How we work

Overview

Vegans Explore is a Vegan community: a Directory of Vegan places and brands, city communities, the Community Board, the Daily Pulse, Guides, events and the Passport membership.

Who we are

Vegans Explore is a brand of LESARUSS Inc., 300 SW 1st Ave, Suite 155, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301, United States. When these policies say "we" or "us," they mean LESARUSS Inc. and the Vegans Explore team. You can learn about the company at lesaruss.com.

The short version

• We collect what we need to run your account, your membership and the features you use, and nothing we sell. We never sell your personal information.
• We use AI to help run the site, and we tell you where. Our Guides are AI characters, not people.
• Points are given for taking part. They can't be bought, and they have no cash value.
• Be kind, be honest, and keep it Vegan-friendly. That's most of the community rules.
• A real person reads every email to contact@lesaruss.com.

Every policy

Privacy

What we collect, why, who helps us, and the choices you have.

What we collect

• Your account: your name, email address, password (stored scrambled, never readable by us), your city or community, and the Guide you choose.
• What you tell us: your profile answers (Your profile on your dashboard), posts and replies on the Community Board, recipes and photos you share, votes, saves, reviews of a place you claim, and messages you send us or ask a Guide.
• Guest passes: when someone without an account takes a guest pass to a group's free event, their name and email, to send the door code and keep it to one guest pass a person.
• Purchases: what you bought and when. Card payments are handled by Stripe. We never see or store your full card number.
• Check-ins: only when you tap Check in on a listing, your phone shares its location once so we can confirm you are at that place. We keep that location, how precise it was and the time with the check-in.
• How the site is used: pages viewed, links clicked, and actions on a listing (like calling or getting directions), counted with a random visitor code kept in your browser. We use Google Analytics for site-wide traffic.
• Email activity: whether an email we sent was delivered, opened or clicked, and whether you unsubscribed.

Why we use it

• To run your account, membership, Guides, points and levels.
• To show the Directory, the Board and your city's community, and to keep them honest (for example, a place needs 10 different members' votes to be vetted).
• To send the emails you asked for, receipts and important account notices.
• To show businesses how their page is doing (counts, not who you are, unless you check in, below).
• Your profile answers are there to make your experience better: what you see first, which events, Guides and offers reach you, and who we invite. We use them for that and nothing else.
• To keep the site safe, stop spam and abuse, and fix problems.

Who can see what

• Your public posts, recipes and approved photos show with your first name and last initial.
• Your profile: our team sees all of your profile answers. You choose who else can see each answer about yourself: Can be shown or Just for Vegans Explore. Your answers in your own words, your city and your Vegan journey start as Can be shown; everything else starts as Just for Vegans Explore. The questions about your area and what you spend, and your contact details, are only ever seen by our team. Nobody browses profiles: an answer you mark Can be shown appears, with your first name and last initial, only where you take part, such as the guest list of an event you join.
• Partners: an event organizer or a brand can only reach you through Vegans Explore, during a set window, and only if you said yes when you RSVP'd or saved them. They never see your email, phone or social handles, every message is logged, and you can mute or report a sender. Without your yes, a partner only ever sees counts, never your name.
• Events: when you RSVP to an event on Vegans Explore and tick "Let the organizer message me about this event" (the box is never ticked for you), its organizer sees your first name, last initial and the profile answers you marked Can be shown, and can send you up to three messages by email through us, from the RSVP until 7 days after the event. Saying yes earns 25 points once per event. Stop messages from an organizer or report a message from the link in any of their messages, or on My events; a report pauses that organizer until our team looks.
• Brands and businesses: saving a listing is a bookmark, never permission to market to you, and a business never sees who saved it, only how many, by city. When you save a listing its business has claimed, you can tick "Let them message me during their campaigns" (never ticked for you; 25 points once per business). Only while a campaign with us is running can that business see your first name, last initial and the profile answers you marked Can be shown, and send you up to one message a week by email through us. Turn it off in My Saves or from any of their messages; unsaving them turns it off too. A report pauses the campaign until our team looks.
• Tickets and guest passes: the group's organizer sees the door list: each ticket holder's or guest's first name and last initial, what they have, and whether they have checked in. Never an email address. Buying a ticket also adds you to the group on Vegans Explore; its announcements reach you by email only if you tick the box on its page.
• Check-ins: the public sees counts only. Other members see the names of members who leave "Show my check-ins to other members" on (My Account, Privacy; it is on by default). The owner of a claimed listing sees how many members check in, by week and by home city, never who. Only members who said they may be messaged during a campaign show to that business, and only during the campaign.
• Your city's Community Manager and our team can see what they need to help you and to keep the community safe.

