Blackbird's One-Year Revelation: Can Cryptocurrency Really Revive the Restaurant Industry?

Text: Niamh Rowe, Fortune Magazine

Translation: Luffy, Foresight News

Ben Leventhal, Founder of Blackbird

When you arrive at a restaurant, Ben Leventhal would rather tell you where to sit than what to order. "If you go to Balthazar, take table 62," he says, sipping tequila. "It's on the left side of the room—best view in the house."

Over the past two decades, the 40-something New Yorker has played a key role in shaping food culture. First, he launched Eater in 2005 (later acquired by Vox Media), telling us where to eat. Then in 2014, he co-founded Resy, helping us book tables; the company created a “reservation culture” by consolidating booking data from over 16,000 restaurants into one app. Now, he’s fully immersed in his latest restaurant tech venture: Blackbird Labs, a shared restaurant loyalty program where guests earn cryptocurrency points.

For Leventhal, this new company isn’t just about finding another way to merge technology with dining. At a time when many small restaurants are struggling to survive, he hopes Blackbird can provide them with greater financial intelligence and help preserve the establishments he calls “homes of joy.”

Dining Out Is Booming, But Restaurants Are Struggling

On a gray afternoon in Manhattan in August, Leventhal takes me to an ideal escape from the city’s drizzle: Temple Bar, a dimly lit, stylish spot in NoHo. No matter the season or hour, it’s never short of patrons reading menus by candlelight. With its mahogany walls, checkerboard floors, and vintage payphones, the ’90s decor pays homage to the decade when the restaurant first rose to fame—when art-world figures flocked here, sipping martinis from its signature oversized glasses.

We come to Temple Bar not only because it’s an early adopter of Blackbird, but also because of Leventhal’s obsession with the dining experience. "Actually, it's not really about the food," he says, gesturing toward Andy Warhol’s disco ball in the corner. "I get excited seeing restaurants thrive."

Even iconic spots like Temple Bar, which still hold their mystique, aren’t immune to a harsh reality: restaurant profit margins have been steadily declining. Food costs keep rising, post-pandemic labor shortages persist, and rents are soaring.

Yet, last year saw a record high in new restaurant listings on Yelp. In June, New York lawmakers even passed a bill banning resale markets for reservations—some of which sold for as much as $1,000 on Resy. "They’re more popular than ever—that’s what’s so curious," he says.

Given all this, Leventhal believes there’s still hope for the restaurants he loves—if they only knew how to earn more from the customers walking through their doors, especially regulars.

Earn Crypto While You Eat

In crypto terms, Blackbird is a decentralized "eat-to-earn" app. Frequent diners at Blackbird-partnered restaurants earn what are called “FLY points.” Another way to think of it: a traditional loyalty rewards program built on novel blockchain technology.

FLY is issued on Base chain, a blockchain developed by crypto giant Coinbase to reduce the high transaction costs associated with Ethereum.

Diners don’t care about the nature of the blockchain underpinning Blackbird, nor do they care about the mechanics behind Visa payments. What matters is the perks they unlock by accumulating FLY—free dishes, welcome drinks, and more.

Vance Spencer, co-founder of venture firm Framework Ventures, told Fortune he uses the app daily because his favorite breakfast spot happens to be on it. The benefit? He hasn’t paid for coffee in six months. As of July, users can also pay their bills within the app using FLY via the payment network Blackbird Pay.

Blackbird builds on Leventhal’s lifelong understanding of dining culture. In cities like New York, exclusivity is something that can be monetized. For example, if customers know a restaurant has only one table left, they’re more likely to book. Resy recognized this and turned reservations into a commodity.

In the case of Temple Bar, a historic restaurant, its embrace of blockchain is imperceptible to the naked eye. But one element makes it obvious: upon arrival, Blackbird users scan a device that looks like a metal hockey puck. The blockchain records where they dine, what they order, and how much they spend, estimating their long-term value. Restaurants pay $89 per month to use Blackbird, enabling them to determine when it’s worth offering a free drink or the best table. "If you keep doing that, you’re on a path toward economic viability," Leventhal says.

The Path to Adoption

Blackbird’s proposition is compelling, especially when articulated by the charismatic and highly rational Leventhal. Yet, on the front lines of the very restaurants it aims to save, the service remains a work in progress. Shortly before Leventhal arrived at Temple Bar, his PR representative asked a server about the “puck,” only to be met with a blank stare.

A user who declined to be named told Fortune: "If I see a Blackbird device at a restaurant, I try discussing the app with staff. But they usually respond with indifference."

While restaurant staff may seem confused or uninterested, the app appears to be attracting a more important group: diners. According to a Blackbird spokesperson, adoption has grown tenfold in roughly a year since launch, with about 0.6% of restaurants now using the app.

Still, for Blackbird to appeal to users, a critical mass of businesses must join. "As an average user, I haven’t really benefited from it yet," the user added.

When asked about the adoption curve, Leventhal acknowledges there’s a threshold for achieving viral growth. Though he won’t specify where that tipping point lies, he insists it’s “lower than people think.” “In the meantime, we’re carefully curating great restaurants.”

Given that Leventhal seems acutely aware of crypto’s appeal—or lack thereof—to the average diner, convincing restaurants and users to sign up may prove easier.

“It’s not an effective sales pitch,” he says. “To end users, the crypto aspect isn’t visible. Crypto people just love putting ‘crypto’ in front of things.”

Preserving Industry Value

Leventhal never intended to become a crypto entrepreneur. Before Blackbird, he was simply a curious “observer.” Early in the pandemic, during a conversation with Union Square Ventures partner and venture capitalist Fred Wilson, he floated a vague idea about creating a common currency across restaurants. Crypto came up later, as the most logical technology to make it happen. Indeed, blockchain enables restaurants to share customer data and adopt a unified currency.

On the surface, Blackbird is a loyalty program. But at its core lies Leventhal’s vision: a shared, growing capital pool (the market cap of FLY) that remains within the restaurant industry. In theory, users could earn FLY at one restaurant and spend it at another.

“Restaurants should want customers spending money at other restaurants—not on hotels or first-class flights. This keeps value within the industry,” he says. In practice, FLY cannot yet be traded between users or used for purchases outside the app, and Blackbird has no plans to enable such functionality.

In an industry as brutal as hospitality, Leventhal is encouraging restaurants to support one another. If he succeeds, date nights and birthday dinners might soon be paid for—with FLY.