How to Get More Orders on ChowNow

Menu photography is the single most impactful change you can make to your ChowNow storefront. Industry data consistently shows that menus with professional food photos increase online orders by 25% to 35% compared to text-only listings. On ChowNow specifically, your menu photos appear across every ordering channel: your branded website, your mobile app, the ChowNow Discover marketplace, and your Google Business Profile ordering page. One set of great photos multiplies its impact across all of these surfaces.

ChowNow requires menu item photos to be a minimum of 1200 x 1200 pixels with a file size under 10 MB. Cover photos should be horizontal with a 16:9 aspect ratio, also under 10 MB, and should feature only food items rather than logos or storefronts. These specifications ensure your images look sharp on both desktop browsers and mobile devices. If your photos do not meet these minimum dimensions, ChowNow will display an error during upload and reject the image.

The challenge for most independent restaurants is that professional food photography is expensive. A photographer charging $150 to $300 per hour can photograph 15 to 25 dishes in a session, but you need to plate every dish, manage lighting, and potentially close during the shoot. For restaurants with 40 to 80 menu items, this can mean multiple sessions costing $500 to $1,500 or more. This is where AI food photography tools like MenuPhotoAI become transformative. You photograph your dishes with a smartphone, upload the images, and the AI transforms them into studio-quality shots with professional lighting, clean backgrounds, and appetizing styling. The results meet ChowNow's specifications and can be used across every channel without restrictions.

Unlike DoorDash's free photoshoot program that restricts images from being used on competing platforms, photos you create through AI tools or hire a photographer to take are yours to use everywhere. This is particularly important for ChowNow restaurants because the entire point of the platform is owning your brand and customer experience. Your menu photos should be consistent whether a customer finds you on Google, your website, Instagram, or the ChowNow app.

Prioritize photographing your highest-margin and most-ordered items first. If you cannot photograph everything immediately, start with your top 10 sellers and expand from there. Every item without a photo is leaving conversion on the table, because customers scrolling through your menu will gravitate toward items they can see over items they can only read about.

Google is one of the most powerful customer acquisition channels available to ChowNow restaurants, and the setup takes less than 15 minutes. When you enable Order with Google through ChowNow's Order Better Network, an "Order Online" button appears directly on your Google Business Profile. Customers searching for your restaurant or browsing Google Maps can place takeout and delivery orders without ever leaving Google's interface.

ChowNow's research shows that diners are four times more likely to select an ordering method when it is marked as "Preferred by business" on Google. This badge is a massive trust signal. When your Google listing shows multiple ordering options from DoorDash, Uber Eats, and ChowNow, the "Preferred" label directs customers to your commission-free ChowNow link instead of a marketplace that charges you 15% to 30% per order. Setting ChowNow as your preferred provider is free and takes a few clicks in your Google Business Profile settings.

Google orders through the Order Better Network carry a 15.5% fee from ChowNow, which is significantly lower than marketplace commissions but higher than direct orders through your website or app. This is where ChowNow's Profit Protector feature becomes essential. Profit Protector automatically adjusts menu prices on your Google-facing ordering page to offset the 15.5% fee, so you maintain your target margins without manually managing two separate price lists. Customers on Google expect slightly higher prices for convenience, and Profit Protector handles this adjustment transparently.

To maximize Google ordering volume, ensure your Google Business Profile is fully optimized. This means accurate business hours, complete address and phone number, high-quality photos in your Google Photos gallery, and active review management. Respond to every Google review, positive or negative, because response rate is a ranking factor in Google's local search algorithm. The more visible you are in Google's local results, the more ordering impressions your ChowNow button receives.

Post regularly to Google Business Profile using Google Posts to share specials, new menu items, and events. These posts appear directly in your listing and signal to Google that your business is active, which improves your local search ranking. Every improvement to your Google presence compounds into more clicks on your ChowNow ordering button.

