Guidelines and Policies
If there's one thing we truly love, it's sharing in all the great foodie moments you have. Bouquets when the food exceeds your expectations, brickbats when the service is shocking, chronicles of your food excursions — they all count. We encourage you to share your experience, as your reviews help others make informed dining and ordering decisions. They also contribute to the mess partner's overall rating, which is calculated using a proprietary weighted average that factors in recent experiences among other considerations. Your feedback helps mess partners improve and continue delivering great experiences.
While we welcome opinions and descriptions of your experiences, there are a few things we expect from every user on Bento. Your reviews and photos, as well as your profile and the comments you share, are publicly visible and are subject to the Content Guidelines of our Foodie Code of Conduct.
If your activity on Bento doesn't match up to these content guidelines, we reserve the right to take action against such activities as we deem necessary. This could include altering or deleting your reviews or comments, restricting your review activity or deleting your Bento account altogether, with or without notice. In addition to it, Bento also utilizes an algorithm to aid in removing suspicious reviews.
If you see content that does not align with these guidelines or our Terms of Service, please let us know at support@bentoapp.in. We will consider such reports. However, due to the diversity of our community, it is possible that content disagreeable to you might not meet the criteria to be removed.
Foodie Code of Conduct
Keep out the clutter
To make sure we collectively work towards building the highest-quality content that's useful to everyone, it's important that the review makes sense and is intelligible to any reader. If any review is filled with junk/random emojis, we might have to remove the review altogether.
Keep it relevant
Please keep your contributions relevant to Bento. Accounts placing irrelevant, inappropriate or promotional content, reviews with similar digital signatures that spam mess partners or are based on any already disclaimed or informed policies and practices of a mess partner may be deleted without notice and prior consent. If your review has been removed or moderated by us and if you repost another experience for the same mess partner, we reserve the right to remove that review too. In the case of spam, we can restrict your review activity on Bento.
Keep it clean
Whether you're writing a small snippet or a delightfully detailed account of your meal, keep foul/abusive/hateful language, threats, and lewdness out of it. We will delete reviews with such content. This also includes (but is not limited to) derogatory comments on someone's protected characteristics (e.g. race, gender, religion) or indication of a personal vendetta against a business and its associates.
Keep it fresh
You should submit only one review per experience, whether it's for online ordering or dining. Make sure your review reflects your most recent visit, as that's what truly helps others in making an informed decision. While we don't remove older reviews unless they violate our content guidelines, reviews that mention experiences older than six months may be deleted from the platform.
Keep it real
Write your review based on facts and your own experiences (e.g. not a friend's or any hearsay experience or based on media reports). Your review should be genuine and factually correct. Please don't exaggerate or falsify your experience. We do not take sides in cases of dispute, so make sure you can stand by your word. Content that anyhow indicates that the author hasn't even visited or availed any services from the mess partner will be removed. Deceptive, fake, or misleading reviews will be removed. Accepting or soliciting a kickback — monetary or otherwise — in exchange for reviews or photographs is also not acceptable, and could result in removal of your profile.
Don't solicit
Identifying or promoting yourself as an official Bento blogger, or using your status to solicit any kind of benefits (including but not limited to accepting money, free meals, drinks) in exchange for reviews, or at the threat of negative reviews on Bento, will not be tolerated. If reports or evidence of such instances are brought to our attention, we reserve the right to delete your Bento profile or take any other action that we may deem fit, no questions asked.
Don't steal
Plagiarism is something we take seriously. Copying others' reviews or photos from Bento or other platforms, or even reposting your own in multiple places on Bento (in full or in part), is something that will not be tolerated and may be removed/moderated. We trust that you'll play fair and create your own content.
Tell the whole story
If you dine as a guest of the mess partner, or have a relevant association with a mess partner or its owners, give full disclosure in your review. We're sure that honesty is the best policy, and other users will respect you even more for it. We reserve the right to remove the review in case of non-disclosure of such nature of experiences.
Be yourself
Your profile is your identity on Bento, so keep it authentic. While you're free to use a screen name, avoid using inappropriate names, bios, or profile images. If an account is suspected to be spammy, bot-driven, or violates these norms, we may take strict action, including account removal.
