ChowNow Raises $3M To Provide A Facebook And Mobile Food Ordering Platform For Restaurants

ChowNow, an online ordering platform built for mobile and Facebook, has raised $3 million from GRP Partners with Daher Capital, Double M Capital, and Velos Partners participating.

With ChowNow’s offering, restaurants can individually customize and brand their ordering apps on Facebook and mobile. Via the startup’s Facebook Ordering App, restaurants can take orders directly through their Facebook page. Restaurants can also create branded iPhone and iPad apps and can take orders through their websites via an ordering widget.

Additionally, ChowNow is offering restaurants a wireless tablet to receive orders and communicate back to the customer when it will be ready. The Android tablets are connected to Sprint’s 4G network and thus do not require the restaurant to supply anything but a wall outlet.

Since launching last year, ChowNow has signed up hundreds of restaurants across the country and is on track to sign up 1,000 new restaurants in the first half of 2013. And around half of ChowNow’s client base includes chains like Ground Round (30 locations), and the other half of the restaurants using ChowNow are independent.

Christopher Webb, co-founder and CEO, says the company is expanding into catering orders and adding additional CRM and analytics features for restaurants.

ChowNow faces competition from Seamless, GrubHub and others.