Food delivery apps like Uber Eats and DoorDash appear to be nearly ubiquitous in the restaurant industry. If you own a restaurant and want people in the area to know about it, getting on at least one of these apps is critical.
These apps, on the other hand, take a cut of what restaurants make. Even if you order pickup rather than delivery.
Most of them take 20% to 40% of each order, which is nearly the entire profit margin on the food they sell in many cases.
ChowNow’s founders saw this trend and were concerned that it would destroy the small, local restaurant as we know it. So they decided to take action. ChowNow, like other food delivery service apps, sets up food delivery for restaurants through its own app (available on Android and iOS). The company, however, does not charge a percentage for it.
- ChowNow is a food-ordering app and subscription service for restaurants that doesn’t receive a commission on orders like other popular delivery apps.
- Restaurants that pay for the monthly service get the benefits of being on a delivery app, plus a dedicated marketing team to set up an app and website, among other features.
- For customers, the ChowNow app is similar to ordering apps from services like UberEats or GrubHub.
- You get discounts by using chownow promo code and chownow coupon!
Everything You Need to Know About ChowNow:
ChowNow, unlike UberEats or DoorDash, does not stop once a restaurant is added to its app. It also enables a restaurant to have its own ordering app.
ChowNow’s service is structured as a paid monthly subscription rather than a percentage of each order. The base cost is $149 per month, with a one-time $399 setup fee per location. But these prices go down when a business signs a longer-term contract. The annual plan costs $119 per month and includes a $199 setup fee, while the two-year annual plan costs $99 per month and includes the discounted setup fee.
ChowNow provides a wide range of services to customers, including comprehensive training, an iPad for order consolidation, an ongoing marketing strategy, and 24/7 support. In addition to assisting restaurants in setting up their own ordering app and website.
One thing to keep in mind with ChowNow is that it is not a delivery service. ChowNow is more or less a marketing team and middle man, as it does not employ its own delivery drivers. Instead, for orders placed through the site, the company allows restaurants to hire and use their own delivery drivers.
ChowNow has partnerships with some of the delivery services they compete with, including Postmates, DoorDash, and UberEats. In different areas, so restaurants that don’t want to hire delivery drivers aren’t out of luck. ChowNow isn’t trying to put these businesses out of business; rather, it wants to reimagine how they operate so that the process benefits everyone.
Customers can also benefit from ChowNow:
Using ChowNow as a customer does not have to be any different than using other ordering apps. It works in the same way as the other apps. But by using it instead of one of them, you’re allowing local restaurants to keep more of their earnings.
When you download the ChowNow app, it looks very similar to any other ordering app you may be familiar with. You enter your location, and it displays a list of available restaurants in your area, which you can tap to view their menu. You simply add items to your cart, check out, and wait.
If you only use ChowNow for that, you’re still helping your local small businesses. And you might even be helping yourself. Due to the high commissions on apps such as GrubHub and Postmates, many restaurants raise their prices on the app to compensate for what would otherwise be a net loss. As a result, if you use an app that charges restaurants a fee, you may end up paying more for your food than necessary.
If you only use ChowNow for that, you’re still helping local small businesses, and you might even be helping yourself. Due to the high commissions charged by apps like GrubHub and Postmates, many restaurants raise their prices on the app to offset what would otherwise be a net loss. As a result, if you use an app that charges restaurants a fee. So you may end up paying more than necessary for your meal.
