Blackbird Labs

Restaurants are supposed to spark joy. For most of us, they’re our happy place. One thing that could use some work? How we pay. The flagging, the waiting, the splitting – it's a cat-and-mouse game that can make a good meal suddenly feel exhausting. That’s why we’re excited to announce Blackbird Pay, a new frictionless feature that not only makes waiting for the check a thing of the past, but makes paying for a meal feel magical. Check in at the Blackbird puck to immediately open a check, split the bill among friends and set your tip, all from the app, and when you’re done, you simply get up and go. Vault a card to start testing Blackbird Pay at select restaurants (filter the in-app map by “Blackbird Pay” to see where), or choose to pay with $FLY, our universal reward currency. Read all about Blackbird Pay in this Fast Company piece by Kristen Hawley. https://lnkd.in/e4RHzJXQ

At its core, hospitality is a relationship business. The more you know your guests, the greater bond you can forge, and thus the better, more bespoke service you can provide. You'll see a lot about how Blackbird rewards its users through things like $FLY, our points system, as well as other core app features that can make dining just that much more magical, from frictionless pay to exclusive memberships and more. But beyond the consumer value prop, there's another, not so insignificant party to this business that we're equally invested in: the restaurants and bars on our platform. These businesses are pros when it comes to providing great hospitality. We'd never say otherwise. But if we can help them know their customers just that much more, and thus create an even better, more personalized experience, well, that's exactly what we're here for. Which is why we're so excited to see operators in San Francisco—our latest market—saying just that. “It drives people into the restaurant,” said Benson Wang, the CEO and co-founder of the hospitality group behind the cocktail bar Bergerac and the restaurant Palm House. “We’re in the business to create that third place and to create connections … to get access to that loyalty, people need to show up. This is one of the few apps that I’ve seen that is built around incentivizing people to do that.” https://lnkd.in/eUrB3YUc

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In this talk, Ben Leventhal shares his entrepreneurial journey of being the founder of Eater, Resy, and now Blackbird Labs. This conversation, moderated by a16z crypto general partner Arianna Simpson, covers the evolution of going from a magazine to building a tech company, his advice for early stage founders, and how web3 enables Blackbird. Check out the full talk here: https://lnkd.in/gtXrXG3e You can also apply to our spring CSX cohort to hear these conversations in-person, plus off the record talks, workshops, office hours, & more: https://lnkd.in/gKcN_kWj

This week, the NYC DePIN community came together for a meetup at the DIMO office. It was fantastic to meet some community members irl, and we even got a sneak peek at a handful of demos showing off the latest and greatest in DePIN. Huge shoutout to all the presenters from Helium, Fleek, Blackbird Labs, Icebreaker Labs, Daylight Energy, IoTeX, Allora Labs.

The key to consumer crypto is bridging the digital - IRL divide. At Blackbird, that means earning and burning $FLY… With the overwhelming success and enthusiasm we saw last summer with our Cowy Burger pop-up, we’ve decided to partner with The Standard once more to unlock IRL events for the Blackbird community, and the only way to experience it is with Blackbird Pay.  Today, we’re excited to introduce Blackbird Residency at The Standard Biergarten, where we’re checking in for the rest of the year with a curated lineup of iykyk restaurants and chefs. The monthly residency kicks off with Danny Bowien of Mission Chinese Food bringing his iconic Chinese-American grub for one-weekend-only. The Lineup: 🔸Mission Chinese Food — Oct 26-27 🔸Border Town — Nov 9-10 🔸Mini Kabob— Dec 6-8 (their first ever NYC pop-up!) Where:  📍 The Standard Biergarten 848 Washington St, New York First Weekend Details:  Saturday, October 26th: 12:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. Sunday, October 27th: 12:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. Access is first come, first served, and hours are subject to selling out. All purchases on site will be via Blackbird Pay. So load up on $FLY and add a payment card in the Blackbird app. Mark your calendars and see you there! 

Being part of Blackbird means exclusive and unique experiences. All through the magic of $FLY. This fall, we’re bringing both coasts together to celebrate Cantonese cuisine for a one-of-a-kind experience. We’ve partnered with Brandon Jew of Mister Jiu’s and Calving Eng of Brooklyn’s Bonnie’s to come together with a seven course menu. 🐉 Dragon Feast SF:  Date: October 23  Location: Mister Jiu’s Book Here: https://lnkd.in/evhzS_p4 🐉 Dragon Feast NY:  Date: Nov 12 Location: Bonnie’s Book Here: https://lnkd.in/eaG8gXFp Score reservations for night one in SF or night two in Brooklyn (or both!) and check in and pay with Blackbird (make sure to add a payment card in advance). Tables available for parties of 2 - 6 from 6 p.m. Link in bio to book your reservation. See you there 🤜🤛

Affinity lanes are a natural community-building hack. Create clubs around what people care about, and you’ll get some pretty passionate people to join – the whole, ‘if you build it, they will come’ thing. All of which drives more guests into more restaurants. Which is why this month, Blackbird has expanded our Breakfast Club in two cities – NYC and Charleston. 📍 NYC - This is the fourth drop in our beloved city where we’re fueled by our beverages. This time, we’ve expanded to new neighborhoods (Hello UES, UWS + Brooklyn 👋), unlocked new benefits like exclusive runs with Dirty Bird Run Club, and added local favorite spots like Maman. 📍 Charleston - We set our eyes on Charleston a year ago because of its incredible local F&B community and both locals and tourists prioritizing dining out regularly. We’re excited to be part of the local’s daily schedule as they check-in to get their coffee (or tea) every morning at some of their favorite spots. By joining the Breakfast Club, members unlock coffee (or tea) everyday, get access to members only events, exclusive merch and other surprises. All for $25 a month! If you haven’t already joined the club, get yours here: ▶ NYC: https://lnkd.in/eFn-vdWW ▶CHS: https://lnkd.in/e5SYed5F

An update on $FLY and what it means for both restaurants and guests.

Restaurants are a notoriously hard business. 60% fail in the first year. 38% are not profitable. The average margin has dropped from 20% to 4% over the past 25 years. The restaurant industry operates on a fundamental paradox: it's a business of hospitality, predicated on making each customer feel special, yet it's also a volume business that requires serving as many customers as possible to remain profitable. If you’ve watched season three of The Bear, you’ve watched this paradox play in excruciatingly high fidelity. It’s Richie versus Computer. Five-star hospitality versus cold-hard numbers. Blackbird Labs is what you’d get if Richie and Computer had a baby: scaling personalized hospitality with data. It's a crypto app that doesn't feel like a crypto app. It feels like a restaurant app. Loyalty & Payments. Onchain AmEx. Read all about it in this week's Deep Dive. https://lnkd.in/eSUiYjap