ChowNow And Squarespace Team Up

Fans of ChowNow, an online ordering and marketing platform for restaurants, or Squarespace, an all-in-one website template provider, got some good news this week. The two startups will be teaming up to take on getting restaurants up and running — and serving up dinner — more quickly and easily.

Squarespace’s restaurant templates, going forward, will be pre-loaded with ChowNow’s online order platform, meaning it will be a matter of a tap, a click and a payment before dinner is served and restaurants have opened up a new line of business. The move comes as restaurants are increasingly looking to move online but do so in baby steps, despite changing customer habits. As of now, 92 percent of customers do their pre-meal browsing for a restaurant on the web, but the vast majority of websites have not yet upgraded to include online ordering.

One option that is becoming popular are marketplaces that take orders and charge fees (as well as hold the consumer information). The ChowNow/Squarespace integration gives some restaurants the option of skipping the marketplace and taking orders directly from their own site.

“We are thrilled to partner with Squarespace to advance our shared mission of equipping restaurants with the tools they need to stay competitive,” said Christopher Webb, CEO and cofounder of ChowNow. “Squarespace’s restaurant templates are designed to drive business and make the restaurant’s brand look just as great online as it does in-store.”

Restaurants who add ChowNow to their Squarespace website will unlock ChowNow’s entire suite of online ordering options, enabling their customers to order directly from their website, Facebook page, Google search results and custom-built iPhone and Android apps.