ChowNow

ChowNow provides restaurant online ordering with branded apps, a website builder, a marketplace discovery network, catering, QR code ordering, email and SMS marketing, a rewards programme and delivery operations.

Operating a discovery marketplace alongside commission-free direct ordering is the structural position, and it addresses the gap that defeats most commission-free products.

Direct ordering only works if customers know the restaurant exists and think to order from it. A restaurant with its own app faces the difficulty that customers do not browse individual restaurant apps when deciding what to eat; they browse a marketplace and choose from it.

Running a marketplace alongside the direct channel means a restaurant can be discovered by someone browsing and then converted into a direct customer who orders through the branded app next time. That progression is the commercially valuable one, since the first order costs acquisition and every subsequent order does not.

Branded apps are worth examining honestly. Customers install very few restaurant apps, so it works for a place someone orders from weekly and not for occasional custom. The economics depend entirely on repeat frequency, and a restaurant should know its own repeat rate before assuming an app will be used.

Rewards programmes serve the same purpose, giving the customer a reason to return to the direct channel rather than defaulting to whichever marketplace is open on their phone.

Pricing is published across Launch, Grow and Elevate tiers at $229 and $249.