Chowbus brings delivery service for Asian restaurants to Houston
As it turns out, in a pandemic, food delivery is as indispensable as a jumbo pack of toilet paper.
The arrival of delivery service Chowbus in Houston could not have come at a better time. Launched in the city in May, the platform focuses exclusively on Asian restaurants.
Chowbus co-founder and CEO Linxin Wen moved to Chicago from Shanghai in 2013 to pursue a masters degree at the Illinois Institute of Technology. He quickly noticed a couple things about Asian cuisine in the U.S.
Wen realized most people here are accustomed to an Americanized version of Chinese food. Dishes like chop suey, which does not exist in China, were developed by Chinese immigrants who opened restaurants and set out to appeal to American palates. But when Wen ordered authentic dishes while eating out with his friends, they loved it.
“There is a gap,” he said. “I started to figure out how to introduce people to this kind of food.”
The second thing he noticed is that many of the authentic restaurants he wanted diners to know about didn’t have platforms to promote their food and connect with customers.
By late 2014, Wen was testing ideas for a service that would cater to these underserved restaurants. He and his business partner, Suyu Zhang, launched the Chowbus website in spring 2015 and the mobile app followed in 2016, starting with Chicago. Chowbus now serves 22 cities across the U.S. and Canada, including Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Atlanta, St. Louis, Philadelphia, Boston, New York City, Minneapolis and more.
Houston is the first Chowbus city in Texas. Restaurants on the service include Mala Sichuan Bistro, Chongqing Chicken Pot, Xun Yu Si Kao, One Dragon, Meet Fresh, Kuen Noodle House, Kamalan Bakery, Hunan Bistro, Pepper Twins, Wing Kee and Tiger Noodle House, among others.
Chowbus also recently started offering delivery from Asian grocery stores, such as Welcome Food Center in Chinatown.
Wen says Houston has one of the best Asian food scenes in the country, which is why he decided to bring Chowbus here. According to the Greater Houston Partnership, 7.8 percent of Houston’s population is Asian, and Asian people represent 27.1 percent of foreign-born Houstonians. Their presence has led to this vibrant part of Houston’s food culture, where hundreds of stellar restaurants and food businesses are dedicated to a variety of cuisines, including Vietnamese, Chinese, Thai, Korean, and more.
“Houston is a major metro area, not just because it is one of the fastest growing U.S. cities, but because of its unique culinary culture,” said Chowbus Houston general manager Grace Hu.
Hu says she’s excited about connecting small, mom-and-pop restaurants to a wider group of food lovers, especially given the economic hardships they’ve suffered due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Chowbus is different from other food delivery services in a few ways. The company employs locals in each community to find authentic restaurants serving great food within their specialty. For instance, Chinese salespeople are in charge of onboarding Chinese restaurants, Korean folks seek out Korean restaurants, and so on.
“We trust their judgment because they know their food,” Wen said. “They choose the food they’d like to have with their friends and family.”
Chowbus also takes a novel approach to discovery, which is centered around specific dishes. The website and app are designed in such a way that menu items are at the forefront of the browsing experience. Wen says the platform uses this feature to connect people to dishes they may not be familiar with. The photo of a delicious-looking japchae (Korean glass noodles) could entice someone to order from Jang Guem Tofu and BBQ House, for example.
There’s thought put into this selection. The Chowbus team members sit down with a restaurant’s owner or chef to decide which dishes they want to highlight, then send a professional photographer to take high-quality photos of them, at no extra cost, to feature on the website and app.
As well as a unique user experience, Chowbus allows restaurant bundling, where customers can order from different places at once and get it delivered at the same time. It also offers Chowbus Plus for $9.99 a month, which gives members unlimited free delivery and exclusive discounts. Many restaurants offer rewards exclusively through Chowbus.
Wen says these are small but popular features that make Chowbus stand out from competitors. It also charges restaurants up to 20 percent in commission fees, which is lower than some other delivery services.
Houston is the fastest growing market at the company. There are now 115 restaurants listed. Since launching in the city in May, the number of users has gone up 50 percent every month, and the average Chowbus customer in Houston orders 3.7 times a month.
Houstonians are hungry for this type of cuisine. And Chowbus has delivered.