Driving Digital Success, Together.
Marketplace-to-Direct Conversion Strategy
The single fastest path to commission-free revenue on ChowNow isn’t finding brand-new customers, it’s converting the ones you already have. Every restaurant running DoorDash, Uber Eats, or Grubhub is currently paying 15 to 30 percent commission on orders from customers who, in many cases, would order directly if they simply knew the option existed and trusted it as much as the app.
- ChowNow Direct-Ordering Specialists
- Marketplace-to-Direct Conversion Campaigns
- Website, Google & Local Ads That Drive Direct Orders
- Own Your Customer Data, Not the Marketplace
Turn ChowNow Visibility Into Placed Orders
Win the placements customers actually tap.
Structure that converts faster scrolls.
Protect the score that drives ranking.
Consistent execution across every store.
Grow Volume Without Discounting It Away
Know the real cost of every promotion before it runs.
Fill demand gaps without discounting peak hours.
Fix the operational signals that hurt visibility.
Show up in every relevant category.
Marketing That Drives Revenue, Not Just Clicks
Bring customers back without needing off-platform data.
Move platform customers to channels you actually own.
Win first orders efficiently from nearby demand.
Real ChowNow data, not vanity metrics.
One Partner For Every Part Of Growth
We know what actually drives ranking inside ChowNow.
Menus and orders stay accurate automatically.
A team that understands restaurants.
Setup, ads, promotions, reviews, retention.
Turn ChowNow Visibility Into Placed Orders
Win the placements customers actually tap.
Structure that converts faster scrolls.
Protect the score that drives ranking.
Consistent execution across every store.
Grow Volume Without Discounting It Away
Know the real cost of every promotion before it runs.
Fill demand gaps without discounting peak hours.
Fix the operational signals that hurt visibility.
Show up in every relevant category.
Marketing That Drives Revenue, Not Just Clicks
Bring customers back without needing off-platform data.
Move platform customers to channels you actually own.
Win first orders efficiently from nearby demand.
Real ChowNow data, not vanity metrics.
One Partner For Every Part Of Growth
We know what actually drives ranking inside ChowNow.
Menus and orders stay accurate automatically.
A team that understands restaurants.
Setup, ads, promotions, reviews, retention.
- TRUSTED BY RESTAURANT OWNERS
Real Results. Real Relationships.
More than marketing. More than technology. A true restaurant growth partner.
Everything You Need for ChowNow: One Partner, Start to Finish
Clear deliverables. Tailored to what you actually need.
Getting your ChowNow presence set up and structured right from day one.
Get a Quote- Print collateral design and copywriting for packaging inserts, bag stickers, and receipt flyers
- First-order incentive strategy (dollar-off, percentage-off, or free-item offers) calibrated to your margins
Turning ads, promotions, and content strategy into more orders on ChowNow.
Get a Quote- Unique promo code or QR code setup inside ChowNow to track redemption by campaign and location
- Staff training and packaging workflow integration so collateral goes into every marketplace order consistently
Keeping ranking, ratings, and retention improving month over month.
Get a Quote- A/B testing of offer amount and messaging to identify the highest-converting incentive
- Redemption tracking and monthly reporting on marketplace-to-direct migration rate
For restaurant groups and franchises with custom goals across locations.
Contact Us- Custom strategy across stores
- Dedicated senior strategist
- Centralized reporting
Every ChowNow Growth Service Under One Roof
One partner handling setup, ads, content, promotions, reviews, and retention for restaurants on ChowNow.
Marketplace-to-Direct Conversion Strategy
The single fastest path to commission-free revenue on ChowNow isn't finding brand-new customers, it's converting the ones you already have. Every restaurant running DoorDash, Uber Eats, or Grubhub is currently paying 15 to 30 percent commission on orders from customers who, in most cases, would happily order directly if they simply knew it was an option and had a reason to try it once.
