Terms

Who you are dealing with

Plate Cost is made and run by JTS, a small software business based in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA. In these terms, “JTS”, “we” and “us” mean that business, and “you” means the person or business using Plate Cost. Questions about anything here: platecost@jtsapps.com.

Using Plate Cost

• Keep your password to yourself. What is done with your account is your responsibility, so tell us right away if you think somebody else has it.
• Use it for your own business, lawfully. Do not try to break it, get into other people's accounts, copy it wholesale or resell access to it.
• Only put in information you are allowed to use.

Your data is yours

• What you put into Plate Cost belongs to you. We use it to run Plate Cost for you and for nothing else. It is never sold, never shown to another customer, and never used to compare you with anyone.
• Ask and we will send you a copy, correct it or delete it. A deletion is done within 30 days, apart from payment records the law makes us keep.
• The privacy page says exactly what is kept and who helps us run it.

Paying

• Card payments are handled by Stripe. JTS never sees your card number.
• A subscription runs month to month (or year to year, where a yearly price is offered) until you stop it. Stop any time from the tool's settings or account page: it ends at the close of the period you have already paid for, and you are not charged again.
• If a price ever goes up, we email you at least 30 days before the new price applies to you.
• Payments are not refunded, except where the law says otherwise or a plan's own page promises a refund. The free days are there so you can try it on your own figures before you pay anything.

Estimates, not advice

The figures Plate Cost works out are estimates, made from the numbers you give it. They are not financial, tax, legal or accounting advice. What you charge, pay, file or sign is your decision; check anything important with a qualified professional.

What we promise, and what we cannot

• We work to keep Plate Cost accurate, safe and available, and we fix what is reported. We cannot promise it will never have an error or an outage, so it is provided “as is”, without other warranties, as far as the law allows.
• As far as the law allows, JTS is not liable for indirect or consequential losses, such as lost profit, and our total liability for any claim is limited to what you paid for Plate Cost in the 12 months before it.
• If we ever close Plate Cost, we will email you at least 60 days ahead and give you a way to take your data with you.

Ending, and changes to these terms

• You can stop using Plate Cost at any time. We may suspend an account that breaks these terms or is not paid for, telling you first where we reasonably can.
• If these terms change, the new version goes on this page with its date. For a change that matters to you, we email you before it applies.
• These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Alabama, USA. Nothing here takes away rights that the law where you live gives you.

Last changed: October 8, 2026.

Plate Cost in particular

The free days

• A new account gets 14 days free, with every screen. No card is asked for to start.
• When the free days are up, everything you put in stays: you can still read it and export it. Changing it again needs a subscription.

Paying

• Plate Cost is $49 a month per location, by card, month to month. One account is one location; a second location is a second account.
• Subscribing during the free days keeps the days you have left: the card is first charged when they are up.
• Stop any time from Settings, Manage billing. It runs to the end of the month you have paid for, and you are not charged again. No refunds: the free days are there to try it on your own menu first.

What the numbers are

• This tool does math on the numbers you give it. Check the results before you rely on them.
• Every figure is worked out from the prices, pack sizes, usable parts, recipes and menu prices you put in. Plate Cost does not read your invoices, your suppliers' websites or your register, and cannot know what is not in what you give it.
• A suggested price is arithmetic: your plate cost divided by your own food cost target, rounded up. What you charge is your decision. The 30% a new account starts on is an example; set your own.
• A price alert is about the prices you typed in. It knows nothing about a price a supplier changed that you have not put in.