inKind offers $25 Off Your Next $50+ Meal when you enter your phone number to claim the offer.
Thanks to community member jeffyor for sharing this deal.
Note: Check the location list for eligible restaurants, bars & cafés near you. Your offer will be auto-applied when you use the inKind app (iOS or Android) to seamlessly pay your bill from your phone.
This collaborative space allows users to contribute additional information, tips, and insights to enhance the original deal post. Feel free to share your knowledge and help fellow shoppers make informed decisions.
inKind offers $25 Off Your Next $50+ Meal when you enter your phone number to claim the offer.
Thanks to community member jeffyor for sharing this deal.
Note: Check the location list for eligible restaurants, bars & cafés near you. Your offer will be auto-applied when you use the inKind app (iOS or Android) to seamlessly pay your bill from your phone.
FYI, these deals flying around right now are nothing like what was flying around even earlier this year. They were literally giving 50 off 50, 50 off 100 all sorts of heavy discounts. That doesn't even count the restaurant specific pieces.
PROTIP: Go to the website of a restaurant you want to go to that is on the platform. Often on the home page it'll pop up with an offer. YOu punch in your ph/email and you'll get a resto specific coupon. from 15/45, 25/50, 25/75, 30/90 all the way up to 50/150.
Some personal experience with inKind that may help other people.
I purchased more than $17,000 of InKind credit as part of levering an AMEX deal that offered ~13X Membership rewards points on "restaurant spend." InKind coded as a "restaurant" so it was a great way to stash money for later use while still earning enough points to fly to Hong Kong round trip more than six times.
In addition to the points, InKind gave me 45%+ bonus credit on the money I plunked down.
Verdict? It has been completely awesome. The cost of eating out has been cut almost in half. We've tried all sorts of places we never would have thought to go. If you go to NYC, there are a bazillion places you can eat. We've enjoyed three vacations there without a care in the world about food costs.
InKind often offers additional bonuses on particular restaurants, say, $50 off of a $150 bill. Spend the requisite amount, and you get the additional discount. They often have these random $25/off coupons.
Pro tip: InKind credit can often be used for catering. My son has a Bar Mitzvah this weekend. We're having about $2000 in food delivered, all purchased with InKind.
Pro tip #2: read the terms of the credit carefully if you're going to play the same game as me with a huge buy. You get bonus credit that expires in 3 years. You get base credit (for the dollars spent) that will last the life of inKind -- no expiration. The fine print you gotta pay attention to: your base dollars will get used up BEFORE your bonus credit. So you should really have a clear plan to burn through whatever you buy and are bonused in a three year timeframe. That's why I didn't end up with $21,000 of inKind credit, LOL.
InKind restaurants will come and go. Each restaurant makes a time-limited contract with InKind, and will tend to drop off once they've gotten the money or free advertising they wanted from the service. This is normal and should be expected. New restaurants will take their place.
People who are worried about the durability of inKind itself should look through Crunchbase or a similar database of VC funding. You can see how many hundreds of millions they've gleaned from venture capital, and make a guesstimate about how long they can afford to do this.
We love inKind. What they're basically doing is introducing a "tiered pricing model" to restaurants. People like me who are too cheap to feel good about dropping $150+ on dinner may be willing to pay half that. InKind offers restauranteurs a way to do that. Secondarily, it enables them to keep paying staff: your tip isn't payable with InKind credit. So everyone sort of wins, here. The incremental cost to the restaurant of providing you a dish of food doesn't approach its sales price. You end up with a dinner that seems affordable. And the restaurant gets free financing and free advertising that it may or may not need.
The entire concept is pretty interesting. A restaurant in need of cash gets a $20k infusion (just using this as an example) into its business. In exchange, they agree to $40k (appears to be a minimum of 2x the original loan amount) in store credit to be used to repay the loan. InKind uses the $40k in store credit to offer 20% cashback, $25 off $50 coupons, discounted GCs, selling giftcards through Costco promotions, etc, to repay the loan they made to the business. Any overages on a check inKind pockets when you pay through their app.
In reviewing the restaurant marketing materials online, 2x the loan amount in store credit appears to be the minimum starting point for the loan from what I gather, but depending on, I'm assuming, how desperate the business is for cash, etc, there may be worse multipliers a business could consent to, to secure their loan.
The restaurant benefits from an immediate cash flow improvement that smooths out rough spots, especially when a traditional loan approval is probably unlikely (since they are struggling). Additionally, it serves as a form of marketing for their business. New customers are enticed to come try places they otherwise wouldn't have. Once the debt is repaid and the restaurant is no longer on inKind, the business may gain a new customer, provided the experience was positive and you're inclined to return.