Marketplace-to-direct conversion strategy is the physical, in-the-box marketing program that puts that reason directly into the customer's hands: packaging inserts, bag stickers, and receipt flyers carrying an incentive like "$5 off your first direct order," delivered at the exact moment a marketplace customer is unpacking your food and thinking about you. This is arguably the highest-leverage piece of any ChowNow marketing program, because it targets people who are already proven buyers of your food, the hardest part of customer acquisition is already done.
- Print collateral design and copywriting for packaging inserts, bag stickers, and receipt flyers
- First-order incentive strategy (dollar-off, percentage-off, or free-item offers) calibrated to your margins
- Unique promo code or QR code setup inside ChowNow to track redemption by campaign and location
- Staff training and packaging workflow integration so collateral goes into every marketplace order consistently
- A/B testing of offer amount and messaging to identify the highest-converting incentive
- Redemption tracking and monthly reporting on marketplace-to-direct migration rate
Why This Is the Highest-Leverage ChowNow Tactic
Acquiring a brand-new customer through paid advertising typically costs several times more than reactivating or redirecting an existing one, and marketplace customers are, by definition, existing customers of your food even if they don't yet know your direct-ordering option exists. Most consumers who order through DoorDash or Uber Eats simply haven't been given a reason to think about ordering any other way, the marketplace app is the default because it's what they downloaded first, not because they have any loyalty to paying the commission markup baked into marketplace pricing.
Packaging inserts, bag stickers, and receipt flyers exploit a moment no other marketing channel can reach as effectively: the instant the customer physically has your food in their hands and is forming an impression of the meal. A well-designed insert with a clear, specific offer, "$5 off your next order when you order directly at [restaurant].chownow.com", converts at meaningfully higher rates than a generic social post or email blast, because it arrives inside an active, positive brand interaction rather than competing for attention in an inbox or feed.
Designing Collateral That Actually Gets Read
Not all print collateral performs equally, and the format you choose depends on your packaging and order volume. We typically recommend testing across a few formats simultaneously rather than betting the whole program on one:
| Collateral Type | Placement | Typical Offer | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Packaging insert (card) | Inside the takeout bag or box | "$5 off your first direct order" | Restaurants with consistent bag/box packaging |
| Bag sticker | Sealing the delivery bag | QR code + short offer headline | High-volume delivery operations |
| Receipt flyer | Stapled or tucked with the printed receipt | Percentage-off or free side item | Restaurants with in-house receipt printing |
| Table tent / QR card | Dine-in tables, pickup counter | Loyalty signup + first-order discount | Restaurants with meaningful dine-in or walk-in traffic |
| Utensil/napkin band | Wrapped around cutlery | Short URL or QR code only | Restaurants wanting a low-cost secondary touchpoint |
The copy on each piece needs to do three things fast: name the specific savings, make the ordering path obvious (a scannable QR code that lands directly on the ChowNow ordering page, not the homepage), and create urgency without an expiration date so short it discourages a slower-moving customer from trying it. We generally recommend offers stay live for at least 30 days per print run so redemption data has time to accumulate before you decide whether to adjust the amount.
Calibrating the Incentive Without Eroding Margin
The most common mistake restaurants make when they try this without professional support is picking an incentive amount emotionally rather than mathematically. A "$5 off" offer needs to be evaluated against what that same order would have cost you in marketplace commission. If a typical order is $35 and DoorDash takes 25 percent commission, that's roughly $8.75 in commission the restaurant never collects.
A $5 direct-order incentive that successfully migrates that customer still nets the restaurant meaningfully more than the marketplace transaction did, on top of establishing a direct relationship for every future order. We build this math into the offer design for every client rather than defaulting to a round number, and we track redemption against order value so the incentive can be adjusted up or down as data comes in.
Getting the Program Into Every Order, Every Time
Collateral only works if it consistently makes it into the packaging, which is a staff workflow problem as much as a design problem. Kitchens under Friday-night pressure will skip a step that isn't built into the process, so we work directly with front-of-house and packaging staff to make insertion close to automatic, pre-stocking a fixed quantity per shift, placing inserts next to the packaging station rather than in a back office, and tying compliance checks into existing shift-close routines rather than adding a new one.