Be cautious
This is a public platform, and all published reviews are visible to everyone. Please avoid sharing any personal or sensitive information in your review or username, such as contact numbers, addresses, email IDs, credit card or bank details, as it may lead to identity theft or fraud. To protect user safety, we reserve the right to remove reviews containing such information.
Don't misrepresent
Identifying or promoting yourself as an official Bento blogger, or using your status to solicit benefits in exchange for reviews on Bento will not be tolerated. If reports or evidence of such instances are brought to our attention, we reserve the right to delete your Bento profile, no questions asked.
Don't be a bully
We take allegations of blackmail or threatening behaviour against mess partners and their associates very seriously. This activity is strictly against our guidelines and may also be illegal in many locations. Reviews submitted in an attempt to blackmail a mess partner and its associates will be deleted.
Play by the rules
The content you add should be in compliance with Bento's Terms and Conditions, as well as the prevailing local laws and regulations. Local laws take precedence, and content may be moderated or deleted to adhere to these.
Photo Guidelines
There's no easier way to show how delicious that dal makhani was than with a picture, right? That said, it's important to keep in mind our photo guidelines, and understand why some photos may be moved or removed once they've been added.
Food shots that are clear, in focus, and delicious enough to make the viewer hungry will be featured in mess partners' photo galleries. Ambiance shots that highlight the overall feel or vibe of a place will also be highlighted.
Violation of the below mentioned pointers may lead to deduction of points, reduced visibility or deletion of your pictures:
- Photos that are exact duplicates of other photos, multiple clicks of the same dish or ambiance
- Plagiarised photos
- Photos of others posted without their permission
- Photos that contain promotional content
- Photos that are blurry or unclear
- Photos that contain text, or are not related to the dining experience
- Photos of half-eaten food items
- Photos of packed food items/packaging
- Photos containing watermarks or write-ups of any kind
- Unpleasant photos that ruin people's appetites
Guidelines for Mess Partners
Bento is a great way for mess partners to reach out to a vast student community. A few things you should keep in mind:
- Keep your listing updated: While our team makes every effort to keep information on Bento up-to-date, we appreciate you letting us know when an update is required. If your timings change and your listing is not updated, students arriving late won't be too happy.
- Don't solicit reviews: The best way to get reviews is to delight students with your food and service. Selective solicitation is a strict NO, and offering any type of compensation or kick-back for reviews is unfair.
- Don't ever offer freebies, discounts, or payment in exchange for reviews.
- Don't offer incentives for users to remove reviews.
- Don't work with third-party vendors/agencies offering to 'fix your reviews/ratings'.
- Respond to criticism positively: Take two deep breaths when you get a negative review. These students are always right, even when they are wrong. Take the unflattering reviews as constructive feedback and use it as an opportunity to fix things. You can reply with a management response to show you care, but please don't use this as a platform to hit back.
- Be accountable: Bento will not moderate any questionable activities about your mess posted in reviews. This business requires thick skin.
In a concerted effort to maintain the neutrality of content on Bento, mess owners, employees, and any affiliates with business interests are not permitted to write reviews on Bento. We understand that being in the food industry, you are truly passionate about food, and would love to share your experiences. But when you're unavoidably invested in your business, it becomes hard to leave emotions (and bias) at the door. This is a step towards maintaining neutrality — and quality — of the content on Bento.
Bento Employee Code of Ethics
Employees of Bento are expected to adhere to and uphold the highest standard of ethics and integrity. This includes acting in accordance with our core values and the below listed policies at all times.
- Bento employees are prohibited from using their employee status to solicit discounts, freebies, or special treatment at mess partners. Unless visiting a mess partner for official business, Bento employees are to refrain from identifying themselves as employees of Bento.
- All Bento employees in client-facing roles are prohibited from writing reviews and/or giving ratings for dining experiences on Bento from either their personal or Bento accounts. They are also not permitted to influence others to write biased reviews or give ratings.
- Bento's review and photo moderators are required to always act in favor of keeping Bento a neutral platform. They are required to use their best judgement in implementing moderation guidelines and are prohibited from giving preferential treatment to mess partners.
Please email us at legal@bentoapp.in if you witness any behavior not in compliance with this code as it is in direct violation of employee contracts.
Have a question about our policies or want to report a violation? Contact us