GFS Cookies and Similar Technologies Policy (2024)

Gordon Food Service, Inc. and its related entities (collectively, “GFS”, “our”, “we” or “us”) takes your privacy seriously and encourages you to understand our use of automated data collection mechanisms (“Cookies”) in connection with our websites, gfs.com, gfs.ca, gfsstore.com, gordonrestaurantmarket.com, and their related domains, platforms, social media channels, software applications, mobile applications, services, information, web postings, products and tools (collectively, “Service(s)” or “Website“). As discussed in greater detail within this Cookie and Similar Technologies Policy (“Cookie Policy”) and our corresponding Cookie table available in the “Preferences” portion of the Privacy Center (“Cookie Chart”), our collection of data through the use of Cookies helps us to improve and market our Services, and provide you with an enhanced user experience. This Cookie Policy and the Cookie Chart supplement the information in our Privacy Policy.

Cookies.

A cookie is a small text file that is stored on your browser or the hard drive of your computer. They are used to make websites function and to collect information to facilitate more secure, efficient, and customized user experiences. Cookie use is standard for most websites.

Pixels.

Pixels – sometimes also called “pixel tags,” “clear gifs,” or “web beacons” – are very small graphic images that help companies analyze users’ behavior across the Internet. GFS uses pixel tags on our Website to collect information about users’ use of our Services, such as which Website pages you view, which features or links you use, or other such actions you take relative to our Services. This helps us analyze our users’ use of our Services and measure the effectiveness of our Services and related advertising. Types of information that pixels may gather includes the IP address of the device you use to access the Services, date and time information, immediate browsing history, and technical information about your device such as the browser type and operating system. Pixels can also allow us, or third parties, to place cookies on your device.

Analytics.

We want to provide you with features that interest you. Cookies allow us to determine which aspects of our Services are more (or less) popular with our users, including our websites, e-mails, advertisem*nts, or other content. We can use that information to understand and improve upon our Services, as well as to develop new features to serve you better. Such usage information forms the basis for reports generated to provide us aggregated information about the utilization of our Services.

Advertising and Social Media.

Marketing Cookies permit more efficient delivery of advertisem*nts to you, regarding products or services in which you are more likely to be interested, which may be based on a profile informed by the collection and analysis of behavioral and personal characteristics. They also help us track the effectiveness of our marketing efforts. Social media Cookies can track your browser activity across other sites and create a profile of things that are likely of interest to you.

Essential Services.

We use Cookies to collect and process personal information that is essential to the functionality of the Website and our Services. Cookies support our Services’ security features, and help us prevent fraud, authenticate users, and identify malicious or illegal behavior. We also use Cookies to deliver a customized experience to our users, such as by enabling our Website to recall our users’ usernames, profile information, previous searches, and information regarding previously viewed products or services. Essential cookies may not be disabled.

Google reCAPTCHA v3.

We use “Google reCAPTCHA v3” (hereinafter “reCAPTCHA”), provided by Google, Inc. (“Google“), on our Website. The purpose of reCAPTCHA is to keep our website as secure as possible by checking whether data that enters our system – for example, through a web form – is provided by a human individual as opposed to spamming software or other robot. To make this determination for this purpose, reCAPTCHA collects and reviews various aspects of the Website user’s activity, including, without limitation, IP address, browser information cursor activity, time spent on the Website, and snapshots of your browser window. This assessment automatically begins when our user enters the Website. If you want to prevent any data about you and your behavior to be transmitted to Google, you must log out of Google and delete all Google cookies before visiting our Website or using the reCAPTCHA software. Please visit the following page to obtain more information about reCAPTCHA: https://www.google.com/recaptcha/intro/android.html. Google’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy can be found here: https://policies.google.com/ .

Google Analytics and Ads Pixels.

Our Website uses Google Analytics and Google Ads. Google Analytics collects and generates information, through Cookie placement, about your use of the Website. Google will use this information to evaluate your use of our Website, to compile reports on Website activity and to provide us with other services related to Website activity and internet usage.

If you would like to prevent Google Analytics from collecting your data, you can prevent this collection by utilizing the opt-out tool that Google makes available at the following site: http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout. If you use this tool, an opt-out cookie will be placed to prevent Google Analytics from collecting your information. Google’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy can be found on this page: https://policies.google.com.