ChowNow's built-in rewards program is one of the most underused tools on the platform, and it is included in every subscription plan at no additional cost. The program works on a digital sticker card model: diners earn a sticker for every qualifying order that meets a minimum dollar amount you set, and once they collect enough stickers, they receive a reward that is auto-applied to their next order. You control both the number of stickers required and whether the reward is a percentage or dollar amount off.

The psychology behind sticker-based loyalty programs is well documented. Customers who are tracking progress toward a reward order more frequently and spend more per order to meet the minimum threshold. A customer who needs two more stickers to earn $10 off is significantly more likely to order from you this week than a customer with no incentive. The program essentially converts occasional customers into habitual ones without requiring you to discount every order.

Best practices for configuring your ChowNow rewards program start with setting an achievable but meaningful sticker count. ChowNow recommends starting with 7 to 10 stickers per reward. Set the minimum order value slightly above your current average order value to encourage upsizing. If your average order is $28, set the sticker minimum at $30. This small nudge increases average order value across all loyalty-eligible orders while giving customers a clear, achievable target.

For the reward itself, a dollar amount off tends to feel more tangible than a percentage discount. "$8 off your next order" is more motivating than "20% off" even when the math is similar. Avoid rewards that are too generous, as they can erode margins. The goal is to shift customer behavior, not to subsidize every 10th order at a loss.

The rewards program is promoted automatically on your ChowNow ordering page, your branded mobile app, and through ChowNow's automated email marketing. When a diner is opted into both the rewards program and automated emails, ChowNow sends progress update emails that remind them how close they are to their next reward. This creates a re-engagement loop that runs on autopilot.

Track your rewards redemption rate and average order value changes in ChowNow's dashboard. Most restaurants see measurable increases in order frequency within the first 60 days of launching the program. If redemption rates are low, consider lowering the sticker count or increasing the reward value. If average order value is not increasing, raise the minimum order threshold.

One of ChowNow's most valuable features is its ability to build, host, and optimize a branded restaurant website with integrated online ordering. Many independent restaurants either lack a website entirely or have an outdated site that does not support direct ordering. ChowNow's website product solves both problems by providing SEO-optimized, mobile-responsive websites that embed your ordering menu directly into the site. Customers can browse your menu, place orders, and pay without being redirected to a third-party platform.

The SEO value alone justifies this investment. ChowNow websites are built with search engine optimization in mind, including proper meta tags, schema markup for restaurants, and fast page load speeds. When customers search for "best pizza near me" or your restaurant name, a well-optimized ChowNow website competes for top positions in Google's organic results. Once they arrive on your site, the embedded menu converts browsers into buyers with a seamless ordering flow.

For restaurants that already have a website, ChowNow provides embeddable ordering widgets that integrate into your existing site. This preserves your current design and branding while adding commission-free ordering capability. The widget syncs with your ChowNow menu, so updates you make in the ChowNow dashboard automatically reflect on your website.

The strategic importance of owning your website cannot be overstated. When customers order through DoorDash or Uber Eats, those platforms own the customer relationship. They collect the email address, push notifications from their app, and market competing restaurants to your customers. When customers order through your ChowNow-powered website, you own the customer data. You can re-engage them through ChowNow's automated email marketing, enroll them in your rewards program, and build a direct relationship that no third-party platform can take away.

Drive traffic to your website by including the URL on every customer touchpoint: receipts, business cards, table tents, social media bios, Google Business Profile, and voicemail messages. Train your staff to mention the website during in-store interactions: "You can order online anytime at our website for pickup or delivery." Every customer you convert from a third-party marketplace to your website saves you 15% to 30% in commission fees on every future order.

Measure your website's performance using ChowNow's dashboard analytics, which track order volume, revenue, and customer acquisition by channel. If your website consistently underperforms compared to other channels, the issue is usually traffic. Invest in local SEO, Google Ads, and social media promotion to drive more visitors to your site.

