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ChowNow, a startup that builds branded online ordering systems for restaurants, today announced internal layoffs, TechCrunch has learned. According to several sources who spoke to this reporter, about 100 people were affected by the group, including onboarding, operations and sales.
ChowNow did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
ChowNow was launched in 2010 by founder and CEO Chris Webb and his friends as a way to easily order and take out from small restaurants without being online. The company develops branded websites, apps and social media accounts for restaurants, as well as its own mobile and web ordering portals.
ChowNow handles payments and deliveries through deals with companies like DoorDash and local delivery startups like Jolt Delivery in Los Angeles. It also offers presence and marketing services, such as partnering with Instagram to make photos and stories from restaurants shoppable by adding “order food” buttons and stickers to the restaurant’s photos and videos.
The Playa Vista-based company positions itself as a friendlier alternative to incumbents like GrubHub and UberEats. ChowNow promises that restaurants on its platform will retain their own customer data for marketing and insights.
In the year As of 2019, ChowNow says it has more than 11,000 restaurant customers in North America, generating $1 billion in combined revenue through its platform. ChowNow has raised $64 million in venture capital to date, most recently leading a $21 million Series C round in 2019 led by 3L Capital and Catalyst Investors.
Economic headwinds have battered the online food ordering space as investors pulled back from what they viewed as capital-intensive bets. Dordash has shut down his salad robot startup, Chobotics, a year after acquiring the company for an undisclosed sum. Elsewhere, “quick” shipping company Gopuff announced this week that it will close 10% of its global workforce – 1,500 workers – and 76 of its US warehouses.
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