8282 is great!
Thanks. I’m curious how long it takes to pay back the food and beverage costs. Like, if it took one year, the annual interest rate would be 100%. If it took 5 years, more like a 15% interest rate.
It’s not the next 200k in sales, nor is it the next x% of sales, it’s specifically the next 200k of food/beverage paid in-store using the InKind app. If you go in to a restaurant and pay the check with card or cash, it goes to the restaurant as usual. If you go in to a restaurant and pay the check with the InKind app, the money goes to InKind (excluding tax & tip) and the outstanding “loan” to InKind is reduced by the amount you paid.
InKind adjusts levers to try and smooth the flow of customers paying with the app. For example, if a restaurant is getting hit hard by InKind users, InKind can remove the restaurant from the “map” and only show it via the “pay” screen, or reduce the cash-back amount, or reduce promotion of the restaurant via social media/email marketing. How well those levers works I can not say.
As for how long it typically takes to “pay off” an InKind “loan” and therefore what the effective annual “interest rate” is - that’s a great question I have also wondered. @Ns1’s comment about the marginal cost of f&b would be essential in trying to calculate a theoretical effective rate (or at least some measure of true cost to the business).
Aside from a few sporadic anonymous comments online, I have yet to find any restaurateur really go into the details about how InKind works from the inside and what the experience is like. I wonder if there are NDAs or non-disparagements involved?
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Thanks for this insight. It’s interesting to hear how they work - sounds like soft levers at best. The only detailed discussion I saw was from Matthew Kang’s latest newsletter (behind the paywall but here’s the preview) - some interesting discussions there. A few quotes. (there’s an unadvertised free trial for the newsletter).
Posting the free preview here since it could be of interest to the thread:
A few years ago at a Formula 1 event in Las Vegas, I met some of the folks behind InKind, a restaurant finance company and mobile payment/dining rewards app with a huge presence in Los Angeles and other major cities like New York, San Francisco, and Austin (its home base). Co-founder Johann Moonesinghe said he came up with the idea as a way to help the restaurant industry at a time of significant upheaval (like the pandemic, rising costs, delivery apps). I was curious about the sales pitch to restaurateurs and chefs, which is simple: A restaurant gets X amount of cash, and has to pay back twice that amount in food and beverages to InKind users. InKind makes money from selling those credits at a discount to users. But I’ve certainly heard my fair share of groans and issues with the company, so I had to figure out whether InKind is ultimately good — or not so great — for the restaurant industry.
I was curious about InKind because in my past life, I worked as a credit analyst at a commercial bank. For almost nine years I also owned an artisanal ice cream shop called Scoops Westside, so I can commiserate with the stresses and travails of being a small business owner in this industry. Over the years, many prominent operators that have taken money from InKind have talked to me privately. (I encourage you to have your own conversations with owners of your regular spots that are on the platform.) Since I know some of you use InKind regularly, I wanted to share here some insights I’ve gathered from chefs and restaurant owners on the record.
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That’s exactly what I’ve been hoping to find and read, thanks for sharing! And I didn’t even know @matthewkang has a newsletter!
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Thanks, that’s helpful.
I like the concept of an adjustable, success-based loan. It seems like a good idea for everyone.
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Thanks for sharing about my newsletter! Please subscribe! If you want me to forward you the one about InKind shoot me an email to kangtown@eater.com and I’ll send it to you as a forum member.
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Did not know that you were the owner of scoops westside, did it shut down for lack of business or other reasons (if you’re willing to discuss)? Always loved scoops, glad to see the OG shop is still alive and kicking.
Tip for the coffee enthusiasts: Dayglow is on InKind and accepts it as payment for bags of beans. Between buying Costco gift cards and spend $X to get $X off deals, I’ve gotten really steep discounts on bags from interesting roasters. They always have fun stuff from across the globe.
Also, not sure how often it happens, but InKind tables at some LA food events and gives out freebie credits. I almost passed by their booth at KCRW’s Pie Fest since I figured I wouldn’t be eligible for a new user incentive, but I spun the wheel and won $100 off any purchase over $100.
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I feel a little weird posting this as they participate on this board, but in my view that’s not a valid reason to censor information.
So: it appears that Jacaranda has either already joined or will be joining InKind shortly (or less likely, joined and already left and nobody noticed). The restaurant is in InKind’s system but is not live on the frontend - you can’t yet see it in the app.
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So how does one use Inkind for counter purchases? You literally just have the app open and somehow figure out the check number from the screen? Or do you have to do the whole song and dance of telling the cashier you’re doing Inkind, etc.
If the restaurant’s POS is fully integrated with InKind, you enter the check number in the app, which for counter service requires asking the cashier for the check number.
If the restaurant’s POS is not integrated with InKind, you enter the total that it shows on the terminal (in some cases you can point your camera at the terminal and it auto-fills the total), pay the bill in the InKind app, and then show your InKind payment confirmation screen to the cashier.
Either way, you have to let the cashier know you’re using InKind. So there is some song & dance, but unless you’re catching a new place that just joined InKind (which happened to me at Bread Head), it’s generally painless.
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not at all. the lease was up after 5 years plus two 2-year extensions. I was just tired and it wasn’t making that much money bc the landlord raised rent so much. I was also working full time as the editor of Eater LA and just over running an ice cream shop. I miss our regulars and the community that we built. I still run into customers from time to time, which is fune. The OG Scoops on Heliotrope/Melrose is actually not open anymore! It closed a few years ago but the Highland Park and Chinatown locations are still going stong.
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We’re in the beginning of the on-boarding process with inkind. In fact, we emailed with one of your colleagues last week about moving forward with the process.
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I don’t work for InKind, just an LA foodie 
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Gotta confess something confession booth style. Spanish food is one of my favorite cuisines. I don’t need to explain the dearth of it in LA to this crowd. I’m thinking of exploiting inkind credits and deals to scratch the itch at Teleferic…I went to the one in Walnut Creek last week and even after asking twice for socarrat, clarifying I know it’ll take longer, I did not receive a nice crispy fond. Should be unforgivable, but sometimes my gluttony is too much
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Teleferic Brentwood: No bueno. Try instead Dos Besos, Xuntos, or PaellaSaturdays.com …
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Oh i know of those spots, haven’t been, but I was speaking of stuff available on inkind
Next time you’re in the Bay Area, try La Marcha for soccarat. Or if you’re in New York, the aptly named Soccarat.
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I love la marcha! I used to live in the Bay. I’m also going to Valencia in November, hah
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