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Ben Leventhal says Blackbird will give many independent restaurants the means to identify and reward regulars for the first time.
Ben Leventhal helped found the popular restaurant-news site Eater and the innovative restaurant-reservation service Resy. So a lot of attention has focused on his latest project — Blackbird, the first loyalty platform for independent restaurants — since it began operating in New York City in April.
Blackbird Labs announced Wednesday that its pilot program has been a success, that it is expanding to San Francisco and Los Angeles, and that it has raised $24 million through a16z, the Silicon Valley venture capital firm also known as Andreessen Horowitz. That’s on top of $11 million in seed money raised last year in an effort led by the Union Square Ventures fund. American Express, which acquired Resy in 2019, is also becoming a major investor in Blackbird.
Like all rewards programs, Blackbird is designed to entice customers into becoming regulars. It arrives amid a sweeping post-Covid self-evaluation by independent restaurants about how to survive high labor costs, new price plateaus and the relentless march of national chains.
In an interview on Tuesday, Mr. Leventhal said that despite a two-decade-long spike in Americans’ fascination with restaurants, chefs and food in general, “the average restaurant is doing the same or worse, and connectivity between restaurants and guests has eroded.” Home delivery via third-party apps like DoorDash spiked during the pandemic, restaurants began using social media to communicate with diners, and many no longer have a direct reservations line or even a phone number. Blackbird is the first app that enables restaurants and members to text back and forth, in real time.
Aiming to recreate what it calls an “old school maître d’ mind-set,” Blackbird tags diners who sign up (at no cost), then tracks their visits, identifies repeat customers and rewards them with perks such as free co*cktails, extra desserts and birthday discounts. And unlike those maitre d’s, whose favor could be purchased with fame, looks or cash, Blackbird is interested only in your swipes.
About 20 restaurants in Manhattan and Brooklyn already have Blackbird readers at the entrance. Most are relatively new arrivals with a high cool factor, like the cozy Vietnamese restaurant Di An Di, in Greenpoint, Brooklyn; the high-end Principe, in SoHo; and the fast-growing local chain Upside Pizza. For independent restaurants like these, direct marketing to diners has always been a challenge.
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