by Bobby Ghosh
Restauranteurs across the U.S. are struggling to square the circle of food inflation and rising labor costs with growing consumer complaints about soaring menu prices — at fast-food chains as much as at standalone fine-dining establishments. Although Americans are spending 10% more on restaurant food, the number of people eating out has actually fallen by 1%.
How, in this environment, does a restaurant maintain customer loyalty? The age-old tradition of the maître d’ or waiter relying on memory to build personal relationships is hard to sustain: Eateries are experiencing an acute labor shortage and, consequently, a higher than usual turnover of staff.
These days, being greeted by familiar captains or wait staff at one of my favorite haunts is a surprise, rather than standard. I can no longer rely on anyone to know my favorite table, dish or drink — nor does the kitchen send out a complimentary starter in recognition of my long patronage. This is the more frustrating because they’re charging me so much more for my custom.
Ben Leventhal believes he has the solution to this conundrum: A loyalty program for restaurants. Blackbird, his new venture, is a twist on a concept familiar to frequent fliers and hotel guests. It allows customers to acquire points toward building status and restaurants to accumulate information to improve the dining experience.
Launched this past summer, Blackbird is aimed primarily at independent eateries, which can’t afford to create app-based rewards programs that fast-food chains like Dunkin’ and Starbucks have rolled out. Diners don’t pay to use Blackbird; when the trial phase has ended, restaurants will be charged 2 cents to 5 cents per check in, and a yet-unspecified percentage of transactions.
According to Leventhal, around 100 restaurants in the New York area have signed up so far, but he won’t say how many diners are using the app. No less important, the concept is already attracting investors: Leventhal recently raised $24 million in a Series A round led by venture capital fund Andreessen Horowitz. He had already received $11 million in seed money before the launch.
The investors and restaurateurs alike are betting on Leventhal maintaining a winning streak as the founder of Eater, the restaurant news site, and Resy, the reservation system. (American Express, which acquired Resy in 2019, is also an investor in the new venture.)
Leventhal tells me he’s still tweaking his product, to make sure what he’s “doing is fundamentally in the service of restaurants and consumers.” The goal, he says, is to enable restaurants to create a “magical experience” for diners, where they feel recognized and rewarded for their loyalty. If Leventhal can pull off a three-peat with Blackbird, other loyalty programs will follow.
Like any rewards program, Blackbird requires some basic personal data from members, and adds more with each transaction. This allows it to present restaurateurs with profiles that include preferences as well as peeves. Leventhal calls this “data packaged into actionable information.” If a restaurant uses it well, it can give the customer “the premium experience of walking into a place and feeling like a regular,” he says.
When a Blackbird member books a table at a restaurant, the maître d’ immediately knows how often they’ve been before and what they’ve ordered in the past. This allows them to make informed recommendations — Bobby Ghosh, who loves pork, might be interested in the porchetta special. A manager can decide to reward loyalty, or encourage it, by throwing in a free cocktail, say, or a dessert. (Each eatery can design its own status tiers and assign corresponding rewards.)
Blackbird also allows restaurants to be proactive: A maître d’ can invite a regular diner for a free drink on their birthday, or a manager who notices they have a few empty tables can alert customers in the neighborhood.
Early adopters are still learning how to use the app but say they see the potential. At Principe, the hot new Italian restaurant in New York’s SoHo district, general manager Kal Nemeiboka says he is using the information generated by Blackbird to improve customer experiences: “It’s not just about giving them a free drink, we want them to feel seen — that’s vital for repeat guests.”
If that takes a little bit of the sting out of the bigger check at the end of the meal, I’ll take it.
