Chowbus
Chowbus sells software and services to restaurants, handling point of sale, marketing, staffing and payments. The company processes $4 billion annually across the U.S. and Canada, doubling its business each year since pivoting from food delivery in 2024. Chowbus provides restaurants with a suite of 40 connected products for operations, supported by both AI tools and human staff. Its customers are restaurant owners who want to outsource technology and operational support rather than just buy software. The company has grown rapidly since its 2024 pivot, doubling revenue annually. It raised $210 million in a Series B round in 2026, backed by investors including Altos Ventures and FJ Labs. Chowbus now employs 211 people, with sales being its largest function.
The growth story
Chowbus grew from 239 to 211 employees between 2021 and 2026, raising $210M along the way, most recently a Series B in February 2026.
About
Chowbus is the all-in-one restaurant technology platform that pairs a dedicated People + AI team with nearly 40 connected products, covering point of sale, guest marketing, staffing, payments, and more. Every Chowbus restaurant gets real support staff working alongside AI tools, so owners get technology and a true operating partner, not just software.Founded in Chicago in 2016 by Linxin Wen and Suyu Zhang, Chowbus started as a delivery service for immigrant-owned restaurants before fully pivoting to restaurant technology by 2024. Since then, the company has grown 100% year over year, now processing about $4 billion in annual transaction volume across all 50 U.S. states and Canada.Chowbus foc
Founders and leadership
Sales is Chowbus's largest function, with 25 employees. The company has a median tenure of 4 years, suggesting stable leadership and workforce retention.
The Chowbus org chart
Linxin Wen (CEO and Co-founder) leads 57 mapped leaders with 4 direct reports. Click +N to expand a team; names link to the person’s public profile.
Departments, and which ones grew
Headcount by function: Sales 64 (+36% YoY), Operations 35 (+3% YoY), Information Technology 25 (+25% YoY), Engineering 18 (-10% YoY), Business Development 11 (+10% YoY), Marketing 9 (-18% YoY).
Talent flow
Chowbus hires heavily from other food delivery platforms, with Fantuan and HungryPanda being its top talent sources. Alumni most often move to Google, Amazon and DoorDash.
Most common previous employers of Chowbus staff: Fantuan 饭团 (7), HungryPanda Ltd 熊猫外卖 (5), IBM (4), Deloitte (3), Alibaba (3), Weee! (3). Former Chowbus employees most often moved to Google (6), Amazon (6), DoorDash (4), Capital One (3), MenuSifu (3), Toast (3).
Alumni worth knowing
The Chowbus mafia
Chowbus alumni have founded 15 companies, including Langfinity (17 staff) and Holy Cow Productions (14 staff).
15Duo Tang, was Restaurants Marketing & Branding until 2022Amardeep Singh, was Junior Data Engineer until 2021Jason Hsu, was Sales And Marketing Specialist until 2021Victor Liu, was Operations Manager until 2021Chunzhe Gao, was General Manager until 2021Ling Luo, was Entrepreneur & Co-founder until 2015
Asif Hazrat, was Lead Data Engineer until 2021
Eric Coleman, was Senior/Lead iOS Engineer until 2021
Zi Wang, was Sales Manager until 2024
Qimeng Luo, was VP of Engineering until 2022
Chun-An Wu, PHR, was Human Resources Associate until 2020
Liang Yang, was Senior Software Engineer until 2022Hiring now
Web traffic
Traffic mix: 50% direct, 19% search, 2% social, 6% paid.
What this company is made of
Most common skills at Chowbus: Communication (40), Customer Service (39), Microsoft Office (37), Leadership (35), Project Management (34), Microsoft Excel (34), Data Analysis (31), Python (Programming Language) (29).
Where the team actually sits
Chowbus people are concentrated in Illinois, United States (10), Greater Chicago Area (9), United States (9), California, United States (8).
Search footprint
Chowbus attracts about 59,570 organic search visits a month, traffic worth roughly $392K a month if bought through ads. It gained 26,911 ranking keywords and lost 23,136 in the last period.
What employees say
- Compensation
- 4.20 / 5
- Career opportunities
- 4.40 / 5
- Senior management
- 4.30 / 5
- Work-life balance
- 4.20 / 5
Frequently asked
Chowbus has 211 employees as of September 2026.
Chowbus has raised $210M in total, most recently a Series B round in February 2026.
Chowbus was founded in 2016 by Linxin Wen, Suyu Zhang.
Linxin Wen (CEO and Co-founder) sits at the top of Chowbus's reporting structure, with 4 direct reports.
The most common previous employers of current Chowbus staff are Fantuan 饭团 (7 people), HungryPanda Ltd 熊猫外卖 (5 people), IBM (4 people).
Former Chowbus employees most often move to Google (6), Amazon (6), DoorDash (4).
At least 15 companies have a founder who previously worked at Chowbus, including Langfinity, Holy Cow Productions, PathSeekers.
Chowbus attracts about 59,570 organic search visits a month, worth roughly $392K a month in equivalent ad spend.
The most common skills among Chowbus staff are Communication, Customer Service, Microsoft Office, Leadership, Project Management.
Chowbus staff are concentrated in Illinois, United States (10), Greater Chicago Area (9), United States (9).
Chowbus has about 64 people in Sales, up 36% over the past year, as of September 2026.
Chowbus has about 35 people in Operations, up 3% over the past year, as of September 2026.
Computed from 86 current and 283 former Chowbus profiles, as of September 2026. Source: Crustdata.
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