A Comparison Guide: Apps for Restaurant Owners
With so many apps for restaurant owners, its easy to get caught up. Explore this guide to help you make the best choice to meet your restaurant’s needs.
Chapter 3
Comparing Brands: DoorDash, Toast, ChowNow, and Octocart
So how do different providers stack up? From features to costs, zero in on how DoorDash, Toast, and ChowNow compare to Octocart.
DoorDash
DoorDash is hands down the most well-known platform on our list. However, it’s also a hands-off service, working with couriers. It’s one of the OGs in an ever-growing collection of third-party delivery services, along with GrubHub and UberEats. DoorDash operates as an app and works in web browsers to provide online ordering services for restaurants.
DoorDash is more about itself than about your restaurant. Your business will be featured among countless others on the platform.
- A branded storefront
- Restaurant or third-party delivery
- Curbside and pickup options
- Online and gift card payment support
In a striking lack of transparency, DoorDash doesn’t disclose its monthly subscription fees. It does, however, have a laundry list of fees that take away from your restaurant’s profits, including:
- 15-30 percent delivery commission
- 6 percent pickup commission
- 12 percent self-delivery commission
- 2.9 percent + $0.30 storefront commission
Overall, DoorDash gets average reviews from customers, workers, and restaurant owners, earning 3.2 out of 5 stars. As a result, the service receives a mix of feedback:
- "... we can prepare more easily … it generates more business for us and is convenient."
- "... lack of accountability between drivers and restaurants.”
- "DoorDash efficiently allows the driver and customer to interact with the software."
Toast
Toast is a restaurant point-of-sale (POS) system, but it’s also an online ordering platform. Perhaps a little lesser-known, Toast focuses on serving primarily small and medium restaurants with its Toast Takeout app and browser-based platform. The company doesn’t hire drivers and instead partners with third-party delivery companies. One major draw for restaurants? Toast is built to integrate with your website.
WHAT SERVICES DOES TOAST OFFER?
Because Toast is a two-in-one platform, it boasts features that support your ordering goals and your POS.
- Restaurant delivery and pickup
- Points-per-dollar loyalty program support
- Physical and digital gift card support
- Customer data transparency
- Automatic updates for menus and POS
- Connections between online orders and email marketing
As a middle-of-the-line option, Toast doesn’t break your budget. Subscriptions range from $110-165 per location per month, but you keep more profits because the service doesn’t charge commissions.
On the whole, Toast gets rave reviews from customers and restaurant owners, scoring 4.3 out of 5 stars. Their feedback is mostly positive, with a few criticisms in the mix:
- "... unable to handle duplicate menu items in the same customer order.”
- "I love everything about Toast, their online ordering, email marketing, loyalty program, and updates!”
- "Toast's Online Ordering Module—which is associated with our site—works immaculately.”
ChowNow
ChowNow is devoted to helping local restaurants thrive, making it appealing to smaller operations and owners who want to control 100 percent of their customer data. It’s a browser- and app-based restaurant platform that ensures consistent restaurant branding and experience.
WHAT SERVICES DOES CHOWNOW OFFER?
ChowNow fills in the gaps for smaller restaurants, providing well rounded features to support the various needs of the business and its customers.
- App or website development
- Existing website integration
- Restaurant delivery and pickup
- Catering up to seven days in advance
- A loyalty program that allows for a percentage discount
- Access to customer data, including spend and frequency
- Batch email reports on your chosen cadence
As a comprehensive option, ChowNow has a price tag to match. Its top subscription comes in at $199 per month. And although Google ordering is convenient, the feature includes an extra 12 percent fee.
ChowNow gets stellar reviews at 4.6 out of 5 stars. It’s a hit among restaurants, but users voice a handful of concerns:
- “It's easy to set up and use. Very user friendly. We've set all our restaurants up with ChowNow.”
- “ChowNow will create your own branded mobile app for customers to use. There are no commission fees per order.”
- “It is hard to get a hold of anyone at ChowNow.”
Octocart
We may be the new kids on the block, but Octocart is starting strong. Octocart is designed to be a single-restaurant platform, serving your restaurant instead of pulling in traffic for your competitors. In this way, it bridges the gap between custom apps for restaurants and the limits of third-party providers. Octocart is browser-based, with a fully branded storefront that essentially is your website.
Born from the top app development minds at Detroit Labs, Octocart gives you everything you would expect from a winning app. For one thing, you own all of your customer data, from page views to order preferences. We also craft your solution to be a website and online ordering platform in one. This allows you to manage everything under one CMS and give your customers the ultimate brand experience.
Octocart delivers features that your restaurant and customers expect. That means quality service and happy bellies. Our platform provides:
- Restaurant or third-party delivery and pickup
- Online and gift card payment support
- Punch card loyalty program support
- Discount codes, when compatible with the POS system
- Email marketing via Mailjet
- Platform updates and maintenance support
Octocart keeps your costs low by design. We make sure you enjoy the profits you work so hard to earn. Our prices start at $150 per month and per location, and we never charge commissions.
Octocart is building off the successes of its parent company, Detroit Labs. Detroit Labs consistently earns high reviews at an impressive 4.8 out of 5 stars, so it’s safe to say clients and customers are raving.
Chapter 5
Choose a Restaurant App That Meets Everyone’s Needs
There are many aspects to consider when choosing a restaurant app, from the ease of use to the brand experience. Plus, there are so many partners to choose from!
You need to balance meeting your and your customers’ needs with the extras you will get from your investment. Low fees? Customer data ownership? Marketing support?
Octocart delivers at a price you can afford. Get in touch to schedule a consultation with our Octocart Specialist to see a live demo today.
Octocart is backed by Detroit Labs
Created by the same app developers who built successful apps for Domino’s and Jimmy John’s, Octocart is a premier solution supported by a world-class development team. When you team up with Octocart for your solution, you know you’re working with people who operate with integrity and are passionate about the end products they deliver for your business.
Does Octocart sound like the ideal ordering solution for your restaurant?
Schedule a demo to tour the platform and explore the possibilities for your brand.
