Shout Out: Chowly and Ovation

There’s a difference between “integrations,” and actual alignment.

This week’s Shoutout goes to two Branded portfolio companies, Chowly and Ovation, for doing something deceptively simple but incredibly powerful: getting in the same room (well, podcast studio) and talking shop.

On the latest episode of Ovation’s Give an Ovation podcast featuring Sterling Douglass, the conversation zeroes in on a truth operators are living every day: restaurants don’t just serve guests anymore, they engage them digitally, often without ever seeing them face-to-face.

And that’s where this pairing hits.

Chowly sits at the demand layer, owning the digital storefront, integrating ordering channels, and helping operators drive revenue and control their customer funnel.

Ovation owns the feedback loop, capturing real-time guest sentiment, and turning it into operational action.

Different lanes. Same highway.

While I’m sure both Ovation (Zack Oates) and Chowly (Sterling Douglass) are pleased that I’m highlighting the podcast they did together, this shoutout isn’t just about a podcast. It’s a glimpse into where the restaurant tech stack is heading.

Less fragmentation. More orchestration. From “systems that talk” to “systems that think.” B/c in today’s game, the winner isn’t the platform with the most features, it’s the one that connects the dots between demand, experience, and retention.

Or put differently, if Chowly helps you win the order, and Ovation helps you win the guest, then the real win is when those two outcomes stop operating in silos.

That’s not integration. That’s infrastructure. And that’s why I wanted to shoutout this podcast!