Terms of use

Last updated: 29 October 2026

These terms of use govern access to and use of the Sqwat app and website. By creating an account you accept them in full. Please read them carefully: in particular, they explain that Sqwat puts private individuals in touch and is not a party to the meals they organise. This English text is a courtesy translation; the French version prevails.

1. Who we are

Sqwat is published by Bricault Conseils, a French simplified joint-stock company with a sole shareholder (SASU) and a share capital of €1, registered with the Paris Trade and Companies Register under number 938 630 217, with its registered office at 14 rue de l’Échiquier, 75010 Paris. Publication director: Pierre Bricault. Contact: contact@sqwat.co.

The app is hosted by Scalingo SAS (Strasbourg, France). Files are stored by Scaleway SAS (Paris, France).

2. What Sqwat does

Sqwat is a platform that puts private individuals in touch to share home-cooked meals. A member (the "host") offers a meal (a "sqwat"); other members (the "guests") ask to join and share the cost of the groceries with them.

Sqwat provides the tool: publishing sqwats, messaging, payment, ratings. Sqwat does not organise the meals, does not cook, does not sell food and does not employ hosts. The meal is a private arrangement between the host and their guests, entered into at their own responsibility.

Under article L. 111-7 of the French Consumer Code: hosts are private individuals, not professionals, unless they say otherwise. Consumer protection rules therefore do not apply between members. Public sqwats are listed from the most recently published to the oldest; the filters you choose (date, distance, diet…) narrow the list without changing that order. No host pays for a better position.

3. Your account

You must be at least 18 to use Sqwat. You agree to give accurate information (identity, phone number, allergies and diet) and keep it up to date. Your account is personal: do not lend it to anyone.

Sqwat may suspend or close an account for breach of these terms, dangerous behaviour or repeated reports, after telling you why, except in an emergency.

4. Sqwat's liability

Sqwat acts as a technical intermediary. As such, Sqwat is not responsible for:

• members' behaviour, before, during or after a sqwat;

• the quality, quantity, freshness, ingredients or hygiene of the food, nor for declared allergies and diets being respected — Sqwat's allergen alerts are an aid, not a guarantee: if you have an allergy, always check directly with the host;

• the condition, safety or accessibility of the host's home;

• any bodily, material or other harm occurring in connection with a sqwat;

• the accuracy of what members publish (photos, menus, profiles, reviews).

Each member is responsible for their own actions. We recommend checking that your personal liability insurance covers having guests in your home.

Sqwat tries to keep the service available at all times but does not guarantee it will never be interrupted. Sqwat remains liable for any failure in its own obligations, as provided by law.

5. Safety during a sqwat

30 minutes after a sqwat starts, Sqwat sends every participant a notification to check that all is well. The "I have a safety problem" button starts a call to the emergency number of the sqwat's country (17 for the police in France; 112 works everywhere in Europe).

This is an aid and does not replace your own judgement. Sqwat is not an emergency service and does not intervene on site. If you are in danger, call the emergency services directly.

You can report a member at any time from their profile or by writing to safety@sqwat.co.

6. Price, payment and service fee

The host freely sets the amount asked of each guest, based on the cost of the groceries plus an optional premium. Payment is made in the app through Stripe, a licensed payment service provider. The price shown to the guest includes Sqwat's service fee: €0.99 per place (or its equivalent in the sqwat's currency), plus 5% of the rest of the amount paid. For a place paid entirely with Sqwat credit, the flat part is halved (€0.49) and the price drops by as much. When the host offers the meal, the host pays a flat €1.25 per diner, host included (€2.50 minimum), to publish the sqwat. Every amount of a sqwat is in the currency of the country it takes place in (pounds in the UK, dollars in the US…), with equivalent amounts Sqwat sets for each currency; Sqwat credit stays in the currency it was paid in. Sqwats where guests pay are open in the European Union, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, the UK, Switzerland, the US and Canada; elsewhere, only a sqwat the host offers can be published. Hosts receive their earnings in a bank account in one of these countries.

At 10 am the day after the sqwat, the host's share, less the service fee, is added to their Sqwat credit. They can transfer it to their bank account at any time, through the account they open with Stripe. This payout is put on hold while a problem reported by a guest on that sqwat is being looked into.

Sqwat credit received as a refund can be spent on another sqwat or refunded to your card at any time from your profile. It is valid for 6 months; after that it is refunded to your card automatically. Money a host earns does not expire.

7. Cancellation

A guest who cancels at least 24 hours before the sqwat starts gets their share back, less the service fee, as Sqwat credit. A guest accepted less than 24 hours before the start has one hour after being accepted to cancel on the same terms. After that, or if they do not show up, the share stays with the host.

The guest is refunded in full, service fee included, if the host cancels the sqwat, if the minimum number of guests is not reached, if the host removes them from the sqwat, or if the host changes the menu in a way that clashes with their allergies or diet. The refund is made as Sqwat credit, which can be refunded to their card at any time (see § 6), or straight to their card if they paid on the website.