Many independent restaurants avoid delivery because maintaining a driver fleet is expensive, unreliable, and operationally complex. ChowNow's Flex Delivery eliminates this barrier by connecting your restaurant to DoorDash's and Uber's driver networks. When a customer places a delivery order through ChowNow, the system automatically dispatches a driver from whichever network offers the best coverage and fastest response time. You get professional delivery without hiring a single driver.

Flex Delivery charges a flat rate of $7.98 per order for deliveries up to 8 miles. ChowNow recommends splitting this cost between you and the customer, with $3.99 charged to the diner and $3.99 absorbed by the restaurant. This split makes delivery affordable for customers while keeping your cost per delivery predictable and manageable. Compare this to DoorDash marketplace orders where you would pay 15% to 30% of the order total. On a $40 order through DoorDash, you would lose $6 to $12 in commission. With ChowNow Flex Delivery, you pay a flat $3.99 regardless of order size, meaning the economics improve as average order values increase.

Enabling delivery through Flex also expands your addressable customer base in the ChowNow Discover marketplace. Pickup-only restaurants limit their visibility to customers within driving distance who are willing to pick up. Delivery restaurants reach anyone within an 8-mile radius who is browsing ChowNow or searching on Google. In suburban and urban markets, this can triple or quadruple your potential customer pool.

To optimize your Flex Delivery economics, set a minimum order value for delivery orders. A $15 to $20 minimum ensures that the $3.99 delivery cost represents a manageable percentage of each order. If your average delivery order is $35, the $3.99 cost is just 11% of the order total, compared to 22% to 30% on commission-based platforms.

Review your delivery radius carefully. While Flex Delivery supports up to 8 miles, food quality degrades over longer distances. Consider starting with a 4 to 5 mile radius and expanding only if delivery ratings remain high. A shorter radius with consistently hot, fresh food generates better reviews and higher repeat rates than a wider radius with lukewarm arrivals.

Package your food for delivery with insulated containers, leak-proof packaging, and separate compartments for hot and cold items. Your ChowNow delivery reputation is built on the quality of food when it arrives, not when it leaves your kitchen.

ChowNow's automated email marketing is one of the most powerful retention tools available on the platform, and many restaurant owners never activate it. Once enabled, ChowNow's expert team creates and sends branded emails on your behalf each month to your diner database. These emails feature professionally designed templates highlighting your brand, food photography, and a top-performing promotional offer.

The emails ChowNow sends are not generic blasts. They include targeted triggers based on diner behavior: welcome emails for first-time customers, re-engagement emails for lapsed diners who have not ordered in a set period, rewards progress updates for loyalty program participants, and promotional emails featuring seasonal offers or new menu items. This behavioral targeting means the right message reaches the right customer at the right time, without you manually segmenting lists or writing copy.

The value of automated email marketing compounds over time because every order placed through ChowNow adds the customer's contact information to your database. Unlike orders through DoorDash or Uber Eats where the platform keeps the customer's email, ChowNow gives you full access to your diner data. Over months and years, this database becomes one of your most valuable business assets, a direct line to thousands of customers who have already ordered from you and are predisposed to order again.

To maximize the impact of automated emails, make sure your menu photos are high quality, since they feature prominently in every email ChowNow sends on your behalf. A compelling email with a mediocre food photo will underperform compared to an email with appetizing, professional imagery. This is another reason why investing in quality menu photography pays dividends across multiple channels.

Complement ChowNow's automated emails with your own social media promotion. When ChowNow sends a promotional email featuring a special offer, post the same offer on your Instagram, Facebook, and Google Business Profile. This multi-channel approach ensures customers encounter your promotion regardless of where they spend time online, creating multiple touchpoints that reinforce the offer.

Monitor your email open rates and order conversion in ChowNow's dashboard. If open rates are low, your subject lines may need improvement. If open rates are healthy but conversions are low, the offer may not be compelling enough. ChowNow's team optimizes these campaigns over time, but providing feedback on what resonates with your customer base helps them tailor future emails.

