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ChowNow is an online food ordering platform that connects customers with local restaurants. Christopher Webb and Eric Jaffe, American entrepreneurs, founded the company in 2011 with headquarters in Los Angeles, California. ChowNow's main objective is to provide independent restaurants with appropriate tools that make them competitive in a technology-driven environment.

History
The company ChowNow was founded in 2011 by Christopher Webb, a former employee of RBC Bank and Lehman Brothers; and Eric Jaffe, a former commercial real estate investor. The platform was launched in March 2012.

In January 2013, ChowNow raised over 4 million U.S. dollars, including funding from accelerator Launchpad LA. The same year, ChowNow, initially part of the incubator Launchpad LA, closed a seed round of $1 million from GRP Partners, James Bailey and angel investors. For its expansion and product improvement, it further raised 10 million US dollars in venture funding in a round led by Upfront Ventures. ChowNow's notable investors include GRP Partners, Canyon Creek Capital, Clark Landry, Daher Capital, Double M Partners, Karlin Ventures, Launchpad LA, Tiller Partners, Upfront Ventures, Velos Partners.

In June 2016, ChowNow partnered with UberRUSH and Postmates to enhance its services with an order delivery feature called Flex Delivery service. In August of the same year, ChowNow introduced a feature that allows potential diners to place orders directly from Google search results including thousands of restaurants accross U.S. and Canada. In October 2016, ChowNow teamed up with Squarespace, a SaaS content management system and website builder platform, to enable restaurants with ChowNow's entire suite of online ordering tools.

Overview
ChowNow's online ordering technology enables independent restaurants to take orders via their own branded channels. The company was launched in March 2012 at the National Restaurant Show in Chicago and currently partneres with thousands of restaurants in 50 states in U.S.

Unlike other companies in the food ordering industry, ChowNow is not a centralized system. Rather, it allows restaurants to individually customize and brand their ordering apps. In particular, restaurants can use ChowNow's online ordering technology to take orders directly through their Facebook page. According to Webb, co-founder of ChowNow, this platform was built to bridge the gap and maintain direct relationships between two entities. While restaurants focus their energy on quality of food and service, customers look for faster and convenient ways to order their meal on the restaurants' own digital channels.

Operation
ChowNow operates on a SaaS model where restaurants subscribe on a monthly basis. The company does not prepare nor deliver food. As the restaurant receives the order on its website, mobile app, or Facebook page, it processes the order and communicates back to the diner for pickup or delivery. Last, ChowNow collects information from diners' orders and provides this information to the restaurants for remarketing. The user places an order from an online menu displayed on ChowNow's interface. Upon receiving confirmation of a diner's order through the integrated Apple Pay, Yelp or Google Wallet,  the system forwards it to the selected restaurant. As it receives the order on its Facebook page or website, this restaurant processes it and communicates back to the diner for delivery. Last, ChowNow collects information from diners' orders for its data analytics tasks to help improve user experience.