expired
$100 inKind Restaurant eGift Card (various designs)
$70
$100
30% off
Amazon
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AmazonDeal Details
ACI Gift Cards LLC via Amazon has $100 inKind Restaurant eGift Card (various designs) on sale for $69.99.
Thanks to Deal Hunter phoinix for finding this deal
Note, must login to your Amazon account to purchase eGift card
Available Option(s)
Thanks to Deal Hunter phoinix for finding this deal
Note, must login to your Amazon account to purchase eGift card
Available Option(s)
- Standard Design $69.99
- Thank You Design $69.99
- Let's Celebrate Design $69.99
- Happy Holidays Design $69.99
Editor's Notes
Written by powerfuldoppler | Staff- Price Research
- At the time of research, this product is $30 lower (30.01% savings) than the next best available price from a reputable merchant with prices ranging from $100.
- About the Deal
- inKind eGift Cards are redeemable for food & beverage at thousands of top-rated restaurants nationwide, all on the inKind app
- Gift card value does not expire
- Gift cards are non-refundable/returnable
- Offer valid while promotional offer/claimed gift cards last
- Additional Details
- Don't have Amazon Prime? Students can get a free 6-Month Amazon Prime trial with free 2-day shipping, unlimited video streaming & more
- If you're not a student, there's also a free 1-Month Amazon Prime trial available
Community Notes
About the Poster
Deal Details
Community Notes
About the Poster
ACI Gift Cards LLC via Amazon has $100 inKind Restaurant eGift Card (various designs) on sale for $69.99.
Thanks to Deal Hunter phoinix for finding this deal
Note, must login to your Amazon account to purchase eGift card
Available Option(s)
Thanks to Deal Hunter phoinix for finding this deal
Note, must login to your Amazon account to purchase eGift card
Available Option(s)
- Standard Design $69.99
- Thank You Design $69.99
- Let's Celebrate Design $69.99
- Happy Holidays Design $69.99
Editor's Notes
Written by powerfuldoppler | Staff- Price Research
- At the time of research, this product is $30 lower (30.01% savings) than the next best available price from a reputable merchant with prices ranging from $100.
- About the Deal
- inKind eGift Cards are redeemable for food & beverage at thousands of top-rated restaurants nationwide, all on the inKind app
- Gift card value does not expire
- Gift cards are non-refundable/returnable
- Offer valid while promotional offer/claimed gift cards last
- Additional Details
- Don't have Amazon Prime? Students can get a free 6-Month Amazon Prime trial with free 2-day shipping, unlimited video streaming & more
- If you're not a student, there's also a free 1-Month Amazon Prime trial available
Community Voting
Deal
Score
+31
Good Deal
Bad Deal
Top Comments
That being said, an average independent restaurant, averaged out over time, are looking at margins is 5-9% fully loaded (emphasis on fully loaded). If you're a chain, and can really optimize every step, and consolidate; sure, you can do better.
Obviously, these are absolute trash terms. Everyone's wondering how this works and how its so cheap. This happens by fooling the businesses into absolutely getting decimated holding the bag in "gift card" liabilities. As a matter of fact, they got past my GM by sending an email as a regular customer asking if they could "purchase" some $10,000 in gift cards. InKind's sales pitch then revolved around only looking at COGs and hypotheticals where there was staff standing around not doing work where they could be moving product at any margin above zero. Sure, if the business was a huge 200+ seat establishment and we had a few dozen staff standing around looking for work; maybe. But not a lot of independent businesses operate that inefficiently.
Businesses dip into InKind and leave after a few months because they do an introductory initial run for a few months before they start really getting into big numbers. And usually, if the business realizes what's happening, they stop it there and heal. Any business doing this in actual need of a real loan has already entered a financial death spiral and it will only be a matter of time as this is not sustainable. Every meal through inkind will be either at cost or even a net loss. These InKind customers will not be back to pay full price, and there's no exit strategy for them to eventually do so. Its great for the diners, but terrible for the business to varying degrees. Again, yes, some of the bigger restaurant groups may be able to absorb these costs, but at that point they already have their own problems.
I was skeptical with them for awhile but after using it for 3+ years, I'm now a believer that it's somewhat sustainable for them. I get to try new restaurants at a discount and help local businesses survive (or thrive).
Community Reviews
This InKind gift card can stretch dining dollars at participating restaurants, especially if you already have spots in mind or want to try new places at a discount. The app payment process is described as seamless, and some locations accept it even when they do not show on the map or Explore tab. The main catch is regional coverage and restaurant restrictions, including dine in only rules, excluded specials, and occasional signs saying InKind is not accepted. The price is also not a standout versus past Costco or Amazon promos, so it works best if nearby options fit your plans.
