Privacy policy
Last updated: August 29, 2025
At La Maison Smith, respecting your privacy is not optional—it is a priority. Whether you are ordering coffee, renting a workspace, or receiving our newsletters, we look after your information with the same care we give to the temperature of our cappuccinos.
The terms “we,” “us,” and “our” refer to La Maison Smith, while “you” and “your” refer to users, customers, subscribers, or members of our loyalty program who visit www.smithcafe.com or use our services. By accessing the website or using its features, you agree to our policies, terms, and notices then in effect.
This policy explains how we collect, use, and protect your personal information in accordance with the following laws:
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Canada: Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA)
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Quebec: Law 25
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United States: California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA/CPRA)
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India: Information Technology (Reasonable Security Practices and Procedures and Sensitive Personal Data or Information) Rules, 2011, and Information Technology Act, 2000.
1. Our Responsibility
Our Privacy Policy applies only within our own environment: the www.smithcafe.com website, as well as our services, tools, products, newsletters, and loyalty program.
If you click a link that takes you elsewhere—to another website, platform, or application—please be aware that you are leaving our environment. These third-party sites are independent, have their own privacy policies, and operate according to practices over which we have no control.
Therefore, we cannot be held responsible for how your information is collected, used, or shared on these third-party sites. We recommend that you carefully review their policies before providing them with your information.
2. Types of Information Collected
Generally, the personal information collected by La Maison Smith through the website (https://www.smithcafe.com), the applications we use, our loyalty program, and our tracking and reporting tools falls into the following categories:
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Identity information, such as your first name, last name, and email address;
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Delivery and/or billing address information, such as your mailing address;
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Information about your interests;
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Information about orders placed through our website;
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Information about your online browsing, such as the type of device used, your IP address, and browsing behaviour;
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Information about your purchases, order history, or payment details;
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Written content, such as complaints, product reviews, messages exchanged with our virtual assistant, and comments;
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Professional information, such as your résumé when you apply for a position at La Maison Smith.
3. When Is My Information Collected?
We collect personal information when you complete transactions, use our services, or communicate with us, including:
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When you make a purchase on our website (www.smithcafe.com);
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When you join our loyalty program by creating a member account;
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When you subscribe to a Smith coffee subscription;
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When you purchase or use a Smith gift card;
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When you subscribe to our newsletter;
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When you choose to enter one of our contests;
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When you contact our Customer Service team or virtual assistant;
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When you apply for a position through the careers page on our website.
In all cases, we make every effort to inform you, on our website or the relevant platform, that your information is being collected and, where applicable, to obtain your consent.
4. Why Is My Information Collected?
As part of our legitimate interests, we process certain information to protect your online purchases and identify potentially high-risk payments. To provide a secure experience, we work with Shopify, our trusted partner, which helps ensure the security of payments and deliveries.
We collect only the information that is strictly necessary for a specific, legitimate, and compatible purpose—useful to you and useful to us. We will not use your information for any secondary purpose without your informed consent. In the interest of transparency, we collect information for the following purposes:
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To process your orders for products or services;
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To manage the billing and delivery of products or services;
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To provide high-quality after-sales service and respond to your questions or complaints;
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To communicate with you about our offers, promotions and newsletters, your participation in our contests, or customer satisfaction surveys;
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To assist you in managing your loyalty account or coffee subscription;
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To improve your experience on our website and provide a secure, seamless environment.
5. Third-Party Platforms and External Partners
The following third-party platforms may collect your information and help us keep everything running smoothly:
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Shopify
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Mailchimp
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Zoho
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CookieYes
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Google Analytics
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ShipStation
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Seal Subscriptions
These tools may transfer information between the countries in which they are hosted. The privacy laws of the applicable country or province—Quebec, Canada, the United States, the European Union, and others—may therefore apply.
To provide our products and services efficiently and seamlessly, we use external technology providers, including Shopify, Mailchimp, Zoho, ShipStation, Seal Subscriptions, and Google Analytics. These partners process certain personal information on our behalf, in accordance with our instructions and strictly for the purposes described in this policy.
Most of these providers act as service providers: they may use your information only to help us deliver our services, such as operating our online store, processing orders, sending newsletters, and providing customer service. We remain fully responsible for the processing of this information.
Some platforms may, however, collect information for their own purposes. This is particularly the case with Shopify, for platform security or performance purposes, and Google Analytics, which analyzes overall browsing trends on our website. In these circumstances, these providers may also act as independent data controllers.
Some of these providers are located outside Quebec or Canada, which means that your information may be transferred abroad. In accordance with Law 25, a privacy impact assessment (PIA) has been conducted to help ensure the compliance and security of these transfers.
To provide you with a seamless and consistent experience, we may also rely on trusted external partners, such as marketing agencies, hosting providers, database providers, and email service providers. These third parties access your personal information only to the extent necessary to perform their duties and always under our supervision.
5. Your Rights
In accordance with Quebec’s Law 25, you have the right:
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To be informed about how your information is used;
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To access your personal information;
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To request the correction or deletion of your information, subject to applicable legal obligations;
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To withdraw your consent;
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To object to the processing of your information or to direct marketing.
