Last updated November 11, 2026
Draft notice: this document is awaiting review by an attorney and may change before launch.
HomeHelp is operated by Family First (doing business as HomeHelp), Palatine, Illinois. HomeHelp is a platform that connects customers who want a meal cooked in their home with independent home chefs. HomeHelp does not cook, and chefs are not HomeHelp employees.
You must be at least 18 years old to use HomeHelp.
A visit is charged by the hour at the rate shown in the app when you book. You are charged after the visit is complete, using Stripe, our payment processor. HomeHelp never sees or stores your full card number.
When you pay, your card is saved with Stripe so that your next visit can be charged automatically after it ends. You can remove the saved card at any time in Account settings.
HomeHelp keeps a platform fee from each visit. Tips are optional and go 100% to the chef.
Refunds are handled case by case. Contact us if something went wrong with a visit.
Customers provide the groceries and the kitchen equipment needed for the meal. The grocery list shown for a dish is a guide, and the customer is responsible for having the ingredients ready before the chef arrives.
Please tell your chef about food allergies and dietary needs before they start. Chefs cook with the ingredients you provide. Customers are responsible for making sure those ingredients are safe for everyone who will eat the meal.
Everyone must treat each other with respect. Harassment, threats, unwanted touching, discrimination, alcohol or drug use during a visit, and bringing others into a visit without agreement are not allowed.
Either person may end a visit at any time using Leave safely. In an emergency, call 911 first. The Emergency button in the app helps you call 911 and alerts HomeHelp at the same time. HomeHelp may share your name, phone number, address and live location with emergency services and with the other person's emergency contact when needed to keep someone safe.
HomeHelp screens chefs before approval with an ID check and a search of the public sex-offender registry. This is not a criminal background check and cannot guarantee anyone's conduct. Use your own judgment.
Serious reports about an account from two different people automatically suspend it while HomeHelp reviews. HomeHelp may suspend or remove any account at any time for safety reasons.
Chefs are independent businesses, not employees. Chefs choose which requests to accept, are responsible for their own taxes, and keep 100% of tips and the share of each visit shown in the app.
Chefs must follow safe food-handling practices, use their own photo and real name, and must not bring guests or ask for payment outside the app.
HomeHelp is not an emergency service. If anyone is in danger, hurt, or having a medical emergency, call 911 first. The Emergency button in the app helps you call 911 and also alerts HomeHelp, but HomeHelp cannot send help itself and may not see an alert right away.
Customers must tell their chef about every food allergy, intolerance and dietary restriction for everyone who will eat, in the request notes and again in person before cooking starts. Chefs cook with the ingredients the customer provides and cannot guarantee that a meal is free of any allergen or that a kitchen is free of cross-contact.
Chefs must not cook with an ingredient they have been told is unsafe for someone, and may stop a visit if they cannot cook safely. If someone has a serious reaction, call 911 immediately. Customers are responsible for the ingredients, labels and kitchen they provide.
HomeHelp is not responsible for any damage to property, or for lost or stolen items, before, during or after a visit. HomeHelp does not offer refunds, reimbursement, replacement or compensation for damaged, lost or stolen property, and does not investigate or settle claims between customers and chefs.
Please keep valuables, jewelry, cash, important documents, medications and anything expensive or irreplaceable away, and locked up or out of sight, while a chef is in your home. Keep pets secured.
Chefs must treat the home and its contents with care. HomeHelp is not an insurer. Customers and chefs are each responsible for their own conduct, and each is encouraged to carry insurance that fits their situation. This does not limit anyone's legal rights against the person who caused a loss.
HomeHelp accounts are for adults 18 and older. A customer who books a visit must be 18 or older and must make sure an adult (18+) is home for the entire visit.
Chefs are not babysitters or caregivers. They must never be left alone to supervise a child, and customers remain responsible for supervising children in the home, including keeping them away from the stove, knives and hot food. Chefs must not photograph or contact children, and must not bring minors to a visit.
Every chef is ID-checked and approved by HomeHelp before they can accept requests. Some chefs also choose to get a Verified mark. A Verified mark means the chef completed identity and background screening with an independent screening company and the results met HomeHelp's standards at that time. Chefs without the mark have not completed that extra screening.
Customers may ask for verified chefs only, or accept any approved chef. A Verified mark is not a guarantee of safety, skill or behavior, and screening cannot detect everything. Use the safety tools in the app and trust your judgment.
HomeHelp is where visits are booked, paid for and protected. Please do not share phone numbers, emails, social media handles or payment details in chat, notes or profiles, and do not arrange or pay for visits outside the app with someone you met through HomeHelp. Visits arranged outside HomeHelp have no start PIN, safety tools, receipts or ratings, and are not covered by these terms.
Outside HomeHelp there is no start PIN, no SOS button, no receipts or payment records, and no ratings.
HomeHelp may block messages that appear to share contact details, and may suspend or close accounts that repeatedly try to move bookings or payments outside the app.
You may cancel a request before a chef accepts it. Chefs may be unable to hold a time for late cancellations. HomeHelp may introduce cancellation fees in the future and will tell you in the app before they apply.
HomeHelp provides a platform and does not control what happens inside a home. To the fullest extent allowed by law, HomeHelp is not responsible for injuries, damages or losses that happen during a visit, or for the conduct of customers or chefs. Nothing in these terms limits any right that cannot be limited under Illinois or federal law.
We may update these terms and will post the new date. Using HomeHelp after a change means you accept it. These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Illinois. If we cannot resolve a problem informally, it will be handled in the courts located in Cook County, Illinois.
Family First (doing business as HomeHelp), Palatine, Illinois. Email: rossul119@gmail.com.