Not sure if every restaurant's margins can support this sort of arrangement, but overall, it will probably keep some struggling businesses afloat when a cash flow crunch might have otherwise caused them to close their doors.
I wouldn't be too worried about inKind running deals, etc. These sorts of incentives appear to be baked into the business model. Plus, they seem to be backed by some extremely deep pockets, given that they are making these large initial loans to hundreds of restaurants/bars throughout the country to begin with.
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Hey thanks for the details. I've been wondering how this works on the business side. Do you think most restaurants that use InKind are struggling significantly? Should we be worried they may close?
No, this is definitely not for struggling restaurants. Think of InKind as a finance arm for restaurants, like a bank. They don't want to sign up struggling restaurants because that's taking on to much risk. They focus on EXPANDING restaurants, ie restaurants that are doing well and looking to add new locations, and need cash to expand. InKind helps them do that without incurring more debt. I know where I use InKind (DC and NY) the majority of participating restaurants seem to be local restaurant groups with multiple locations.
Somebody asked if the restaurants' margins can support it. The answer is absolutely. Restaurants have high gross margins (typically 75%) but low net margins (because so much of their cost is labor). Giving away $1 of food costs them 25 cents. So InKind doesn't really hurt their margins unless the restaurant is completely packed and InKind diners are taking tables away from diners paying cash.
Also it's with noting that most InKind members are not also SDers.
FYI, these deals flying around right now are nothing like what was flying around even earlier this year. They were literally giving 50 off 50, 50 off 100 all sorts of heavy discounts. That doesn't even count the restaurant specific pieces.
PROTIP: Go to the website of a restaurant you want to go to that is on the platform. Often on the home page it'll pop up with an offer. YOu punch in your ph/email and you'll get a resto specific coupon. from 15/45, 25/50, 25/75, 30/90 all the way up to 50/150.
Just be wary of claiming an offer without a plan to use it soon after as once you claim it, you trigger an expiration date. Just happened to me for (hoping they might reissue a new offer).
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Note for those who have stacked these rewards in the past: I tried it again on Sunday and they seem to have closed that loophole. I split the check and applied 1 reward, but when I paid the balance and tried to use a 2nd reward, I got a message saying I had already used a reward on this check. So stacking rewards may now require multiple InKind accounts.
I thought those restaurant specific coupons were only for new users/sign up bonuses? Have you been able to add them to an existing account ? Or do you just keep making new accounts 😆
Existing. Can't do same resto more than once if that's what you're alluding to...
Note for those who have stacked these rewards in the past: I tried it again on Sunday and they seem to have closed that loophole. I split the check and applied 1 reward, but when I paid the balance and tried to use a 2nd reward, I got a message saying I had already used a reward on this check. So stacking rewards may now require multiple InKind accounts.
Does anyone have any datapoints on if multiple codes can be used from different accounts? I was planning to use multiple coupons from multiple accounts upcoming weekend.
No, this is definitely not for struggling restaurants. Think of InKind as a finance arm for restaurants, like a bank. They don't want to sign up struggling restaurants because that's taking on to much risk. They focus on EXPANDING restaurants, ie restaurants that are doing well and looking to add new locations, and need cash to expand. InKind helps them do that without incurring more debt. I know where I use InKind (DC and NY) the majority of participating restaurants seem to be local restaurant groups with multiple locations.
Somebody asked if the restaurants' margins can support it. The answer is absolutely. Restaurants have high gross margins (typically 75%) but low net margins (because so much of their cost is labor). Giving away $1 of food costs them 25 cents. So InKind doesn't really hurt their margins unless the restaurant is completely packed and InKind diners are taking tables away from diners paying cash.
Also it's with noting that most InKind members are not also SDers.
im not so convinced. i was going to Z'Tejas through this app for a few months until they closed down all locations shortly after. I used this at an Indian joint on Friday and it was dead for a Friday night. only one other couple was in there.
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Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank kennethfine
Some personal experience with inKind that may help other people.
I purchased more than $17,000 of InKind credit as part of levering an AMEX deal that offered ~13X Membership rewards points on "restaurant spend." InKind coded as a "restaurant" so it was a great way to stash money for later use while still earning enough points to fly to Hong Kong round trip more than six times.
In addition to the points, InKind gave me 45%+ bonus credit on the money I plunked down.
Verdict? It has been completely awesome. The cost of eating out has been cut almost in half. We've tried all sorts of places we never would have thought to go. If you go to NYC, there are a bazillion places you can eat. We've enjoyed three vacations there without a care in the world about food costs.