One LESARUSS account

Vegans Explore is a LESARUSS brand, and your account is one LESARUSS account: the same email, through Google or a password, signs you in on every LESARUSS community. Your membership on each community is its own: a Diplomat membership opens every community, and a Passport opens the one you bought it on. Children's brands are never part of it.

Who helps us run the site

We use trusted services to host the site and database, take payments (Stripe), send email, measure traffic (Google Analytics), look up public business details (such as Google's business listings and businesses' public social profiles), and power our AI features (see How we use AI). They get only what they need to do that job for us.

How long we keep it

We keep your account information while your account is open. Purchase records are kept as long as the law requires. If you ask us to delete your account, we delete or anonymize your personal information, except what we must keep for legal, tax or safety reasons.

Your choices

• Unsubscribe from any email with the link at the bottom of it.
• Turn off "Show my check-ins to other members" in My Account.
• Choose who can see each of your profile answers, or change or clear any answer, in Your profile on your dashboard.
• Ask us for a copy of your information, to correct it, or to delete your account: email contact@lesaruss.com from the address on your account. We answer within 30 days.

Children

Vegans Explore is not meant for children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect information from them. If you believe a child under 13 made an account, tell us and we will remove it.

Security

We use encrypted connections, scrambled passwords and access limits for our team. No system is perfect; if something goes wrong that affects you, we will tell you.

How we use AI

We use AI to keep a large community running with a small team. Here is where, what it means for you, and the lines we don't cross.

Our Guides are AI characters

Liz, Maya, River, Nori, Theo, Dani and the other Guides are characters we created. They are not real people. Their pictures are illustrations, and their voices and video clips are made with AI tools.

When you ask a Guide a question, we first look for an answer our team has already written and checked. If there isn't one and you choose to ask the Guide directly, an AI writes the reply. Those replies are saved as drafts, and a draft becomes a saved answer only after it is checked. You can always choose Ask a person instead.

AI can be wrong

AI replies can contain mistakes. Nothing a Guide says is medical, nutrition, legal or financial advice. Talk to a qualified professional about your health, diet, or any big decision. If a Guide says something wrong, tell us and we will fix the saved answer.

Where else we use AI

• The Daily Pulse: each day's topics are drafted with AI from real, linked sources and can be reviewed or pulled by our team.
• The Directory: AI helps write short descriptions and copy menus and hours from a business's own website and public profiles. We never invent details, and an owner can edit their page at any time.
• Pictures: some pictures are made with AI. Pictures of food or products made this way are labeled "Illustrative photo" until real ones replace them.
• Business audits and check-ups: automated checks read a business's public website, Google listing and social profiles to suggest fixes and to flag places that may have closed. A person reviews a flag before a listing is marked closed.
• Podcast transcripts: our episodes are transcribed and tagged by topic with AI so you can search them.

The lines we don't cross

• We don't sell your information, and we don't train AI models on it.
• We don't present an AI character as a real person, and we don't make AI pictures of real people without their permission.
• A person makes the calls that matter: approving claims, vetting listings, removing posts and paying out prizes.

Terms of use

By using vegansexplore.com you agree to these terms. If you don't agree, please don't use the site.

Your account

• You must be at least 13 to make an account. If you are under 18, you need a parent or guardian's permission.
• Give us true information, keep your password to yourself, and tell us if someone else gets into your account.
• One account per person. Points, votes and check-ins are personal and can't be shared or sold.

What you share

You own what you post: Board posts, recipes, photos and reviews. By posting it, you give us permission to show it on Vegans Explore and in our own promotion of the community, with your first name and last initial. Only post what you have the right to share.

What's ours

The Vegans Explore name, logo, Guides, illustrations, podcasts, Guides' content and the site itself belong to LESARUSS Inc. Please don't copy them for your own use without asking.

Not allowed

• Breaking the community guidelines, or the law.
• Gaming votes, check-ins or points (fake accounts, faking your location, automated clicking).
• Scraping the site, or using it to build a competing directory.
• Trying to break into, overload or interfere with the site.

We can remove content, take back points earned unfairly, or close an account that breaks these terms.

Information on the site

Listings, hours, menus and prices come from businesses and public sources and can change. Check with the business before you go, especially about ingredients and allergies. Links to other sites are for your convenience; we are not responsible for them.

