address to be removed from our active database.
2. You may have the ability to turn location-based services on and off by adjusting the settings of your Internet browser or mobile device or, for some devices, by revoking permission for our mobile apps to access your location information.
3. Your browser may offer the ability to block or delete cookies from your device.  Please follow your individual browser’s instructions on how to block and clear cookies.

5. Our use of cookies and tracking

Cookies

We use cookies to make interactions with our Site easy and meaningful.  A cookie is a small string of information that the website you visit transfers to your computer for identification purposes.  Cookies can be used to follow your activity on the website and that information helps websites to understand your preferences and improve your website experience.  Cookies are also used for such activities as remembering your user name and password, if you use such a feature on this Site.  You can turn off all cookies in the event you prefer not to receive them.  You can also have your computer warn you whenever cookies are being used.  There are also software products available that can manage cookies for you.  Please be aware, however, that when you choose to reject cookies, this choice may limit the functionality of the website and you may lose access to some of its features.

Web beacons

A web beacon is an invisible pixel-sized graphic image on a web page, web-based document or e-mail message.  It helps us do things like view the URL of the page on which the beacon appears and the time the Site, document or email in question is viewed.  They can be used to confirm the receipt of, and response to, our emails, including those that you forward to friends and family; and they help deliver a more personalized online experience.

Tracking and analytics

We use a number of third-party analytics and service providers to help us evaluate our users' use of the Site; compile statistical reports on activity; and improve our content and website performance.  In addition, we may also use our own internal analytics software to provide features and improve our content and performance.

Do-Not-Track

We do not currently recognize automated browser signals regarding tracking mechanisms, which may include ‘do-not-track’ instructions.  However, you can change your privacy preferences regarding the use of cookies and similar technologies through your browser.  You may set your browser to accept all cookies, block certain cookies, require your consent before a cookie is placed in your browser, or block all cookies. 

6. How we store and secure your information

We take all measures reasonably necessary to protect your Personal Information from unauthorized access, alteration, or destruction; maintain data accuracy; and help ensure the appropriate use of Personal Information.  All information you provide to us is stored in secure managed servers.  In the event of a data breach that affects your Personal Information, we will act promptly to mitigate the impact of a breach and notify any affected users without undue delay. 

No method of transmission, or method of electronic storage, is 100% secure.  Whenever you give out personal information online there is a risk that third parties may intercept and use that information.  While we strive to protect your personal information and privacy, we cannot guarantee the security of any information you disclose online.  By using our Site, you acknowledge and understand that despite best efforts, we cannot guarantee the security of any data provided to or received by us through the Site and that any personal information, general information, or other data or information received from you through the Site is provided at your own risk.  We simply cannot guarantee its absolute security.

7. How we respond to requests for disclosure

We may disclose personally-identifying information or other information we collect about you to law enforcement in response to a valid subpoena, court order, warrant, or similar government order, or when we believe in good faith that disclosure is reasonably necessary to protect our property or rights, or those of third parties or the public at large.

In complying with court orders and similar legal processes, we strive for transparency.  When permitted, we will make a reasonable effort to notify users of any disclosure of their information, unless we are prohibited by law or court order from doing so, or in rare, exigent circumstances.  We reserve the right to report to law enforcement agencies any activities that we in good faith believe to be unlawful, as determined in our sole discretion.

8. How we communicate with you

We will use your email address to communicate with you, if you've said that's okay.  For example, if you contact our support team with a request, we may respond to you via email.

Our emails might contain a pixel tag, which is a small, clear image that can tell us whether or not you have opened an email and what your IP address is.  We use this pixel tag to make our email more effective for you and to make sure we’re not sending you unwanted email.

9. What if I live outside of the United States

Winchell’s is hosted and operated entirely in the United States and is subject to United States law.  Please do not provide us with any information or attempt to purchase our products if you live outside of the United States.  If you are from a jurisdiction outside of the United States, please notify us so that we may take necessary action.  This may include deleting your information.  We are committed to resolving those issues, so if you have any questions about how we collect or use your information you may email us wincustservdept [at] winchells.com.

10. How we handle updates to this Notice

We may change our Privacy Notice from time to time.  We will provide notification to you of material changes to this Privacy Notice through our Website or by sending an email to the primary email address we have on file for you. 

11. How to contact us

If you have any questions or comments relating to the Winchell’s Site or this Privacy Notice, you can submit a question on our Site, send an email to at wincustservdept [at] winchells.com, or by calling our customer service team at (626) 964-1478.

Last updated: May 31, 2019