Owning your customer data: export, portability, and the PDPL

What does restaurant data ownership actually mean?

For an owner, data ownership means being able to take usable records with you when you leave. A dashboard lets staff look up a customer during service. An export lets you carry those records into another tool, provided that tool can read the files.

With Nexara, the data is the restaurant's, and Nexara never markets to your customers. Its customer records hold addresses and order history. When assessing a move, identify which records your staff need to continue serving regular customers.

Keep commercial ownership separate from permission to use personal information. An export does not, by itself, establish permission for a new marketing campaign. Customer privacy responsibilities continue after the file leaves the software. The guide to customer records you own covers the records side of that relationship.

Nexara sits beside the till as the order and operations layer. If you use a separate POS, identify which system holds the customer history and which holds the till records before asking either supplier for an export. Give each request a named owner at the restaurant.

What can you export from Nexara today?

The Nexara FAQ promises CSV export of orders and customers. CSV is a text-based table format that spreadsheet programs and many import tools can read. The published commitment leaves the exact field coverage and delivery arrangements unspecified, so confirm these together when requesting your sample.

Send the receiving supplier's import template with your request. Ask the person handling the move to mark which destination fields are required and which are optional. This makes a missing address column or an incompatible order reference visible before the final handover.

Keep the original sample unchanged and work on a copy. Record any column renaming or formatting changes needed for the test import, so the same steps can be applied to the final files.

How do you check whether a CSV is actually portable?

A file is portable only if you can use its contents elsewhere. Opening it in a spreadsheet is the first check. Spreadsheet software can reinterpret phone numbers as numbers and strip leading zeros; text encoding can also affect how Arabic names display.

1. Request a sample with test records. Check Arabic and English text, phone numbers and address formatting without circulating real customer information unnecessarily. Import phone columns as text.
2. Compare the headers with the receiving system's import template. Mark missing fields and any columns that need renaming or conversion.
3. Check how orders connect to customers. Confirm whether the exported identifiers let the receiving system preserve the relationship instead of creating an unrelated contact list.
4. Inspect dates and money fields. Establish the timezone, currency and meaning of totals before comparing them with reports.
5. Reconcile record counts for the same date range and branch selection. Investigate differences, including cancelled or refunded orders, and record the reason for each mismatch.
6. Run a test import before the final handover. Check duplicate handling and inspect the resulting records with the person who will use them.

Validate the sample and final files before authorising deletion.

The receiving supplier also has work to do. A customer importer may accept contact details but reject historical orders, even when both files are valid CSV. Have that supplier record the test outcome and list any rejected rows before you approve the move.

What does Jordan's PDPL mean for this decision?

Nexara's privacy policy references Jordan's Personal Data Protection Law, PDPL No. 24 of 2023. Its Terms specify that Arabic is authoritative. Your restaurant's legal responsibilities depend on how it collects and uses personal information.

Read the current Privacy Policy and Terms alongside your agreement. For a restaurant, the practical questions include who can access customer addresses and what happens when an individual raises a privacy request. Obtain qualified Jordanian legal advice for obligations specific to your business.

• Document why you collect customer information and check whether each intended use is covered by the applicable requirements.
• Decide who should receive exported files. Keep delivery details out of general staff chats and shared folders that unrelated staff can access.
• Agree how privacy requests reach the responsible person at the restaurant and how software-provider assistance will be requested.
• Clarify retention requirements, including any records your restaurant may need to retain for a separate legal purpose.

Include working copies in your handling plan. Files saved on a manager's laptop or sent to a migration contractor need an assigned custodian and a decision about how long they should be kept.

Does order intake give you unrestricted customer data?

Nexara brings Talabat and Careem orders into the branch's live order queue alongside its own ordering channels. Orders attach to customer records the restaurant owns; the information supplied by each channel and its permitted uses remain subject to that channel's terms.

Check those terms before combining channel records into a marketing list. A record used to fulfil a delivery and a contact eligible for promotional messages serve different purposes. Keep the source of each record clear during the move.

For your own channels, Nexara provides branded online ordering and customer records with addresses and order history. Decide which staff need those addresses for their work, and review access when staff leave or change roles.

Use the guide to what Nexara does not do yet when checking the wider handover. List any operational work that must continue outside the customer and order import, such as handling an unresolved complaint.

What should happen if you leave Nexara?

Treat leaving as a handover. A lapsed Nexara paid plan drops to Free rather than being suspended or deleted. That changes the available plan features; it is separate from a request to delete your records.

1. Confirm the export scope and delivery method in writing before setting your switch date. Confirm any charges and which features your team will need during the handover.
2. Agree the final date range and cutover time so orders arriving during the move are accounted for. Assign someone to check records created after the sample was taken.
3. Receive the final files, keep a controlled copy and complete the receiving system's import checks. Resolve rejected rows and check that customer-order relationships survived.
4. Once retention requirements are settled, send a separate deletion request. Specify its scope and agree how completion will be confirmed.

Record who will verify the export and who will authorise deletion. Keep the file receipt and import results with the handover record, so a later question about a missing customer has a documented starting point.

To request a sample export from Nexara at nexaratech.io, use the closing link to open a WhatsApp conversation with founder Issa Al-Dalu. Bring your receiving system's import template if you have one.