Terms of Service

These Terms of Service ("Terms") are an agreement between you and The Dragons Nest LLC, operating as Ember Ops Consulting ("Ember Ops," "we," "us"), covering emberopsconsulting.com, the free Restaurant Operations Assessment, chat assistant, contact and booking forms, payment pages, client portal and related emails (the "Services"). By using the Services you agree to these Terms and our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, do not use the Services.

If you use the Services on behalf of a restaurant or company, you confirm you are authorized to bind it, and "you" includes that business. You must be at least 18.

Paid engagements — The Floor-Up Audit, The 90-Day Rebuild, The Operator's Corner and The Full Chain — are governed by the package description at checkout, any written proposal or agreement you sign, and these Terms. If they conflict, the signed agreement controls, then the package description, then these Terms.

Work is delivered by an assigned Ember Ops operator, with a final Ember Ops quality review of each diagnosis and plan. Scope, visit counts, timelines and deliverables are as described for your package. Work outside that scope requires written agreement and may be billed separately.

The free read, chat assistant, articles and examples on this site are general information produced partly with automated and AI tools, based only on what you enter. They are not a professional audit, and are not legal, tax, accounting, financial, employment, health-code or food-safety advice. Estimates such as "monthly leak" figures are illustrative. Do not rely on them without an engagement and your own qualified advisors.

• Prices are listed in U.S. dollars and may change; the price shown at checkout or on your private payment link applies to your purchase.
• Payments are processed by Stripe under Stripe's terms. By choosing an installment plan you authorize the scheduled charges to your payment method until the stated total is paid (or, for The Operator's Corner monthly option, until cancelled per its terms).
• If a payment fails, we will notify you and may pause scheduled work or portal features until the balance is current.
• Taxes, if applicable, are your responsibility. Travel beyond the Houston-area service radius, on-site visits and materials may be itemized as described in your agreement.

• Walkthroughs and visits may be rescheduled with at least 48 hours' notice, subject to availability.
• Missed visits without notice may count as delivered.
• Except as stated in your signed agreement or The 90-Day Execution Guarantee, fees for work already started or delivered are non-refundable. Unused, unstarted portions may be refunded at our discretion.
• Guarantee eligibility, measurement and any refund are determined solely by the signed guarantee agreement, including its logging requirements and defined retained costs. The Operator's Corner is not covered by the guarantee.

Results depend on execution. You agree to:

• Provide accurate, complete information and records, and timely access to your location and team.
• Decide whether and how to implement any recommendation; you remain responsible for managing your business, staff, compliance with employment, health, safety, licensing and tax laws, and all business decisions.
• Complete required daily logs and actions where a program or guarantee applies.
• Obtain any consent needed from your staff for photos or observations taken during visits.

Portal accounts are created after a paid engagement using the email tied to your booking. Keep your credentials confidential; you are responsible for activity under your account. Tell us immediately at noah@thedragonsnesttrades.com if you suspect unauthorized access. We may suspend access for non-payment, misuse, or when an engagement ends, after giving you a reasonable chance to download your documents.

You agree not to:

• Submit false, misleading or automated leads, or impersonate anyone.
• Attempt to access accounts, data or admin areas that are not yours, probe or disrupt security, or overload the Services.
• Scrape, copy or resell site content, prompts or deliverables, or use the chat assistant to generate unrelated content.
• Upload unlawful, infringing or malicious material.

The website, the People → Operations → Sales → Profits framework, templates, workbooks, playbooks, methods and software are owned by Ember Ops and protected by law.

Upon full payment, you receive a non-exclusive, non-transferable license to use the deliverables prepared for you (SOPs, plans, workbooks, summaries) for your own restaurants' internal operations. You may not resell, publish or distribute them to third parties or use them to provide consulting services. We keep the right to reuse general know-how and anonymized, non-identifying learnings. Your own data and records remain yours.

We treat your non-public business information — financials, records, staff details and operations — as confidential, use it only to deliver the Services, and share it only with team members and service providers who need it. We will not name you as a client or publish your results without written permission.

Except for the express written guarantee in a signed agreement, the Services and all content are provided "as is" and "as available." We do not guarantee any particular revenue, profit, cost, staffing or other business result, and we disclaim all implied warranties, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement, to the fullest extent permitted by law. We do not warrant that the website will be uninterrupted or error-free.

To the fullest extent permitted by law: (a) Ember Ops and its owners, operators, employees and contractors will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary or punitive damages, or for lost profits, revenue, data, goodwill or business opportunity, even if advised of the possibility; and (b) our total liability for all claims relating to the Services or any engagement will not exceed the fees you actually paid to Ember Ops for the specific engagement giving rise to the claim during the 12 months before the claim (or $100 if you have paid nothing).

These limits apply to every theory of liability and are a fundamental part of our pricing. Some jurisdictions do not allow certain limits, so they apply only as permitted.

You agree to defend and indemnify Ember Ops against third-party claims, losses and reasonable legal fees arising from your business operations, your implementation decisions, your violation of these Terms or law, or information you provide — except to the extent caused by our gross negligence or willful misconduct.

The Services rely on third parties such as Stripe, Google and video-call providers. Their services are governed by their own terms, and we are not responsible for their availability or actions.

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Texas, without regard to conflict-of-law rules. Before filing any claim, you agree to contact us at noah@thedragonsnesttrades.com and try in good faith to resolve it for 30 days. Any unresolved dispute will be brought exclusively in the state or federal courts located in Harris County, Texas, and both parties consent to that venue. Any claim must be brought within one year after it arises. Where permitted, disputes will be resolved individually and not as part of a class action.

• Changes: we may update these Terms; the date above shows the current version. Changes do not alter a signed agreement already in effect.
• Termination: we may suspend or end access to the Services for violation of these Terms. Sections that by nature should survive (payment, IP, confidentiality, disclaimers, liability, indemnity, law) survive.
• Force majeure: neither party is liable for delays caused by events beyond reasonable control, such as severe weather, outages or public emergencies.
• Severability and waiver: if any provision is unenforceable, the rest remains in effect; failing to enforce a term is not a waiver.
• Electronic communications and signatures: you agree to receive notices electronically and that electronic signatures in the portal are binding.
• Entire agreement: these Terms, the Privacy Policy and any signed agreement are the entire agreement about the Services.

The Dragons Nest LLC · Ember Ops Consulting · Houston, Texas area · noah@thedragonsnesttrades.com