Our Website also uses Google’s Enhanced Conversion Pixel for Google Ads tracking to collect information about our customers’ engagement with our advertisem*nts. We use this Google pixel to identify whether a Google account holder has viewed an advertisem*nt before they completed our customer onboarding process on the GFS website. Google Ads uses this information to build a data model to help us better target potential consumers who might be interested in becoming a GFS customer.

Meta Pixel.

We use Meta Pixel, operated by Meta Platforms, Inc. (“Meta“) on our Website. Meta Pixel is a portion of code integrated into our Website which allows Meta to identify our Website users as targets for advertising that Meta offers (collectively referenced here as “Meta ads,” which includes advertisem*nts commonly known as “Facebook ads”). We use this technology to display our Meta ads only to users of Meta services (e.g., Facebook, Instagram) who have shown an interest in our services or share interests in certain topics or products, which can be determined on the basis of which websites you visit, which information we transmit to Meta through the Meta Pixel. Meta Pixel also helps us understand how effective (or not) our Meta ads are, by allowing us to see whether our users have been redirected to our Services after clicking on a Meta ad. Where this occurs, Meta Pixel further allows us to identify, with Meta’s help, broadcast audiences that are similar to users using our Services in this way. It also helps us to obtain detailed statistics about the use of our Website for market research purposes.

When users visit our Website, the Meta Pixel directly connects to servers operated by Meta or its affiliated companies, such as Facebook. That server is then notified that you have visited our Website and Meta records this information to your personal Meta-associated account (e.g., your Facebook account). Meta may also use this information for its own promotional purposes, for instance, allowing Facebook and its partners to show you advertisem*nts on and outside of Facebook, in accordance with Facebook’s Data Usage Policy, available at https://www.facebook.com/policy.php. You can disable this function as shown at https://www.facebook.com/settings?tab=ads.

Hotjar.

Our Website uses Hotjar, a web analytics tool offered by Hotjar Ltd. We use Hotjar to assess our users’ behaviors on our Website – such as, for example, cursor movements, clicks, and keystrokes. The Hotjar code and cookies on our Website generate such data, which is then sent to Hotjar. In particular, the Hotjar technology collects and processes the following data:

• A device’s IP address (processed during your session and stored in a de-identified form), device screen size, device type (unique device identifiers), browser information, geographic location (country only), and the preferred language used to display our website. Hotjar stores this information on our behalf in a pseudonymized user profile. Hotjar is contractually forbidden to sell any of the data collected on our behalf.

GFS uses this information to improve its users’ experiences and fix problems as they arise. Hotjar’s privacy policy can be found at https://www.hotjar.com/privacy. The following website provides a process to opt-out of Hotjar’s data collection and processing: https://www.hotjar.com/opt-out.

LogRocket.

Our Website uses the web analysis tool offered by LogRocket Inc. (“LogRocket”), which helps us understand how users interact with our Website. LogRocket collects information such as cursor movements, clicks, and keystrokes, together with user session information (e.g., which pages users visit, how long they remain on pages, and interactions with the page), device and browser information (e.g., operating system, browser version, screen resolution), network information (e.g., IP address, geographic location), and error data.
GFS uses this information to improve Website users’ experiences and to troubleshoot problems as they arise. You may opt out of LogRocket collecting your data by disabling JavaScript in your browser. Please note that doing so may cause certain features of our Services to not work. LogRocket’s privacy policy can be found at https://logrocket.com/privacy/.

Through Our Privacy Center.

You can manage your experience with our Cookies by visiting our Privacy Center, which lets you customize the types of Cookies we use connection with our use of the Services.

On Your Browser.

Your Internet browser may provide settings that enable you to reject some or all non-essential browser cookies. You may also be able to delete cookies from your browser. Please follow the instructions provided by your browser if you would like to reject or delete cookies.

On Your Device.

Depending the device you are using to access the Website, you may be able to configure your device settings to opt-out, by default, from having certain device identifiers used for targeted advertising. To do so, please refer to the instructions provided by your mobile device’s manufacturer.