Limits

Vegans Explore is provided as it is. To the extent the law allows, LESARUSS Inc. is not liable for indirect or unexpected losses from using the site, and our total liability to you is limited to what you paid us in the last 12 months.

Changes and law

We may update these terms. When we make a big change, we will tell members by email or on the site before it takes effect. These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Florida.

Membership, points and payments

How the Passport, Guides, points, levels, your link's commissions, partners and event tickets work.

The Passport

• The Passport is $11, one time. It makes you a member and comes with 1,100 welcome points. There is no monthly fee.
• Any purchase of $11 or more (a Guide, an event ticket, merchandise) also makes you a member.
• Founding Membership "member since" dates never move while your membership is active.

Guides

Each Guide is $11 or 1,100 points, and it's yours to keep. Free Guides stay free for everyone.

Listings and claims

Submitting a business to the Directory, or claiming a business's page, is $11 or 1,100 points each. The Passport's 1,100 welcome points cover your first one, or anything else points do: you choose. We review every one by hand.

Points

• Points are given for taking part: Bounties, campaigns, the Daily Pulse, the Community Board, check-ins and referrals. Every purchase also earns a 25-point thank-you.
• Points can't be bought, sold, transferred or cashed out, and they have no cash value. You can spend them on Guides, Guide chat, and submitting or claiming listings, or give them to a business or nonprofit on the Directory as a boost, never as money.
• Levels go by lifetime points: Level 2 from 2,500, Level 3 from 10,000, Level 4 from 25,000. The team can start someone at a higher level. Spending or giving points never lowers your level.
• We may change how points are earned or spent, and we can take back points earned by breaking the terms.

Your link and commissions

• Every member has a personal link to the Passport. When a friend joins with it and becomes a member, you get 111 points.
• From Level 2 your link also earns a commission: 20% of the Passport at Level 2, 25% at Level 3 (with Guides bought with money as well), and 30% at Level 4, the most. The rate is your level on the day of the purchase.
• A commission is a share of the $11 price, never of anything someone gives on top. It counts for purchases by people who joined with your link, for 12 months after they join. Your own purchases never earn one.
• Each commission waits 30 days in case of a refund; a refunded purchase takes its commission back. We pay once you have $25 ready, and US tax rules mean we ask for a W-9 (or the form for your country) before the first payment. Payments over the federal threshold are reported on a 1099.
• You can send everything your link earns to a nonprofit, rescue or sanctuary in the Directory instead. We send it to them in your name. Whether it counts for your taxes is a question for your tax advisor; we don't call it tax-deductible.
• Say that you earn from your link whenever you share it, for example "I earn a little when you join with my link." The law requires it (the FTC's endorsement rules in the US), and it keeps trust.
• No spam, no fake accounts, no paid ads bidding on our name, and no promises we don't make. Commissions earned against these terms are taken back, and we can end a member's commissions for breaking them. We may change the rates and rules going forward; what you already earned stays.

Nonprofit Partners

• Nonprofit Partners are rescues, sanctuaries and nonprofits in the Directory that we invite to share Vegans Explore with their people. It is by invitation only.
• The organization is the partner. It gets its own link: when someone joins through it, the organization earns 20% of the $11 Passport, and of Guides bought with money, for 12 months after that person joins, on the same terms as a member's link (the 30-day hold, payment once $25 is ready, and a W-9 or the form for its country before the first payment).
• What it earns is referral earnings paid to the organization by LESARUSS Inc., a company. It is not a donation from us and we don't call it tax-deductible.
• The organization also holds points for our services. Like every point, they have no cash value.
• The person who leads the account gets a complimentary Founding Membership. Their own level, points and personal link stay their own, separate from the organization's.
• The organization says it earns whenever it shares its link, the same as members do. We can pause or end a partnership that breaks these terms.

Group Partners

• Group Partners are community groups in the Directory (social clubs, meetups, potluck and dinner clubs) that host their community and events on Vegans Explore. It is by invitation only.
• The group is the partner. Its link earns a share of the $11 Passport, and of Guides bought with money, for people who join through it, on the same terms as a member's link (12 months after they join, the 30-day hold, payment once $25 is ready, and a W-9 or the form for its country before the first payment; the organizer's W-9 when the group has no organization of its own). The share grows with the members the group has brought in over its lifetime: 20%, then 25% at 25 members, 30% at 75, 35% at 150, 40% at 300, 45% at 600 and 50% at 1,000, the most. A new rate counts from the day it is reached, never back.
• What it earns is referral earnings paid by LESARUSS Inc., a company, never a donation.
• A group can give a membership to someone from what it has earned, once those earnings have cleared their 30 days, or pay for it by card. A gift that is not used comes back to the group's balance, not to the card.
• The organizer gets a complimentary Founding Membership. Their own level, points and personal link stay their own.
• The group says it earns whenever it shares its link. We can pause or end a partnership that breaks these terms.

