Blackbird Labs launches Web3 platform for restaurant payments

Blackbird Labs, a hospitality technology startup founded by Recy and Eater co-founder Ben Leventhal, has launched a Web3 payment platform for restaurants called Blackbird Pay, according to a July 30 announcement.

The platform, built on Blackbird's new blockchain network, Blackbird FlyNet, offers restaurants a way to “address the ever-increasing profit margins and cash reserves by making their own end-to-end payments and securing settlement network.” For the first time, according to the statement.

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Blackbird Payment is designed to reduce settlement time and reduce transaction costs for restaurants to an average of 2% per transaction. It will also allow diners to pay with FLY, Blackbird's native token, which will be issued as rewards on the platform, the statement said. Currently, restaurant transaction fees are up to 4 percent.

Over the past decade, restaurant technology has “not improved at all with fees that are expensive, difficult and technologically opaque for most restaurants,” Leventhal said.

Blackbird Pay allows diners at member restaurants to pay directly from the Blackbird app using credit or debit cards, FLY tokens or USD Coin (USDC). The app assigns unique guest value points to each user, which member restaurants can use as the basis for custom points, perks and benefits programs, Blackbird said.

Web3 startups are gaining ground in the restaurant industry, with applications ranging from cost cutting to rewards programs to gamification. Existing players include DevourGO, a Web3 food delivery service. U.S. restaurant sales are expected to surpass $1 trillion by 2024 for the first time in history, according to the National Restaurant Association.

Ronnie Mazumdar, owner of Unapologetic Foods, said Blackbird and similar services allow restaurants to “save thousands of dollars a month in processing fees.”

Blackbird is also developing messaging and discovery apps for restaurants, including programs like Blackbird Breakfast Club and Bar Blackbird, which are designed to drive traffic to restaurants during slow times, the company said.

The company has raised $24 million in Series A venture funding led by Andreessen Horowitz. Current restaurants on Blackbird include Barbuto, Crown Shay, Momofuku, Nom Wah and Saga in New York. Leon's in Charleston; and Birdsong in San Francisco.

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