ChowNow was one of the first platforms to integrate directly with Instagram for commission-free food ordering, and this integration remains one of the most effective customer acquisition channels available. When enabled, an "Order Food" button appears on your Instagram profile, and you can add ordering stickers to your Instagram Stories. Customers tap the button or sticker and are directed to your ChowNow ordering page to complete the transaction. The same integration works on Facebook, placing an ordering button on your Facebook business page.

The power of social ordering lies in the context. When a customer sees your beautifully photographed pasta dish on Instagram and can order it with a single tap, you capture impulse demand that would otherwise evaporate. The customer does not need to remember your restaurant name, search for you on a delivery app, or navigate to your website. The ordering flow is embedded in the platform where they are already engaged, reducing friction to near zero.

This is why food photography quality matters even more on social channels than on your ordering page. Your Instagram grid is essentially a visual menu. Every post is a potential ordering trigger. Restaurants that post high-quality food photos consistently on Instagram and have the ChowNow ordering button enabled create a persistent sales channel that generates orders 24/7 without paid advertising.

To maximize social ordering, post at least three to four times per week with high-quality food photos. Use Instagram Stories daily to feature specials, behind-the-scenes kitchen content, and customer favorites. Include the ordering sticker in every Story to remind followers that they can order directly. Tag your location in every post to appear in local discovery feeds where potential customers who do not follow you can find your content.

Facebook ordering works similarly, with a "Start Order" button on your business page. While Facebook's organic reach has declined, your Facebook page still appears in local searches and serves as a validation point for customers who Google your restaurant. Having a functional ordering button on Facebook captures orders from customers who discover you through the platform.

Track social ordering volume in ChowNow's dashboard to understand which platforms drive the most revenue. Most restaurants find that Instagram outperforms Facebook for new customer acquisition, while Facebook tends to drive more repeat orders from an older, established customer base. Invest your content creation time accordingly.

The Order Better Network is ChowNow's multi-channel discovery engine that connects your restaurant to high-traffic platforms including Google, Apple Maps, Yelp, Tripadvisor, and Snapchat. Rather than being listed on a single marketplace, your restaurant becomes discoverable across the entire ecosystem of platforms where customers search for food. Each platform carries your ChowNow ordering link, enabling customers to order directly from you regardless of where they find you.

This network is a significant competitive advantage for independent restaurants. A customer searching "sushi near me" on Google Maps, browsing restaurants on Yelp, or checking Tripadvisor reviews can order from your ChowNow-powered menu on each of these platforms. Without the Order Better Network, you would need separate integrations or rely solely on your website and marketplace listings.

Orders from the Order Better Network carry a 15.5% fee from ChowNow, but the Profit Protector feature offsets this by automatically adjusting menu prices on discovery channels. When a customer orders through Google or Yelp, they see slightly adjusted prices that cover the 15.5% fee, while your direct website and app prices remain unchanged. This means discovery channel orders are effectively commission-free after the automatic price adjustment.

To get the most out of the Order Better Network, optimize your presence on each individual platform. On Google, ensure your Business Profile is complete with accurate hours, photos, and active review management. On Yelp, claim your business listing, respond to reviews, and upload high-quality photos. On Tripadvisor, verify your listing and keep menu information current. Each platform has its own search algorithm, and restaurants with complete, active profiles rank higher than those with minimal listings.

Snapchat's integration with ChowNow is particularly effective for reaching younger demographics. When users search for local restaurants on Snapchat's Snap Map, ChowNow partner restaurants appear with ordering capability. This channel reaches a demographic that traditional marketing often misses and can be especially valuable for restaurants near colleges, entertainment districts, and urban centers.

Monitor which discovery channels drive the most orders in your ChowNow dashboard. Most restaurants find that Google accounts for the largest share of Order Better Network orders, followed by Yelp. Invest your profile optimization time proportionally and track trends month over month to identify emerging channels.

