Acquisition
Jan 2024Fantuan acquired Chowbus's food-delivery business line; financial terms were undisclosed. Chowbus retained and refocused on restaurant SaaS and POS. TechCrunch reported that about 20 delivery employees would join Fantuan.
SourceCompany research
Public company, workplace, funding, and market signals
Updated Aug 5, 2026
Overview
Chowbus is a Chicago-founded restaurant-technology company that began as an Asian-food delivery marketplace and pivoted into a full-stack SaaS/POS platform for culturally rooted independent restaurants. It provides restaurant operating, ordering, payments, marketing, analytics and emerging AI tools, with operations focused on the U.S. restaurant market.
Primary product
Chowbus POS: an all-in-one restaurant operating platform covering POS hardware/software, online and QR/tablet/kiosk ordering, KDS, delivery integrations, payments, loyalty/CRM, reviews, reservations/waitlist, employee and multi-location management, and AI-enabled marketing/operations.
Founded
2016
Headquarters
Chicago, Illinois, United States
Team size
Approximately 100–203; public sources conflict (143 company-profile estimate, 190 PitchBook estimate, and 203 as of June 2026).
Work style
Flexible
Industry
Technology, Information and Internet
Sub-industry
Restaurant technology / POS and restaurant-management SaaS
Offices
Chicago, Illinois, United States
Distributed workforce across the United States, China, Australia, Canada, and Taiwan (public profile signal; specific offices not fully verified)
Business model
B2B SaaS subscriptions for restaurants
POS and restaurant-management software
Hardware and payments/services attached to POS
Funding
People & investors
Leadership
Co-Founder & CEO
Co-Founder & CTO
Xiaolei Gu
Senior Vice President of Engineering
Hao Shen
Head of Partnerships
Steven M
Head of Restaurant Technology
Terry Cai
VP of Key Accounts
Joel Stump
VP of Sales Strategy & Operations
Work & culture
Public materials emphasize ownership, customer obsession, teamwork, empathy for restaurant operators, multilingual/culturally aware service, and high-touch partnership with independent restaurant owners. Current recruiting signals show both in-person market-development roles and remote customer-success/systems roles, suggesting a flexible but role-dependent model.
Work style
Flexible
Compensation
A current Greenhouse posting lists $130,000–$160,000 for a remote GTM Systems Lead role. Other compensation data was not publicly verified.
Benefits
Medical, dental and vision insurance
401(k)
Employer-paid short-term disability
Employer-paid life insurance
Employer-paid AD&D insurance
Company holidays
Birthday off
Paid parental leave
Flexible PTO
Employee Assistance Program
Product & market
Pricing
Quote-based restaurant SaaS/POS pricing; public materials promote packages and sales contact rather than a standard public price list. Hardware, payments, integrations and add-on services may be separately priced.
Differentiators
- —Designed around culturally rooted and Asian restaurants rather than generic restaurant workflows
- —Multilingual and culturally aware customer/merchant support
- —Unified POS, ordering, KDS, delivery integrations, marketing and back-office tools
- —Support for complex concepts such as bubble tea, hotpot, BBQ, AYCE and modifier-heavy menus
- —High-touch service for independent and multi-location operators
- —Expansion from POS into AI marketing, accounting, supply-chain and other operating services
Technology
Scale & contact
Estimated revenue
Approximately $50M–$60M based on company-profile/LinkedIn-derived estimates; Chowbus separately reported $120M+ ARR in March 2026, so public estimates are inconsistent and may reflect different revenue definitions or dates.
Signals & risks
Other
Jan 2024Chowbus exited the delivery space entirely by 2024 and concentrated on restaurant technology. This is a material strategic pivot, not a reported shutdown of the company.
SourceLatest news
Chowbus · May 2026
The company presented an AI Digital Worker strategy and product upgrades across its restaurant platform, with the CEO and CTO describing deeper AI integration into restaurant operations.
Chowbus · Mar 2026
Chowbus announced an $81M Series E led by Prysm and Left Lane, reporting $120M ARR and approximately $4B annualized processed volume, and outlined expansion into AI-driven marketing, accounting, supply ordering and insurance.
PR Newswire / Chowbus · Sep 2025
Chowbus reported $120M+ ARR and $4B+ processed volume after pivoting from delivery to restaurant technology; cited Jiang Nan and Chubby Group as early adopters.
Pulse 2.0 · Aug 2025
Linxin Wen discussed Chowbus's evolution from delivery app to POS and restaurant operating platform, products, culturally rooted customers, and plans to reach 50,000 restaurants by 2028.
Open Positions
70 jobs at Chowbus
Sales Manager_Chinese Vertical
On-site
Sales-POS
DMV
6d ago
On-site
Full-time