Blackbird, a New York–based restaurant loyalty app, recently celebrated its official launch in the Holy City. While several local restaurants first started using Blackbird last year, the app’s September kick-off included more than 30 local restaurants.
Blackbird’s founder, Ben Leventhal, said Blackbird, which is also available in New York City and San Francisco, will be available for use within 50 Charleston area restaurants by the end of the year.
“I love Charleston,” Leventhal said. “It’s one of the great food cities in the country and in terms of its size, I just think it punches way above its weight class in terms of restaurants.”
Leventhal knows a thing or two about the restaurant world: He’s also a co-founder of the reservation platform Resy, and of the pioneering digital media brand Eater.
With Blackbird, Leventhal said he hopes to reward diners for their loyalty to local bars, restaurants and coffee shops. When diners check into participating restaurants, they earn points and gain access to exclusive benefits like last-minute tables, welcome drinks, off-menu items and more.
“I think we want to be everywhere in the world where there are great restaurants,” Leventhal said of Blackbird. “And Charleston checks that box.”
So far, so good
“The feedback has been fantastic,” Leventhal said of Blackbird’s initial foray into Charleston. “We couldn’t be happier with how the app is working and how we’re connecting with people. It feels to us like Charleston just gets it.”
David Schuttenberg and Tina Heath-Schuttenberg, owners of Beautiful South and Kwei Fei, have been using the app for several months now.
“Once we learned more, it was a no-brainer,” Heath-Schuttenberg said. “We’re able to not only treat guests to VIP services during their visit, but we’re also able to update reservations, invite them to previews and more through the messaging feature.”
She said that she loved the ability to be accessible to anyone who dined at her restaurants. “With Blackbird, I feel like we’re texting with friends.”
Heath-Schuttenberg also noted that she appreciates being able to “spoil” years-long loyal customers of Kwei Fei, a cult-favorite James Island Sichuan restaurant.
In Charleston’s super-saturated dining scene, which relies heavily on tourism dollars, it can be hard for locals to feel like they are getting special treatment. This is an issue for area business owners given how crucial locals: After all, locals are the folks responsible for repeat dining, and a restaurant’s identity is often determined by the nature of its most frequent fliers.
Leventhal agreed locals are “the bedrock” of the restaurant industry.
Speaking of the industry — with a number of recent restaurant closures, morale, can at times, seem low. Is Charleston’s hospitality industry in peril? Is it getting too expensive to operate a restaurant?
Leventhal doesn’t think so.
“We are here because we believe in the long term viability of restaurants … There are ebbs and flows to the industry,” he said. “But we deeply believe in restaurants in the long run, and we think that Blackbird can be a crucial part of the future restaurant economy. And you know, that’s what we’re here for.”
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