# ChowNow

**Canonical:** https://apis.io/providers/chownow/  
**Website:** https://get.chownow.com  
**APIs profiled:** 0

ChowNow is a Playa Vista, Los Angeles-based restaurant technology company providing commission-free online ordering, branded mobile apps, marketing tools, and operational software purpose-built for independent restaurants. Founded in 2011, ChowNow powers ordering websites, native iOS/Android apps, QR-code dine-in ordering, catering, email and SMS marketing, a rewards program, Flex Delivery, order aggregation, and centralized menu management for 20,000+ restaurants. The platform integrates with 20+ point-of-sale systems including Toast, Square, Revel, Clover, Lightspeed, Heartland Genius, Skytab, and PosiTouch, and syndicates restaurant menus through a Discovery Network spanning Google, Apple Maps, Yelp, and other channels, with optional hand-off to DoorDash, UberEats, and Grubhub for last-mile delivery. ChowNow's business model is flat-fee software-as-a-service for restaurants rather than per-order commissions, and the company does not publish a public developer API, SDK, OpenAPI specification, webhooks reference, or open developer portal. Third-party integration is handled through pre-built connectors managed inside the restaurant dashboard and a private partnerships program; prospective POS, delivery, and technology partners apply through a partnerships form rather than self-serve API documentation. The company's public GitHub presence consists primarily of forks of open-source Python/JavaScript tooling and archived internal libraries, with no SDK, client library, or specification repositories.

## Kin Score — 16.1 / 100 (emerging)

Scored 2026-08-20 under rubric 0.12.0. Trend: flat (+0.0 from 16.1).

| Facet | Score |
|---|---|
| Discoverability | 50.0 |
| Contract Quality | 0.0 |
| Governance | 0.0 |
| Contract Governance | 0.0 |
| Operational Transparency | 2.6 |
| Developer Ergonomics | 11.9 |
| Commercial Clarity | 42.1 |
| Access Clarity | 42.1 |

## Agent readiness — 0.0 (human-only)

| Dimension | Value |
|---|---|
| Spec Presence | no |
| Agentic Access | no |
| Reversibility Documented | no |
| MCP Server | no |
| Auth Clarity | no |
| Idempotency | no |
| Error Semantics | no |
| OpenAPI Examples | no |
| Rate Limit Signal | no |
| Event Surface Described | no |
| Agent Skills | no |
| Well Known Catalog | no |
| Consent Identity | no |
| Agent Card | no |
| Dry Run Mode | no |

## Access

Paid — onboarding: unknown, pricing: paid, trial: no (confidence: medium).

## Security (1)

- **Chownow Domain Security** — TLSv1.3 · HSTS · DMARC

## Plans (1)

- **Chownow Plans Pricing**

## Use cases (5)

- **Commission-Free Direct Ordering** — Independent restaurants take online orders on their own site and apps without paying per-order commissions to marketplaces.
- **Owning The Customer Relationship** — Restaurants retain customer contact data and use built-in marketing to drive repeat business rather than renting access from aggregators.
- **Unifying Multi-Channel Orders** — Order aggregation routes web, app, dine-in QR, and third-party delivery orders into one POS or printer workflow.
- **Expanding Discovery Reach** — Syndicating menus and ordering through Google, Apple Maps, and Yelp to capture demand without ceding margin.
- **Adding Delivery Without Commission Lock-In** — Using Flex Delivery to offer last-mile fulfillment on a per-order fee basis instead of marketplace commission tiers.

## Tags

Restaurant, Online Ordering, Food and Beverage, Restaurant Technology, Point-of-Sale, Delivery, Catering, Marketing, Mobile Apps, Independent Restaurants, Commission-Free

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Profiled by [API Evangelist](https://apievangelist.com) and published on [APIs.io](https://apis.io/providers/chownow/). Scores are computed from the provider's own public artifacts under a published rubric.