Blackbird Labs’ Post

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

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

The best new burger you’ve probably never heard of? Cowy Burger, a smashburger pop-up outfit from Miami that won this year’s Burger Bash at South Beach Wine & Food Festival. It’s a winner, and you’re a winner, so Blackbird is bringing them to The Standard Biergarten in Meatpacking for a three-day pop-up, July 19-21. You need a Blackbird x Cowy Burger access pass and a card on file in the Blackbird app. Simply check in when you arrive and see if you don’t agree that this burger is worth the hunt. blackbird.xyz/cowy

On the analogue magic of Zagat, how humans have discovered restaurants through the years, and our new "For You" Discovery feed. #restaurants #taste #discovery #tech #longread https://lnkd.in/erB-eEJH

For our Sunday read, we sat down with cook, recipe developer, social media star, and entrepreneur Nadia Caterina Munno, aka “The Pasta Queen” to talk growing up on a farm in Italy, eating pizza for breakfast in Rome, and falling in love with Yorkshire pudding. #restaurants #food #content #longform https://lnkd.in/euH5ezjk

Have you ever spotted a clock in a restaurant? We're guessing the chances are no. In our experience, rarely do we spy a clock in the dining room. Turns out, that's by design, albeit an unwritten rule of sorts. To get to the bottom of this mystery, we turned to a few trusted operators in the space like Upside's Noam Grossman, Shy Bird's Eli Feldman, The Odeon's Lynn Wagenknecht, Kurt Huffman of Chef's Table Group, folks at Roaul's, Sant Ambroeus, and others. See what secrets they revealed via the link below. "KDS screens. POS screens. Reservations. The front and back of house are riddled with clocks. They’re constantly in the back of our mind or staring us in the face. In a lot of ways, a restaurant is just a race against time – perishability of food, perishability of a seat. The tension of working in restaurants is predicated on clocks. Time is critical, but you’re trying to make it disappear at the same time for your guests. That’s the magic trick. That’s one of the things that makes this business so hard." #hospitality #restaurants #tech https://lnkd.in/eyHvsukf

Where did all the buy backs go? A deep dive on the best bar perk around, what happened to it, and why with a little graciousness you might still be able to unlock one, as told by our industry friends from PDT, Romeo's, and King Tai. https://lnkd.in/eM2a5Hvm

Anyone who joined our Breakfast Club knows that we love the concept, utility, and community of passes – the club in your (phone) pocket that you can carry to venues all within a certain affinity lane. And now, what we did for coffee, we're doing for cocktails. Celebrate summer with Bar Blackbird, a club for those who understand the uniquely magical pairing of sun and a cold beverage. A collab with Coinbase for Onchain Summer on Base, we have curated a lineup of 15+ incredible NYC drinking establishments, where today through the end of summer (9/3) you’ll have insider access and a drink on the house every time you visit. All that and more, for $50. Land yourself a Bar Blackbird summer pass below. https://bit.ly/4eiQTVA

Watch Ep 9 of Take Me to Your Spot at the iconic JG Melon. We love regulars. ❤️ #restaurants #hospitality #content #tiktok