Common Questions (5)
AI-generated summary based on comments from the community. Updated ago
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48 Comments
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Unfortunately the food service industry, especially full service ones as an independent, is merciless and brutal (to say the least) and not that simple. The whole premise is shaky at best, and it didn't need to get complicated to see. I could run a 50% off promo and pack my restaurant without them, skip the middle men. With 50% gone from an "ideal" margin, same COGs, I don't need to just double sales to make my money back, I'll need way more. The volume I'd need to move (ideally) now makes my COGs go up to handle it; and that's just the tip of the iceberg.
My real hang-up was no "offramp" from InKind. Sure, I can give them the deal and pretend its a promo, and now I get a bunch of InKind customers with a hidden 50% off coupon that I serve with unsustainable margins. Then what? Will these customers come back to pay full price? Are customer's okay with paying full price sometimes, and half price other times? Will my loyal full price customers all flip to get 50% off? Or even get upset that my loyal patrons have been paying double over disloyal deal hunters?
A business would have to be in bad shape to justify this, and to take this deal would enter what I would deem a death spiral. If they were struggling to maintain altitude as it is, this will only ensure their eventual crash. Only outlier scenarios could justify this; something along the lines of this immediate cash injection being the final puzzle piece for a surefire way to skyrocket sales, but i don't even know how a business could be in such a specific predicament.
Sorry, I accidently went on too long. This is me trying to keep it short too (lol)
For me, I do share my experience with restaurants with friends and other eaters in my area. Of course I don't mention inKind because I know the restaurants will need to recoup the business via more sales. I find that the least I could do is to do some goodwill 'free' marketing for them.
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Also, I've noticed some restaurants excluding InKind for lunch menus and specials. I also talked to InKind about this and they said restaurants are allowed to exclude InKind as a payment.
I was skeptical with them for awhile but after using it for 3+ years, I'm now a believer that it's somewhat sustainable for them. I get to try new restaurants at a discount and help local businesses survive (or thrive).
As others stated, there is proof that a number of restaurants only appear on the "Pay" menu and not the map. And again, I specifically spoke with their customer support years ago about this as I thought it was a glitch to which they clarified that it was not, some restaurants are not shown on the map per their contract.
No problem; you basically have it. They made the read with me that this needed to make financial sense so we went over that. Their pitch was basically that we have all these fixed overheads not making money; servers standing around, cooks not cooking, rented space with seats but no customers; they would "help" us by filling unused seats using their platform marketplace and discounts to lure customers; for a cost. Under their terms, we'd essentially be giving up a set number of sales (starting at 10k, going all the way up to 6 digits if we wanted to), spread out over time (typically 6-12months starting), at 50% off. Sure, that sucks, but so long as COGs are where they should be (30% or lower), we "should" be healthy enough to absorb those costs.
Unfortunately the food service industry, especially full service ones as an independent, is merciless and brutal (to say the least) and not that simple. The whole premise is shaky at best, and it didn't need to get complicated to see. I could run a 50% off promo and pack my restaurant without them, skip the middle men. With 50% gone from an "ideal" margin, same COGs, I don't need to just double sales to make my money back, I'll need way more. The volume I'd need to move (ideally) now makes my COGs go up to handle it; and that's just the tip of the iceberg.
My real hang-up was no "offramp" from InKind. Sure, I can give them the deal and pretend its a promo, and now I get a bunch of InKind customers with a hidden 50% off coupon that I serve with unsustainable margins. Then what? Will these customers come back to pay full price? Are customer's okay with paying full price sometimes, and half price other times? Will my loyal full price customers all flip to get 50% off? Or even get upset that my loyal patrons have been paying double over disloyal deal hunters?
A business would have to be in bad shape to justify this, and to take this deal would enter what I would deem a death spiral. If they were struggling to maintain altitude as it is, this will only ensure their eventual crash. Only outlier scenarios could justify this; something along the lines of this immediate cash injection being the final puzzle piece for a surefire way to skyrocket sales, but i don't even know how a business could be in such a specific predicament.
Sorry, I accidently went on too long. This is me trying to keep it short too (lol)
Seeing a sign like ""We do not accept inKind payment" should be all the evidence you need. InKind are predatory lenders, plain and simple. They make false claims, lie, and mislead businesses into making the commitment. Businesses will be on the hook for the credits until they are turned the are all used or file for bankruptcy (I specifically asked). Some businesses tough it out and deal with the loss, others do what you see and just try to stop it. Don't feel bad; the company feeds off ruining businesses. I always wondered how people get tricked into bad loans like during the housing market crash or these days with terrible auto loans. This is how; they dangle the carrot and mislead you on how easy it will be. They're a drain on society.
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Some user's received the email, some didn't. Which is bad business on their part, as I can only imagine the mass nightmare of user's being baffled trying to pay not knowing why their stacking isn't working. Puts access stress on the diner n staff trying to figure it out. It is in effect, so that is one door closed, making the app less appealing. Also a very bad move not emailing all user's. Their response to this change was "we can change the term's at anytime".
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