ChowNow

RATING:

4.0

(3)
Overview

About ChowNow

ChowNow is an online ordering system, which enables restaurants to manage orders, delivery processes, customer loyalty programs and more. Professionals can gain insights into clients' histories, email addresses and other metrics from within a unified platform. Using ChowNow, eateries can recieve online orders via Instagram posts or stories, Yelp, mobile applications and Google search results. The centralized dashboard allows managers to track top spenders and synchronize food menus across multiple channels. Additionally, restaurants can access daily, weekly, or monthly order reports according to requirements. ChowNow offers mobile applications for Android and iOS devices, which help customers customize food orders, search for restaurants, navigate menus and more. The ...

ChowNow Pricing

ChowNow is offered across three pricing plans, outlined below. Monthly Plan: $149/month+$399 Setup fee per location Annual Plan: $119/month+$199 Setup fee per location Two Year Plan: $99/month+$199 Setup fee per location

Free trial: 

Not Available

Free version: 

Not Available

ChowNow view location details
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ChowNow Reviews

Overall Rating

4.0

Ratings Breakdown

Secondary Ratings

Ease-of-use

4.5

Customer Support

3.5

Value for money

4.5

Functionality

3.5

Most Helpful Reviews for ChowNow

3 Reviews

Mike

Entertainment, 51-200 employees

Used monthly for less than 12 months

Review Source: Capterra
This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you.

OVERALL RATING:

5

EASE OF USE

5

VALUE FOR MONEY

5

FUNCTIONALITY

5

Reviewed April 2023

ChowNow Works Great for Trying Out New Resturants.

I use it when I'm in a new city and want too see what all restaurants offer delivery.

PROS

It's a great way to see what restaurants offer delivery in the area. Perfect for trying new food services without the fees of a typical delivery app.

CONS

The app can be clunky at times and a bit unreliable.

Reasons for switching to ChowNow

No service fees make it a good alterative.

Theodore

Restaurants, 2-10 employees

Used daily for less than 2 years

Review Source: Capterra
This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you.

OVERALL RATING:

4

EASE OF USE

4

VALUE FOR MONEY

4

CUSTOMER SUPPORT

5

FUNCTIONALITY

4

Reviewed July 2023

ChowNow Makes Online Ordering a Breeze For Restaurants

We are enabled to accept online orders through ChowNow. We were late in arriving at the online ordering game - one day I looked around and saw that all our competitors provided a way to accept orders from their websites. Once I found ChowNow, we were able to add this quickly, and it turned out to be quite popular with customers. There were certain customers who *only* ordered online, and prior to working with ChowNow, we may not have gotten their business at all.Working with ChowNow to create a custom iOS and Android app for our restaurant was similarly positive. The development team was responsive, did their work quickly, handled most of the technicalities of working with the Apple App Store and Google online store, and created a product that worked well.

PROS

The menu was easy to customize.It was easy to take items off the menu temporarily when we ran out of items.We liked getting orders via Google (maybe there is a more technical name for this - we only knew that we were getting orders placed by customers using Google ordering...) and we would not have gotten this business if we hadn't been using ChowNow.ChowNow support was almost always easy to reach by phone.ChowNow provided a iPad on which we received orders - it was quicker and more responsive hardware than the Android tablets provided by most other ordering and delivery services. ChowNow provided some basic marketing services such as e-mail blasts to the list of our customers that we developed via accepting online orders through ChowNow.Customer information (name, e-mail address, etc.) was accessible to us through the ChowNow system, unlike with other ordering and delivery services, which keep this information for themselves.ChowNow reporting features were mostly good (although I would have liked to have been able to reach back farther in time when generating reports).

CONS

ChowNow lacked a feature that would allow us to "up-charge" - that is, to add an additional charge for a customization requested in an order. Other ordering/delivery services do offer this, and it is very convenient (and eliminates the need for us to "eat the cost" of some special request.ChowNow has gotten more expensive over the years, to the point where I am tempted to look at competing products.Support in the area of marketing was unreliable during our first year using ChowNow. Our assigned marketing person did not respond to e-mails or phone calls. Fortunately that employee left the company and was replaced with someone more responsive.ChowNow allowed customers to place their orders even days in advance. Occasionally this caused a problem, such as when we planned to be closed on a particular day, but had not let ChowNow know about it yet (we had to figure out a way to get back to a customer and politely tell them we could not jake their Phad Thai on Thursday of next week...). However, if I made the effort, I suspect I could have found a way to "turn off" or limit this ordering in advance capability.Another con - occasionally I would test our ChowNow ordering by getting onto our website via my phone, and clicking on the "order now" link. In a small minority of instances, this resulted in my getting a screen full of gibberish rather than an ordering form. ChowNow support had no solution for this. It didn't happen often and doesn't seem to be happening now, though.

Reason for choosing ChowNow

We felt that as a critical provider of online ordering and delivery for our restaurant, DoorDash already had too much power over us. We thought ChowNow would be more "on our side" and "the restaurant's friend" than would any of the ordering and delivery services, and it turned out (except for high-ish prices) they were.

Brian

Restaurants, 11-50 employees

Used daily for more than 2 years

Review Source: Capterra
This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you.

OVERALL RATING:

3

EASE OF USE

5

VALUE FOR MONEY

4

CUSTOMER SUPPORT

2

FUNCTIONALITY

2

Reviewed January 2024

Solid platform, but missing features keep it from being great

PROS

The service is solid. It rarely goes out or has any issues. The menu editor online works well and is easy enough. The price is good for any place starting out that wants to offer online ordering but doesn't know how well it will work for them.

CONS

Lack of updates. Lack of new features. The online portal has said "try our new dashboard" coming soon for about 3 years. Still can not get basic sales reporting about items or categories. Customer service is a bit rough as well. Not all calls will end with your issue being resolved with out having to talk to another person first.

Reason for choosing ChowNow

At the time it was the leader in what was offered, and the price was right.