ChowNow Reviews

There are a lot of cons that I'd like to share with you. I recently moved on after about 9 months and working there was a thoroughly horrible experience for me. The predecessor in my role stayed 3 months and doesn't even list ChowNow on his LinkedIn profile. During his brief stint he successfully recruited a friend to join his team, and he still moved on after 3 months. Of course his friend soon followed suit. It all makes perfect sense to me now. These were definitely red flags to me as I evaluated ChowNow against other options, but I'm experienced and confident in my abilities and chalked it up to them simply not being a fit for the company. If you look at the theme of reviews here you'd get the sense that ChowNow is an excellent place to do your job each day. Maybe it is in some junior positions and to some people that like a lack of supervision/accountability, but for me it was an extremely negative experience from basically day 1. It's clear to me that ChowNow is significantly misrepresented here on Glassdoor, a resource that is trusted by many during the interview process (it was certainly a part of my decision to join ChowNow), and I'm hoping to help others avoid an experience similar to mine through a review in this same medium. * The entire executive team is significantly under-qualified for their roles and thus operate in an insecure way - as you'd expect, this is the root cause of a myriad of problems that cascade down through the organization * One specific example is fear that they won't be able to attract the appropriate talent in alignment with planned growth, creating ideal conditions for mercenary types as they over-extend to land hires in key roles * The working culture over my 9 months was a mix between 1. thinly veiled mercenary-type leaders in operations (they're about a year into this) that believe, correctly, that they can behave any way they want organizationally with no consequence, and 2. what I'd refer to as the 'old guard', an extremely passive aggressive group that have been with ChowNow since the early days - these people/teams REFUSED to partner as per organizational design and were never put into alignment or held accountable by mutual leadership * When the most opportunistic of this 'old guard' align with this dysfunctional leadership, some of the worst working culture I've ever seen transpires for those around them on the org chart: constant process circumvention, baseless attacks on those who own things that they feel they should own, and every other immature tactic you'd see listed in a textbook describing organizational dysfunction - they succeed, and are allowed to succeed by the executive team, in tilting the organization to disproportionately serve their functions in a way that compromises the organization's effort as a whole * This working culture is fully known to the executive team and they choose not to take corrective action (I surfaced this to my manager, the COO, numerous times and it was never refuted or addressed) - I do not know this for sure but the read I get is that they know they can't move on from these individuals right now as it would impact their plans (at least in their thinking) and, as a result, they actually take steps to prop up the very individuals that are having a corrosive effect on the organization * The sacred process at ChowNow is the hiring process - once you're through that and company onboarding there's a distinct drop-off in working culture - it's a complete facade * Bottom Line: Anyone that's serious about their craft, career and where they spend a large portion of their time each weekday should pass on ChowNow until the leadership is significantly upgraded

-ChowNow focused and not client focused. -No matter how long you have been at the company they write you up for not meeting quota. This created low morale within the Territory Sales Representative group. Everyone was so anxious about getting written up that they were actively seeking other employment opportunities vs fully focusing on their job at ChowNow. -They are a very black and white company. There are no “gray” areas. They have a set of rules and there are no ways they will sway from those. This means they are not “people” oriented but “statistics” oriented, unfortunately. -Beware that “unlimited vacation” does not mean you get off whenever YOU “need” it but when it is ok and good timing for ChowNow in regards to sales numbers. Regardless, if you are performing, if ChowNow is not performing, good luck getting approved for time off. -Sales management manages sales representatives out of fear of their own job vs trying to mentor and train those they have hired. They would rather fire someone than improve upon their strengths. -After returning home from training the sales leadership team were very condescending toward you if you were to ask basic set up questions after the sale. They were short and rude when responding to e-mails, or they just did not respond at all. -They say "rock solid benefits." When I did a side by side comparison I was spending $1,000+ more a month for benefits than with my last job. -After the sale is over they do not want you dealing with client issues. They want you to pass it on to their account management team and move on. But, If you are not communicative with the client after the sale and they have not been called within a reasonable time period, it should be your duty to follow-up for the client. ChowNow does not encourage communication between sales and account management unless it is through their CRM system. -If you are in a new market that ChowNow has only a few established accounts in you will probably need a six-nine month ramp up period. -"Top performers will make a lot of money." Which means if you are not in the top 10-30% of sales reps...you will make "ok" money. Only 30% of the sales force met quota in my time there. -"Consistent and fair leadership. We’ll share info, set clear goals, show you respect and treat everyone fairly." This was not my experience during my time there but it was stated in the job description. The two sales managers were butting heads and not communicating well which caused confusion in the field and also poor communication on decision making. -You have to fill out a "weekly report” from a vendor called 15Five. It asks several questions on how you feel and what is the morale that you see around you. If you answer honestly, it may just be turned around on you and bite you in a negative way. Keep your answers high level on that report. -They will not negotiate salary. It is what it is.