The right of withdrawal does not apply to catering and leisure services provided on a specific date (article L. 221-28, 12° of the French Consumer Code).

8. The host's obligations

By publishing a sqwat, the host agrees to describe the menu and ingredients honestly, flag allergens, follow basic hygiene rules (cold chain, cleanliness, cooking), welcome guests in a safe home, and respect their building's rules and their neighbours.

Sqwat is built for cost-sharing between private individuals, not for commercial catering. Hosts must not run a professional catering business through Sqwat.

9. To-go sqwats: one a week

Regularly selling food prepared at home is a professional food business: it must follow the hygiene rules of Regulation (EC) No 852/2004 and requires a declaration to the local food safety authority (DDPP), food hygiene training and a registered business.

To stay within occasional sharing between private individuals, Sqwat limits each host to one to-go sqwat a week: two to-go (or mixed) sqwats must be at least 7 days apart. Sqwat does not support selling meals as a business today.

10. Tax: what hosts need to know

Sharing the cost of a meal you eat yourself is not income. The French tax authority treats these amounts as "co-consumption income", which is tax-free on two conditions: you eat with your guests, and the total you receive does not exceed the real cost of the groceries, excluding your own share (BOI-IR-BASE-10-10-10-10).

You are free to set the amount for your sqwat. But anything you receive above the strict cost of the groceries (your "cooking" premium, in particular) is taxable income, which you must declare.

To-go sqwats are not meal sharing: you do not eat with the person. Everything received for to-go portions is taxable income, from the first euro.

This income is in principle taxed as business profits (BIC) and may lead to social contributions, or even to having to register a business (for example as a micro-entrepreneur) if it becomes regular. See impots.gouv.fr and urssaf.fr.

Under articles 242 bis and 1649 ter A et seq. of the French Tax Code, Sqwat sends you every year, before 31 January, a summary of the amounts you received through the platform, and may be required to pass this information to the tax authority.

11. Guests' obligations

Guests agree to declare their allergies and diet accurately, arrive on time, respect the home, the house rules and the other guests, and let the host know if they cannot come.

A guest who picks up a to-go sqwat eats it at their own responsibility, within a reasonable time and keeping it chilled.

12. Prohibited behaviour

Prohibited behaviour includes: violence, harassment and any discrimination; illegal, hateful or sexual content; selling illegal products, and selling alcohol (sharing the cost of the wine served with the meal is fine, but no alcohol may be offered to go); getting around the platform's payment; fake accounts or fake reviews; any unauthorised commercial use.

Under the EU Digital Services Act, you can report any illegal content from the app or to safety@sqwat.co. Sqwat handles reports diligently and gives reasons for any removal or suspension.

13. Ratings and reviews

After each sqwat, the guest rates the host and the host rates each guest, and everyone can leave a written review. Only people who actually took part in the sqwat can rate, so reviews are verified within the meaning of article L. 111-7-2 of the French Consumer Code.

Ratings and reviews can be left for 14 days after the sqwat ends. To prevent retaliation, a rating stays hidden until the other person has rated too, or until that period ends. Reviews are published on the rated person's profile, newest first, with their date, and stay visible as long as the account exists.

No review is paid for or moderated according to its score. Sqwat may remove a review containing insults, discrimination, personal data or content unrelated to the sqwat. You can report a review to safety@sqwat.co.

14. Your content

You keep ownership of the photos, text and menus you publish. You grant Sqwat a free, non-exclusive licence to show them in the app for as long as they are published. You confirm you hold the necessary rights, in particular for photos of people.

15. Personal data

Sqwat processes your data in line with the GDPR and the French Data Protection Act. It is hosted in France; some providers, such as Stripe for payments or Anthropic for help writing menus and recipes, may process it outside the European Union, with the safeguards the GDPR requires. The privacy policy gives the details. You can access, correct, delete or export your data by writing to privacy@sqwat.co, and you can complain to the CNIL.

Your allergies and diet are health data, which you choose to provide. They are used to warn you of clashes with a menu and to filter sqwats; the host of a sqwat you ask to join sees them, and so do your friends or other members depending on your privacy settings. To adapt a menu or a recipe, Sqwat sends Anthropic the table's constraints, added up and without any names.

16. Changes to these terms

Sqwat may change these terms. You will be told of any significant change at least 15 days before it takes effect. If you keep using Sqwat after that date, you accept the new version; otherwise you can close your account at any time from the settings.

17. Disputes and governing law

These terms are governed by French law. The French version prevails.

If you have a dispute with Sqwat, write to contact@sqwat.co first. Sqwat is currently in an invitation-only test phase: the consumer mediator you will be able to use free of charge, failing agreement, will be appointed and their contact details given here before Sqwat opens to the public. Disputes are brought before the competent French courts.

Disputes between members (a disappointing meal, a broken glass) are settled between them. Sqwat can help the conversation along but is not an arbitrator.