Event tickets

• Some events hosted by a Group Partner sell tickets on Vegans Explore. Tickets are for Passport holders. The price is set by the group.
• At checkout you pay the ticket price and card processing (about 2.9% plus 30 cents). Our fee is 5% of the ticket price, taken from the group's share, unless the group passes it on, in which case it is shown at checkout. A free event is free.
• Your door codes come by email and are on the event's page. Each code gets one person in, once.
• Refunds follow the group's own refund policy, shown on the event and in your ticket email. A refund gives back the ticket price, our 5% included; card processing is not refunded. Refunded codes no longer work. If an event is canceled and the group does not refund you, email contact@lesaruss.com.
• Guest pass: someone without a Passport can come to one free event hosted by a Group Partner as our guest, once, at any group. From the second event, they join with the $11 Passport. Events with paid tickets need the Passport from the start.

Contributions

Contributions to Vegans Explore support the community: events, Community Managers and the apps. They go to LESARUSS Inc., a company, so they are not tax-deductible donations.

Payments and questions about a charge

Payments are processed by Stripe. If a charge looks wrong or something you bought didn't work, email contact@lesaruss.com with your receipt and we will sort it out.

Community guidelines

The Community Board, the Daily Pulse, recipes and photos work because people are kind and honest. These rules keep it that way.

Do

• Be welcoming, especially to people who are just starting out. Everyone's journey is different.
• Share what you know, with a source when it's a fact.
• Keep posts in the right section: Requests and Offers, Jobs, Classifieds, Fosters, Rescues, or Suggest a Topic.

Don't

• Harass, threaten, shame or bully anyone, or attack people for who they are.
• Post spam, scams, false information, or anything illegal.
• Share someone else's private information, or photos you don't have the right to share.
• Sell or rehome animals for profit. The Fosters and Rescues boards are for placing animals in care, never selling them.
• Post graphic content without a warning, or anything sexual.

Reporting

If you see something that breaks these rules, email contact@lesaruss.com with a link to it. Our team and your city's Community Manager review reports and can remove posts or close accounts.

Businesses and listings

How places get on the Directory, and what owners can do.

• How listings are made: from public information (the business's own website, Google's business listing and public social profiles), from members' suggestions, and from owners who apply. We never invent details.
• Vetting: a Vegan-friendly or Vegan-options food place shows publicly once 10 different members vote for it, its owner claims it, or our team vets it.
• Claiming: owners claim their page with the $11 Founding Membership or the Partner plan. Once our team approves the claim, the owner can edit the page, menu, hours and photos.
• Votes and points can't be bought. Rankings come from members.
• Closed or wrong? Tell us and we will check. Places that close for good are kept under Closed, for memory.
• Emails to businesses: we may email a business at the address it publishes on its own website, about its page. Every email has a one-click unsubscribe, and we stop for good when asked.
• Remove a listing: owners can ask us to take a page down by emailing contact@lesaruss.com.

Cookies and analytics

What we store in your browser and why.

• Keeping you signed in: your sign-in is kept in your browser's storage so you don't have to sign in on every page.
• Remembering your choices: things like your city, a folded banner, a shopping list or a quiz in progress.
• Counting visits: a random visitor code so a listing's numbers count people, not page refreshes.
• Google Analytics: Google's cookies measure site-wide traffic for us. You can block them with your browser settings or Google's opt-out add-on.
• Tracked links: links we send look like vegansexplore.com/go/... so we know which ones work. Link previews and scanners are not counted.

We don't put ad-network trackers (like Facebook or TikTok pixels) on the site. Clearing your browser's site data signs you out and resets these choices.

Accessibility

Vegans Explore should work for everyone.

We aim to meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2 at level AA: readable contrast, pages that work with a keyboard and a screen reader, captions or words alongside our Guide clips, and layouts that work on a phone. We check new pages against those guidelines, and we fix what we find.

If something on the site doesn't work for you, email contact@lesaruss.com with the page and what happened. We will fix it, or get you what you need another way.

Contact us

Questions about these policies, your information, or anything else.

Email: contact@lesaruss.com

Mail: LESARUSS Inc., 300 SW 1st Ave, Suite 155, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301

More ways to reach us are on the Contact page.