How ChowNow Streamlines the Entire Customer Journey with LeanData

The Journey to Streamlined Revenue Operations

Restaurant operators don’t have time to wait. 

And ChowNow knows this better than anyone.

ChowNow supports thousands of restaurants with online ordering and branded apps. But behind the scenes, their sales and customer experience teams were stretched thin. 

With high lead volume, multi-location accounts, and onboarding workflows that didn’t fit into standard CRM fields, the team needed a better way to move faster and stay aligned.

Enter LeanData.

By combining LeanData with Outreach, Slack, and Salesforce, ChowNow automated manual work, reduced lead response times, and gave restaurant owners a seamless customer experience from demo request to go-live.

Here’s how they did it.

Accelerating Lead Response with LeanData and Outreach

Like many growing companies, ChowNow struggled with “time to touch.” Hot leads could sit in queues for hours or even days before a rep followed up. In the fast-moving restaurant world, that delay often meant missed opportunities.

To fix this, ChowNow connected LeanData with Outreach to automatically trigger follow-ups based on lead activity. As soon as a qualified lead came in, LeanData immediately routed it and enrolled the prospect into a personalized Outreach sequence.

Then, they went a step further. Every inbound lead also triggered an urgent call task, giving reps a 90-minute window to follow up with a phone call. If the call didn’t happen in time, LeanData sent a Slack alert directly to the rep, keeping accountability high.

This new process delivered real results:

• Leads received follow-ups within minutes, not hours
  
• Reps could focus on selling, not checking their inbox
  
• Time to touch decreased, while bookings increased
  

Plus, ChowNow customized the Outreach sequences based on the lead’s source. Someone who filled out a demo request form saw different messaging than a partner referral or a lead from a paid list. 

That extra layer of personalization helped reps engage with context and close more deals.

Managing Multi-Channel Lead Sources with Ease

Not all leads look the same. 

ChowNow receives inbound interest from Cuboh (a company they acquired), their main website, chatbot conversations, paid media, and even curated lists of new restaurant openings. Each lead has a different path — and often, a different purpose.

To keep things aligned, ChowNow built a multi-channel lead management system using LeanData’s flexible routing engine. Instead of treating all leads the same, they set up logic to:

• Match the lead to the right sales team or territory
  
• Identify the lead source and assign an Outreach sequence accordingly
  
• Send Slack and email notifications with relevant context
  
• Route Cuboh leads to a separate team trained on those accounts
  

This approach gave reps clarity and confidence. A restaurant opening in three months didn’t receive the same messaging as one ready to launch next week. Leads that came from a chatbot didn’t get treated the same as those from a partner referral.

By aligning follow-up with source and intent, ChowNow’s team stayed focused and relevant, no matter how a lead entered the funnel.

Smart Scheduling with BookIt

Getting the lead is only part of the equation. Booking the meeting is what moves the deal forward. ChowNow simplified scheduling using LeanData BookIt.

BookIt links were embedded directly into Outreach emails. Each link was personalized to the rep and automatically pulled from Salesforce, so reps didn’t need to copy and paste their calendar every time.

ChowNow also used BookIt for website forms. Whether a restaurant filled out a demo request on ChowNow or Cuboh’s site, or even interacted with the chatbot, BookIt helped match them to the right rep and display available times instantly. 

If a lead didn’t meet ChowNow’s qualification criteria, BookIt rerouted them to an alternate page.

And that wasn’t all. 

ChowNow’s sales reps used BookIt Handoff to schedule meetings in real time while on the phone. Restaurant owners are often juggling dozens of tasks, so locking in a time immediately helped reduce no-shows and increase speed to sale.

BookIt streamlined scheduling in three big ways:

• Personalized calendar links in every outbound sequence
  
• Instant scheduling for qualified leads from forms and chat
  
• Real-time handoff for SDRs and AEs to book meetings live
  
  
  
  

Onboarding at Scale with Custom Object Routing

Once a restaurant signs on, ChowNow’s real work begins.

Unlike simple B2B software, ChowNow’s onboarding process includes multiple steps: setting up the restaurant’s menu, configuring the mobile app, integrating with internal systems, and coordinating across multiple locations. This complexity required more than standard lead, contact, and account routing.

ChowNow built a system using LeanData’s Any-Object Routing to manage more than 12 custom Salesforce objects tied to onboarding tasks. These included objects for onboarding records, restaurant locations, mobile app progress, and more.

Here’s how the process worked:

1. A new onboarding record triggered LeanData to assign the right internal account coordinator
   
2. Related records like restaurant locations and contacts were automatically synced to the same owner
   
3. Offshore teams received round robin assignments for specific onboarding components
   
4. Slack notifications alerted managers when a new onboarding step kicked off
   

The result? A consistent, scalable onboarding experience for every new restaurant, no matter how complex the setup.

Using SLAs as a Coaching Tool, Not a Hammer

ChowNow didn’t stop with routing and automation. They also added a 90-minute SLA (Service Level Agreement) for responding to hot inbound leads.

Using LeanData’s “Hold Until” feature, the system checked whether the rep completed a call within the SLA window. If not, it sent a friendly nudge via Slack.

These reminders weren’t punitive. 

ChowNow used SLA data to improve rep performance through coaching and awareness. They also adjusted the timing after getting feedback from reps, extending the SLA from 30 to 90 minutes to better fit real-world workflows.

In short, ChowNow’s SLA setup helped:

• Identify bottlenecks in lead follow-up
  
• Encourage timely outreach without micromanagement
  
• Support reps in prioritizing high-intent prospects
  

What’s Next for ChowNow?

ChowNow’s success with LeanData is far from over. Next, the team plans to:

• Refine their Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) using geographic territory logic
  
• Explore data tables to simplify complex routing decisions
  
• Build “account team” functionality to strengthen multi-contact engagement
  

These efforts will build on the foundation they’ve already created and ensure ChowNow keeps pace with the speed of the restaurant industry.

Takeaways from ChowNow’s LeanData Strategy

Here’s what stands out about ChowNow’s customer journey automation:

• They reduced time to touch from days to minutes using Outreach and LeanData
  
• They managed multiple lead sources without sacrificing follow-up quality
  
• They used BookIt to streamline scheduling for both reps and customers
  
• They created a scalable onboarding system using custom object routing
  
• They implemented SLAs to support reps, not punish them
  

Their approach proves that with the right tools and smart routing logic, companies can turn operational complexity into a competitive advantage.

About the Author

Kim Peterson

Manager, Content Strategy at LeanData

Kim Peterson is the Manager of Content Strategy at LeanData where she digs deep into all aspects of the revenue process and shares her findings across multiple content channels. Kim's writing experiences span tech companies, stunt blogging, education, and the real estate industry. Connect with Kim on LinkedIn.