InKind often offers additional bonuses on particular restaurants, say, $50 off of a $150 bill. Spend the requisite amount, and you get the additional discount. They often have these random $25/off coupons.
Pro tip: InKind credit can often be used for catering. My son has a Bar Mitzvah this weekend. We're having about $2000 in food delivered, all purchased with InKind.
Pro tip #2: read the terms of the credit carefully if you're going to play the same game as me with a huge buy. You get bonus credit that expires in 3 years. You get base credit (for the dollars spent) that will last the life of inKind -- no expiration. The fine print you gotta pay attention to: your base dollars will get used up BEFORE your bonus credit. So you should really have a clear plan to burn through whatever you buy and are bonused in a three year timeframe. That's why I didn't end up with $21,000 of inKind credit, LOL.
InKind restaurants will come and go. Each restaurant makes a time-limited contract with InKind, and will tend to drop off once they've gotten the money or free advertising they wanted from the service. This is normal and should be expected. New restaurants will take their place.
People who are worried about the durability of inKind itself should look through Crunchbase or a similar database of VC funding. You can see how many hundreds of millions they've gleaned from venture capital, and make a guesstimate about how long they can afford to do this.
We love inKind. What they're basically doing is introducing a "tiered pricing model" to restaurants. People like me who are too cheap to feel good about dropping $150+ on dinner may be willing to pay half that. InKind offers restauranteurs a way to do that. Secondarily, it enables them to keep paying staff: your tip isn't payable with InKind credit. So everyone sort of wins, here. The incremental cost to the restaurant of providing you a dish of food doesn't approach its sales price. You end up with a dinner that seems affordable. And the restaurant gets free financing and free advertising that it may or may not need.
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I've cycled through a few thousand already.
FYI, these deals flying around right now are nothing like what was flying around even earlier this year. They were literally giving 50 off 50, 50 off 100 all sorts of heavy discounts. That doesn't even count the restaurant specific pieces.
PROTIP: Go to the website of a restaurant you want to go to that is on the platform. Often on the home page it'll pop up with an offer. YOu punch in your ph/email and you'll get a resto specific coupon. from 15/45, 25/50, 25/75, 30/90 all the way up to 50/150.
I purchased more than $17,000 of InKind credit as part of levering an AMEX deal that offered ~13X Membership rewards points on "restaurant spend." InKind coded as a "restaurant" so it was a great way to stash money for later use while still earning enough points to fly to Hong Kong round trip more than six times.
In addition to the points, InKind gave me 45%+ bonus credit on the money I plunked down.
Verdict? It has been completely awesome. The cost of eating out has been cut almost in half. We've tried all sorts of places we never would have thought to go. If you go to NYC, there are a bazillion places you can eat. We've enjoyed three vacations there without a care in the world about food costs.
InKind often offers additional bonuses on particular restaurants, say, $50 off of a $150 bill. Spend the requisite amount, and you get the additional discount. They often have these random $25/off coupons.
Pro tip: InKind credit can often be used for catering. My son has a Bar Mitzvah this weekend. We're having about $2000 in food delivered, all purchased with InKind.
Pro tip #2: read the terms of the credit carefully if you're going to play the same game as me with a huge buy. You get bonus credit that expires in 3 years. You get base credit (for the dollars spent) that will last the life of inKind -- no expiration. The fine print you gotta pay attention to: your base dollars will get used up BEFORE your bonus credit. So you should really have a clear plan to burn through whatever you buy and are bonused in a three year timeframe. That's why I didn't end up with $21,000 of inKind credit, LOL.
InKind restaurants will come and go. Each restaurant makes a time-limited contract with InKind, and will tend to drop off once they've gotten the money or free advertising they wanted from the service. This is normal and should be expected. New restaurants will take their place.
People who are worried about the durability of inKind itself should look through Crunchbase or a similar database of VC funding. You can see how many hundreds of millions they've gleaned from venture capital, and make a guesstimate about how long they can afford to do this.
We love inKind. What they're basically doing is introducing a "tiered pricing model" to restaurants. People like me who are too cheap to feel good about dropping $150+ on dinner may be willing to pay half that. InKind offers restauranteurs a way to do that. Secondarily, it enables them to keep paying staff: your tip isn't payable with InKind credit. So everyone sort of wins, here. The incremental cost to the restaurant of providing you a dish of food doesn't approach its sales price. You end up with a dinner that seems affordable. And the restaurant gets free financing and free advertising that it may or may not need.
In reviewing the restaurant marketing materials online, 2x the loan amount in store credit appears to be the minimum starting point for the loan from what I gather, but depending on, I'm assuming, how desperate the business is for cash, etc, there may be worse multipliers a business could consent to, to secure their loan.
