Meet Bowls of Rice
With four locations across Chicago, Milwaukee, and Dallas, Bowls of Rice is an Asian-fusion, fast-casual restaurant brand built on a delivery and pickup-only model. With no dine-in operations, their success relies entirely on creating a seamless online ordering experience for customers — ensuring convenience, trust, and consistency across every digital touchpoint.
The Challenge
Before joining the DoorDash Commerce Platform in June 2025, Bowls of Rice was using a different online ordering provider and a separate white-label delivery service. Because the two companies weren't integrated, Wesley Li, Owner of Bowls of Rice, found that his business was unable to communicate delivery issues and updates to guests, leading to a poor customer experience and chargebacks. Because of this, Li knew that he had to make a change to Bowls of Rice's technology ecosystem to improve the customer experience and protect his bottom line.
Li was also interested in launching a restaurant app for Bowls of Rice. But, because the restaurant was in a scaling phase, Li worried that managing a mobile app as the business opened new locations would cause an exponential logistical headache. He also worried that building a mobile app would take his team away from what they do best — serving delectable rice bowls.
"Before DoorDash launched the Commerce Platform, we were about to give up on the idea of a mobile app."
The Solution
Li chose to invest in the DoorDash Commerce Platform Pro package to consolidate the restaurant's online ordering and delivery needs into a single platform, improving the delivery experience for customers. And, after making over $80k in gross sales* from direct orders in their first full quarter on the DoorDash Commerce Platform alone, it's safe to say they made the right decision. Plus, because orders made through Online Ordering are commission-free*** Bowls of Rice saved nearly $9k in order commissions* during their first full quarter using the Commerce Platform.
By selecting the DoorDash Commerce Platform Pro package, Li and his team gained access to the branded mobile app. With the branded mobile app, DoorDash engineers do the heavy lifting, building your app to match your brand's look and feel. Li had two calls with DoorDash to set up the Bowls of Rice app, and a few weeks later, it was ready for customers to use.
But for Li, a self-identified DoorDash power user, what really makes the branded mobile app stand out from the competition is that it's built on the same technology that powers Marketplace.
"Frankly, I order DoorDash way too often — probably twice a day. It's because it's easy, and we want to give that same experience to our customers."
With the Pro package, Li and his team also make use of Cross-Channel Loyalty, the only loyalty program that rewards customers, no matter where they order — in-store, on your website, on your app, and on DoorDash. In the two months since launching their Cross-Channel Loyalty program, over 1200 customers have signed up for rewards on Bowls of Rice's site, accounting for over $5k in loyalty attributed sales.**
"Cross-channel loyalty allows our customers to purchase from all our channels and keep track of their rewards in one place."
Bowls of Opportunity
As Bowls of Rice continues to expand, Li is confident the restaurant's technology infrastructure will keep pace.
“With the Pro package, I see a future where we can continue to focus on scaling new locations without worrying about app infrastructure on the backend. We see the DoorDash Commerce Platform as a seamless toolkit bringing together online ordering, loyalty, and our app, which makes me very excited.”
With DoorDash as a partner, Bowls of Rice is poised for continued growth, unburdened by technical complexity — and free to focus on what matters most: serving delicious food to more happy customers.
Interested in hearing directly from Bowls of Rice Owner, Wesley Li, about his business's experience with the DoorDash Commerce Platform?
Hear Bowls of Rice's full story*Based on DoorDash internal data, Jul 2025 to Sep 2025
**Based on DoorDash internal data, Aug 2025 to Oct 2025
***2.9% + $0.30 payment processing fee applies
