ChowNow Adds 'Diner Impact Score'
ChowNow introduces the Diner Impact Score, through which diners can see how much money they are saving their local restaurants by choosing to order through ChowNow's app and website.
The Diner Impact Score cumulatively tracks the impact a diner can create just by placing an order through ChowNow instead of other ordering apps. The score is personalized and is updated after every order.
It is calculated by adding the estimated commission rate a restaurant would have paid for an order if the order was placed on another platform - 20% for delivery, 10% for pickup - based on the diner's ChowNow order history.
[75% of consumers prefer to order delivery direct from the restaurant, according to HT's 2021 Customer Engagement Technology Study.]
"This year there was a real push for people to be more aware of what they paid for third-party services," said Marcos Carbajal, owner of Carnitas Uruapan in Chicago, a local restaurant that opened in 1975. "People want to help out. Diners have become more understanding of the situation that commissions and fees put us in. We have saved around $40,000 so far by using ChowNow instead of other third-party services."
Among the companies driving awareness of the impact of third-party delivery fees is Domino's. The pizza giant is taking to the airwaves to educate consumers about third-party delivery fees and what it is doing to help local restaurants.
"ChowNow helped us more than triple our to-go orders. We would not have been able to do this with another platform," said Jose L. Arellano, Jr., CFO of Casa Garcia's Mexican Restaurant and Cantina. "Because of our to-go sales, we're doing better now than we were before the pandemic started. ChowNow has worked perfectly for us, so we've never needed to bring another service online because ChowNow met all of our needs."
ChowNow's zero-commission marketplace is open to any independent restaurant. They can take unlimited orders without having to pay commissions or fees. Restaurants also have direct access to their customer data and can create more meaningful relationships with their diners.
ChowNow Marketplace remains the only fair-for-all app and website built for local restaurants at a national scale with more than 20,000 restaurant partners and growing. The company continues to offer its ChowNow Direct product, providing restaurants with marketing software and tools to power online ordering for a monthly subscription fee, as well as the Order Better Network, a standalone product that enables restaurants to set up a one-stop-shop storefront on high-traffic channels already frequented by consumers.