ChowNow builds custom-branded mobile apps for iOS and Android that carry your restaurant's name, logo, colors, and menu. When a customer downloads your app from the App Store or Google Play, they are interacting with your brand, not ChowNow's. This is fundamentally different from being one of thousands of restaurants inside DoorDash or Uber Eats, where your brand is subordinated to the platform's interface.

Branded apps drive significantly higher repeat order rates than any other channel. Industry data shows that diners who download a restaurant's mobile app order twice as often as those who do not. The app sits on the customer's home screen as a persistent reminder of your restaurant, push notifications can trigger orders during meal decision-making moments, and saved payment information reduces checkout friction to a single tap. For your most loyal customers, a branded app is the shortest path from hunger to order.

ChowNow manages the entire app lifecycle, including design, development, App Store and Google Play submission, and ongoing updates. You provide your branding assets and menu, and ChowNow's team builds the app. Once live, the app syncs with your ChowNow menu, so any changes you make in the dashboard automatically appear in the app. Your rewards program, promotions, and ordering options are all integrated.

The key challenge with branded apps is driving downloads. An app that nobody installs generates zero orders. Use every customer touchpoint to promote your app: table tents in your restaurant, stickers on takeout bags, a prominent download link on your website, social media posts, and QR codes on receipts. Some restaurants offer a small first-order incentive for app users, such as a free appetizer or $5 off, to overcome the initial download friction. Since app users order twice as frequently, the acquisition cost pays for itself quickly.

Consider your branded app as the ultimate customer retention tool. While your website, Google, and social media channels focus on acquiring new customers and converting browsers, your app is designed for customers who have already decided they love your food and want the fastest possible reordering experience. These are your highest-value customers, and giving them a dedicated app deepens their loyalty while keeping them away from marketplace apps where competitors are one scroll away.

Track app downloads, active users, and order frequency in your ChowNow analytics. If downloads are healthy but orders are low, push notifications may need to be more compelling or frequent. If downloads are stagnant, increase your in-store and digital promotion of the app.

Following ChowNow's acquisition of Cuboh in 2024, the platform now integrates with over 45 POS systems including Toast, Square, Clover, Revel, MobileBytes, Positouch, and many more. If you are currently receiving ChowNow orders on a separate tablet and manually entering them into your POS, you are wasting labor, increasing error rates, and slowing down your kitchen. POS integration eliminates all of these problems by routing ChowNow orders directly into your existing system.

When a customer places an order on your website, mobile app, Google, or any Order Better Network channel, ChowNow processes the order and sends it directly to your POS system. The order appears in your kitchen display system or prints on your ticket printer alongside walk-in and phone orders. There is no retyping, no bouncing between tablets, and no risk of transcription errors that lead to wrong orders, customer complaints, and wasted food.

The operational benefits extend beyond order accuracy. With POS integration, your ChowNow sales automatically appear in your POS reporting, giving you a unified view of all revenue channels. You can track which menu items sell best online versus in-store, identify peak ordering times, and make data-driven decisions about staffing and inventory without reconciling separate reports.

To set up POS integration, contact your ChowNow Restaurant Success Manager. They will walk you through the connection process, which varies by POS system but typically takes less than an hour. ChowNow uses middleware partners including Otter and Cuboh to bridge compatibility with POS systems that do not have a native ChowNow integration, so even if your specific POS is not on the primary integration list, there may be a pathway through middleware.

Once integrated, test thoroughly before going live. Place test orders through each ChowNow channel and verify they appear correctly in your POS with all modifiers, special instructions, and pricing intact. Monitor the first week of live orders closely for any sync issues. A well-configured POS integration transforms ChowNow from a side channel into a seamlessly integrated part of your restaurant's operations.

If you are currently managing orders from multiple platforms on separate tablets, ChowNow's Cuboh integration can also consolidate orders from DoorDash, Uber Eats, Grubhub, and other third-party marketplaces into a single interface. This reduces tablet clutter and streamlines your kitchen workflow across all delivery channels.