Restaurants running this program alongside our website and Google order integration work benefit from having a clean, working direct-ordering link ready to receive the traffic this collateral generates, a print piece that drives customers to a broken or missing ChowNow widget wastes the entire campaign.
How We Launch a Marketplace-to-Direct Conversion Campaign
- Audit current marketplace order volume, commission spend, and packaging touchpoints (bags, boxes, receipts) across every location.
- Design the incentive offer and calculate its cost against current marketplace commission to confirm it's margin-positive.
- Write and design the print collateral, insert, sticker, or flyer, with a QR code linking directly to the ChowNow ordering page.
- Set up a unique, trackable promo code inside ChowNow so redemptions can be attributed to this specific campaign.
- Train kitchen and packaging staff on including collateral in every applicable order, with a simple compliance check built into shift routines.
- Distribute the first print run and monitor redemption weekly for the first 30 days to catch any drop-off in insertion consistency.
- Report on migration rate, the percentage of marketplace customers who redeem the direct-order offer, and adjust the offer amount or format for the next print run.
Pairing Conversion With the Rest of Your ChowNow Program
Marketplace-to-direct conversion works best as the front door of a larger system rather than a standalone campaign. Once a customer redeems their first direct order, they should land in the customer database that powers our email and SMS marketing service, so the welcome series and future win-back flows can pick up the relationship automatically.
And because ChowNow itself has no in-app discovery mechanism, the traffic your local paid search and Meta ads generate can be pointed at first-time-customer offers that mirror the same conversion logic, reinforcing one consistent message across every channel. For platform-level detail on how ChowNow structures pricing and features for restaurant partners, ChowNow's own restaurant partner page is a useful reference alongside our strategy work.
Let's Build Your ChowNow Conversion Plan
Convert DoorDash and Uber Eats regulars into ChowNow direct customers with packaging inserts, bag stickers, and receipt flyers offering first-order incentives.
Free Strategy Session
Custom Growth Plan
Competitor Analysis
Revenue-Focused Recommendations
Frequently Asked Questions
Redemption rates vary by offer strength, restaurant volume, and how consistently collateral makes it into packaging, but well-executed campaigns commonly convert a meaningful single-digit-to-low-double-digit percentage of marketplace orders into a first direct-order redemption within the first few months. The bigger driver of long-term ROI isn't the first redemption, it's what percentage of those converted customers keep ordering directly afterward, which is why we track repeat behavior, not just initial redemption.
Marketplace platforms generally prohibit collateral that actively discourages using their app or that violates their specific packaging insert policies, so we always review current platform terms before finalizing designs and favor neutral framing (promoting your own direct-ordering option rather than disparaging the marketplace) to stay compliant. Policies do vary and change, so this is reviewed per client and per platform before print production.
Flat dollar amounts ("$5 off") tend to read as more concrete and are easier for customers to evaluate at a glance, while percentage offers can feel more valuable on higher-ticket orders like catering or large group orders. We typically default to a flat-dollar offer for standard restaurant orders and test percentage-based offers separately for larger order sizes.
We recommend evaluating performance every print run (typically a 30 to 60 day cycle) and refreshing creative every one to two quarters even if the offer itself stays consistent, since repeat marketplace customers who see the same insert for months at a time tend to stop noticing it. Seasonal refreshes also give you a natural reason to test a new offer amount or format.
It works for both, though the collateral format differs. Delivery orders get bag stickers and packaging inserts since that's the physical touchpoint the customer receives; pickup and dine-in orders are better served by receipt flyers and table-tent QR cards at the counter, since there's no delivery bag to seal. Most restaurants running both order types benefit from deploying more than one format simultaneously.
Meet Jay Mehta
Founder & Growth Partner, Mindshare Consulting Inc.
For more than 20 years, Jay has helped businesses grow through marketing, technology, automation, and customer acquisition. Today he leads Mindshare Consulting's approach to restaurant marketplace marketing, applying that same discipline to how restaurants compete for visibility and orders on ChowNow.
Getting listed on ChowNow isn’t the goal. Getting found, ranked, and reordered from is, and that takes an actual marketing program, not a one-time setup.