The restaurant benefits from an immediate cash flow improvement that smooths out rough spots, especially when a traditional loan approval is probably unlikely (since they are struggling). Additionally, it serves as a form of marketing for their business. New customers are enticed to come try places they otherwise wouldn't have. Once the debt is repaid and the restaurant is no longer on inKind, the business may gain a new customer, provided the experience was positive and you're inclined to return.
Not sure if every restaurant's margins can support this sort of arrangement, but overall, it will probably keep some struggling businesses afloat when a cash flow crunch might have otherwise caused them to close their doors.
I wouldn't be too worried about inKind running deals, etc. These sorts of incentives appear to be baked into the business model. Plus, they seem to be backed by some extremely deep pockets, given that they are making these large initial loans to hundreds of restaurants/bars throughout the country to begin with.
90 Comments
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Somebody asked if the restaurants' margins can support it. The answer is absolutely. Restaurants have high gross margins (typically 75%) but low net margins (because so much of their cost is labor). Giving away $1 of food costs them 25 cents. So InKind doesn't really hurt their margins unless the restaurant is completely packed and InKind diners are taking tables away from diners paying cash.
Also it's with noting that most InKind members are not also SDers.
I bought 500 this last go around.
I've cycled through a few thousand already.
FYI, these deals flying around right now are nothing like what was flying around even earlier this year. They were literally giving 50 off 50, 50 off 100 all sorts of heavy discounts. That doesn't even count the restaurant specific pieces.
PROTIP: Go to the website of a restaurant you want to go to that is on the platform. Often on the home page it'll pop up with an offer. YOu punch in your ph/email and you'll get a resto specific coupon. from 15/45, 25/50, 25/75, 30/90 all the way up to 50/150.
Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank fis
Somebody asked if the restaurants' margins can support it. The answer is absolutely. Restaurants have high gross margins (typically 75%) but low net margins (because so much of their cost is labor). Giving away $1 of food costs them 25 cents. So InKind doesn't really hurt their margins unless the restaurant is completely packed and InKind diners are taking tables away from diners paying cash.
Also it's with noting that most InKind members are not also SDers.
Sign up for a Slickdeals account to remove this ad.
Sign up for a Slickdeals account to remove this ad.
Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank kennethfine
I purchased more than $17,000 of InKind credit as part of levering an AMEX deal that offered ~13X Membership rewards points on "restaurant spend." InKind coded as a "restaurant" so it was a great way to stash money for later use while still earning enough points to fly to Hong Kong round trip more than six times.
In addition to the points, InKind gave me 45%+ bonus credit on the money I plunked down.
Verdict? It has been completely awesome. The cost of eating out has been cut almost in half. We've tried all sorts of places we never would have thought to go. If you go to NYC, there are a bazillion places you can eat. We've enjoyed three vacations there without a care in the world about food costs.
InKind often offers additional bonuses on particular restaurants, say, $50 off of a $150 bill. Spend the requisite amount, and you get the additional discount. They often have these random $25/off coupons.
Pro tip: InKind credit can often be used for catering. My son has a Bar Mitzvah this weekend. We're having about $2000 in food delivered, all purchased with InKind.
Pro tip #2: read the terms of the credit carefully if you're going to play the same game as me with a huge buy. You get bonus credit that expires in 3 years. You get base credit (for the dollars spent) that will last the life of inKind -- no expiration. The fine print you gotta pay attention to: your base dollars will get used up BEFORE your bonus credit. So you should really have a clear plan to burn through whatever you buy and are bonused in a three year timeframe. That's why I didn't end up with $21,000 of inKind credit, LOL.
InKind restaurants will come and go. Each restaurant makes a time-limited contract with InKind, and will tend to drop off once they've gotten the money or free advertising they wanted from the service. This is normal and should be expected. New restaurants will take their place.
People who are worried about the durability of inKind itself should look through Crunchbase or a similar database of VC funding. You can see how many hundreds of millions they've gleaned from venture capital, and make a guesstimate about how long they can afford to do this.
We love inKind. What they're basically doing is introducing a "tiered pricing model" to restaurants. People like me who are too cheap to feel good about dropping $150+ on dinner may be willing to pay half that. InKind offers restauranteurs a way to do that. Secondarily, it enables them to keep paying staff: your tip isn't payable with InKind credit. So everyone sort of wins, here. The incremental cost to the restaurant of providing you a dish of food doesn't approach its sales price. You end up with a dinner that seems affordable. And the restaurant gets free financing and free advertising that it may or may not need.
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