Data policy
Data and accuracy
A recommendation is only worth as much as the data underneath it. This page sets out where MenuMap's information comes from, how fresh it is, and what happens when it's wrong.
Last updated August 2026
The current catalogue is a preview
MenuMap’s Melbourne listings are currently a demonstration dataset. The suburbs, coordinates, distances, opening-hours logic and matching all behave exactly as they will in production — but the venues themselves are illustrative examples, not real businesses, and their menus and phone numbers are not real either.
Every listing is labelled as sample data, none are submitted to search engines for indexing, and no business structured data is published for them. We would rather demonstrate the product on honest sample data than publish unverified claims about real businesses.
Where data comes from
Every venue record carries its source, shown on the venue page:
- Confirmed by venue — supplied or checked by a verified operator of that business. This is the highest tier and what we’re working towards for every listing.
- Partner feed — supplied through a booking or ordering platform the venue already uses.
- Public sources — compiled from a venue’s own published information, such as its website or posted menu.
- Sample listing — demonstration data, not a real business.
How freshness is handled
Every venue page shows when its information was last updated and when it was last confirmed by the venue itself. Those are different things and we show both, because “we refreshed our copy” is not the same as “the restaurant told us this is right”.
Menu prices are the fastest-moving data in this category and the hardest to keep current. MenuMap shows the price it last had on file with the date attached, rather than presenting it as today’s price. Prices are a guide for comparison, not a quote.
What we won’t do
- Invent a rating. If MenuMap has no reputation data for a venue, it shows none. It never defaults, estimates or fills the gap.
- Publish structured data we can’t stand behind. Machine-readable business information is only emitted for listings whose provenance supports it.
- Show buttons that don’t work. If a venue hasn’t supplied a booking or ordering link, that action is shown as unavailable rather than pointing somewhere unhelpful.
- Imply precision we haven’t earned. See how matching works for when a match percentage is shown and when it isn’t.
Correcting something
If you operate a venue, claiming it is the fastest route — you get direct control over your details, menu, hours and photos, and it is free.
Anyone can also report a problem from any venue page. Reports about closures, wrong opening hours and wrong prices are prioritised, because those are the errors that actually send someone to a locked door.
Removal requests
A venue operator can ask for their listing to be removed. We’ll verify the request comes from the business and action it. We’d usually rather fix what’s wrong than remove the listing, but it’s the operator’s call.