To exercise your rights, contact us at info@smithcafe.com. For security and privacy reasons, we may ask you to provide proof of identity.
6. Cookies
What are cookies?
This policy explains what cookies are, how we use them, the types of cookies we use—that is, the information we collect through cookies and how that information is used—and how you can manage your cookie settings.
Cookies are small text files used to store small amounts of information. They are saved on your device when a website loads in your browser. Cookies help us ensure that the website functions properly, enhance security, improve the user experience, and analyze performance so that we can identify what works well and where improvements are needed.
How do we use cookies?
Like most online services, our website uses both first-party and third-party cookies for various purposes. First-party cookies are primarily required for the website to function properly and do not collect any information that personally identifies the user.
The third-party cookies used on our website primarily help us understand how the website performs, track how you interact with it, maintain the security of our services, deliver relevant advertising, and improve your overall user experience, while also making your future interactions with our website faster.
Types of cookies we use
Necessary: Necessary cookies are essential to the website’s basic functions, and the website will not function as intended without them. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable information. Maximum retention period: 1 year.
Analytics: Analytics cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information about the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, and other metrics. Maximum retention period: 1 year, 1 month, and 4 days.
Advertising: Advertising cookies are used to deliver personalized advertisements to visitors based on pages they previously visited and to analyze the effectiveness of advertising campaigns. Maximum retention period: 2 years.
Managing cookie preferences
Consent Preferences
You can change your cookie settings at any time by clicking the “Consent Preferences” button above. This allows you to return to the cookie consent banner, update your preferences, or immediately withdraw your consent.
In addition, different browsers offer different methods for blocking and deleting cookies used by websites. You can adjust your browser settings to block or delete cookies. Below are links to support documents explaining how to manage and delete cookies in the most commonly used web browsers.
Chrome: https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/32050
Safari: https://support.apple.com/en-in/guide/safari/sfri11471/mac
Internet Explorer: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/how-to-delete-cookie-files-in-internet-explorer-bca9446f-d873-78de-77ba-d42645fa52fc
If you use another browser, please refer to its official documentation.
Please note that disabling certain cookies may affect the quality of your experience on our website.
7. Security and Retention
Your information is stored securely—using encryption, access controls, monitoring, and other safeguards—on our service providers’ servers. We retain your information only for as long as necessary to fulfill the intended purpose, such as order processing, communications, or billing.
We retain your personal information only for as long as necessary for our business activities and to meet our legal obligations. The following retention periods apply:
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Transaction information: 7 years after the most recent transaction, purchase, or payment, to meet tax and accounting requirements in Quebec and Canada.
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Customer account information: 3 years after the account is closed, to provide appropriate follow-up, particularly in the event of a complaint.
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Marketing information (newsletter, offers, loyalty account, etc.): Until you withdraw your consent or 2 years after your last significant interaction with us, such as a click, email opening, or purchase.
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Job application and employment information: Up to 3 years with your consent, for future opportunities, unless you instruct us otherwise.
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Cookies and browsing information: From the end of the session up to 2 years, depending on the type of cookie.
In all cases, Law 25 requires us to document these retention periods in an internal register and to ensure that information is deleted or anonymized once the applicable period has ended, unless a legal obligation requires us to retain it for longer.
In accordance with Law 25, if the integrity, confidentiality, or security of a user’s personal information is compromised, La Maison Smith undertakes to notify the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) and inform the person concerned as soon as possible when the breach is likely to create a high risk to that person’s rights and freedoms.
8. Sharing Information
As part of its activities, La Maison Smith may share certain personal information with third parties in the following circumstances:
a. Service Providers
We work with technology providers to ensure the proper operation of our services, including hosting, online store management, newsletter distribution, customer support, performance analytics, and shipping logistics. These providers act only on our behalf, in accordance with our instructions and under contractual agreements governing their activities.
These providers include:
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Shopify (e-commerce);
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Mailchimp (email marketing);
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Zoho (customer relationship management);
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Google Analytics (behavioural analytics);
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ShipStation (shipping);
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Seal Subscriptions (subscription management).
b. Legal Obligations and Government Requests
In certain circumstances, we may be required to share your personal information, including when required by applicable law, a subpoena, a court order, or a lawful request from a public or government authority. In these circumstances, only the information that is strictly necessary will be disclosed.
c. Business Transactions
In the event of a sale, merger, acquisition, or reorganization of all or part of our business, your personal information may be transferred to a successor entity. Any such transfer will be carried out in a manner that protects the confidentiality of the information and complies with applicable legal obligations. You will be informed within a reasonable period if such a change could have a significant impact on your rights.
9. Updates
We may update this policy from time to time. We will display the date of the most recent update here. If you continue to use our website, this means that you accept the changes.
10. Contact Us
If you have any questions or requests regarding your information, please contact us by email at info@smithcafe.com.
Thank you for your trust.
At La Maison Smith, every interaction with your information is handled seriously, transparently—and with great care, just like our coffee.
