Our Story

A Problem Worth Solving

Back in 2015, restaurants had one problem nobody was solving: every piece of tech they used lived on a different island. Orders came from everywhere, went nowhere automatically, and operators were drowning in iPads.

Where It Started

Two Co-Founders. One Mission.

Co-founders Sterling Douglass (CEO) and Justin McNally (Chief Innovation Officer) saw restaurants drowning in disconnected technology. Tablets from every delivery app cluttering the counter. Manual order entry causing mistakes. Menus out of sync across platforms. They built Chowly to fix all of it with one integration.

“Back in 2015, I started asking restaurants about their problems. They kept telling me their Grubhub tablets didn’t talk to their POS systems.”

Sterling Douglass — Co-Founder & CEO

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Restaurant Locations
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Daily Orders Processed
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POS Integrations
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Founded in Chicago
Our Journey

From Integration Tool to Growth Platform

Three industry firsts and a decade of building what restaurants actually need.

2015

The Problem Nobody Was Solving

Sterling Douglass saw restaurants drowning in disconnected tech. Founded Chowly to fix it.

2018

First to Integrate 3P and POS

Became the bridge between delivery apps and restaurant POS systems.

2021

Bi-Directional Menu Sync

First to push menus from POS to delivery platforms automatically.

2023

Platform Expansion

Acquired Koala and Targetable. Added marketing, loyalty, and guest engagement.

2024

AI-Powered Everything

Dynamic pricing, dispute management, and AI marketing launch.

2025

17,000+ Locations

Full platform serving 3,000+ brands across the US.

What Drives Us

Our Values

One Team

Success depends on collective effort. We support one another and celebrate wins together.

Resilience

We push through challenges with a positive mindset. Setbacks are learning opportunities.

Direct Communication

Honest, straightforward dialogue. We own mistakes and explain our reasoning.

Focus

We finish what we start and use data to guide direction. No half-built features.

Push the Envelope

We challenge conventions. Three industry firsts and counting — because restaurants deserve better tech.

Why “Chowly”?

The name comes from the simple excitement of good food — “Let’s get some chow!” When we asked restaurants what they wanted from technology, the answer was always the same: make it simple. The name reflects that commitment.

See the Platform in Action

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