inKind is an app that allows you to settle your bill at over 3,000 restaurants, bars, and cafes across the US. Put simply, you can pay your restaurant bill in the app using the credit card of your choice at restaurants that participate and earn credit card rewards as well as “cash” that can then be spent on future inKind purchases.
When inKind first launched, I had seen it advertised (and knew that both Stephen and Nick used it), but then looked for local restaurants and didn’t see much available near me.
So, I let it get off of my radar…which was a mistake.
On a recent trip to Hawai’i, I knew that I’d be taking some family out for dinner and saw that a couple of local restaurants that we all liked were on inKind. I was able to buy $300 in gift cards for $180 during one of Costco’s regular sales and combined that with a $25 referral bonus from Stephen Pepper, enabling me to treat my in-laws to a ~$300 meal for ~$170 out of pocket…all for simply paying my bill through the app:
The ever-increasing amount of restaurants and bars that take inKind, combined with the frequent offers that can be had to get discounted inKind cash and the ease of use, makes this an app that anyone who dines out regularly should have.
Here’s what you need to know about how to get started.
How to enroll for inKind
- First, it’s worth checking to make sure that there are restaurants in your city or the cities you intend to visit (you can search here in inKind’s home page). inKind has added a ton of outlets over the last couple of years, but there are still some “deserts for dessert.”
- Sign up for inKind through a referral link. You don’t have to sign up through a referral, but if you do, you’ll get a $25 reward to use on a dine of $50 or more (and we’ll get some referral dollars to spend).
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- Feel free to use one of our links with our thanks:
How to use the inKind app at restaurants
- Search for nearby inKind restaurants either in the app or search on their home page.
2. After you finish your meal, when your server brings the check. Open the app, select the restaurant and then tap on “Pay Bill:”
3. The next screen will have you enter the check number, which should be easy to find on the check.
4. The following screen will then show you the total bill and provide a section to enter the tip. You can pay for the entire balance of your meal using inKind credit, but the tip has to be paid for separately on a credit or debit card within the app.
5. Submit the payment and you’ll then get a confirmation in the app that your bill has been paid:
6. The restaurant server will then receive notice that your bill has been paid and you’re good to go.
inKind “cash” and “cash back”
There are two primary types of balance that you can accumulate with inKind: “inKind Cash” and “inKind Cash Back.”
inKind Cash
inKind Cash is the result of prepaying for credit that can be used at any inKind restaurant. There are two components that make up your inKind Cash – the purchased amount and the promotional amount, both of which have different expiration policies.
For example, if you were to take advantage of an offer from inKind to buy $200 in credit for $120, the $120 would be the “purchased amount” and would never expire, while the “promotional amount” would be the additional $80 and have an expiration of three years from the date purchase. The funds on inKind gift cards purchased through Costco or another retailer never expire.
There are several ways to get great discounts on inKind cash:
- Buy gift cards. Costco regularly has gift cards on sale for 30% off, or $69.99 off $100. Occasionally they will go on sale for 40% off, and you can then buy $100 in cards for $59.99.
- Card-linked spending offers. American Express, Chase and Citi frequently have card-linked offers that allow you to get large discounts on pre-purchasing inKind credit.
- inKind promotions. inKind itself will run regular promotions that either increase the amount of credit you get for dining or give you a discount on pre-purchasing credit.
inKind Cash Back
inKind Cash Back are the rewards that you earn for paying or “engaging with the program.” There are two primary ways to earn Cash Back
- Dine and Earn. When you pay your bill using the app using a credit card on file, you’ll get up to 20% of the amount you paid back (excluding tip) to spend on another visit. If you pay part of your bill with your inKind balance, you won’t earn that 20%.
- Refer friends. inKind always has referral offers going that allow both sides to earn credit when the person who is referred meets the purchase minimum (usually $50) on their first visit.
The terms say that cash back from both referrals and dining will expire 60 days from the date it was earned and that the oldest cash back will automatically be used first.
Quick Thoughts
I’m a little embarrassed at how long it took me to get on the inKind train, but I’m all aboard now. The amount of area restaurants on the app, combined with the ease of getting discounted inKind cash, means that I can now save a bundle going to places that I would already go to and maybe try a new one every now and again.
There are still many smaller towns where there’s little to no inKind restaurants, and it’s more or less useless internationally, but I continue to be amazed at what is there and how fast the selection is expanding. It’s worth taking a look at for anyone who likes to dine out.
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If a location only lets you pay bill (not let u order thru app) your still able to use a gift card and a promo correct ?(25 off 50 or similar)
Stumbled upon another stack by accident – Resy (for the tip portion on the Amex Gokd card).
We spent the past weekend at the Ritz-Carlton, Portland celebrating our 31st Anniversary – two inKind restaurants one across the street in the Moxy – ‘Sunrice’ – Filipino comfort food for my Pinay Queen and the other ‘Bamboo Sushi’ two blocks away.
We stacked a Costco $59 GC (Dec 2024) with @Tim ‘s $25 referral – we enjoyed three meals with the referral and the $100 GC.
The tip triggered $18 of $50 Gold Resy credit (a little suprised when I saw the email) – we actually have a Resy Dinner reservation to use our Resy credits later this week.
Needless to say will be buying more $100 inKind GC for $59 later this week on 1/29/2025 when they go back on sale at Costco.
Meh, I am in a major US city and there are very few places that accept it. Luckily one of them is Bluestone lane and it’s like 300 feet from my work, otherwise I would never use this. I probably will stop getting coffee there once I run out of all the credits from those amex offers a while back.
Yeah every time I check the participating locations near me, I can’t think of prepaying for them even with a 50% off coupon attached. It’s just a bunch of hip chains or place you order prix-fixes. If I ever decide to go fancy or travel to cities with abundant local options, I may join the train.
inkind is in large (and I mean top 10 populated cities in america) cities only. I’ve gotten a LOT of mileage when they had the sign up discount, but they annoying “expired” $30+ worth of “Cashback” end of ’24.
Am I able to use the 25 off 50 reward in combination w Inkind cash back on same check?
Yes, you can.
Oh! Thanks! You’ve tried it? It says that Inkind cash back can’t be combined w other offers. So wasn’t sure and didn’t want to spend the 50 but not be able to use my inkind cash back
Just to clarify, there’s two types of inKind credit: “cash” and “cash back.” If you’re a new user, you won’t have any “cash back” because you only earn that through paying for dining and making referrals.
inKind “cash” is what you get through pre-purchasing credit and/or gift cards. That can be combined with the $25/$50 (which was the example I used in the second paragraph at the beginning).
Anyone figure out if there’s a feature or site to do a sort by rating? Ideally I’d combine their list with Yelp when traveling to see if it’s worth it. I was checking some randomly in Chicago and most were not places with a rating I’d bother with.
Not sure, but I live in Chicago (west loop) and some of the best rated bars and restaurants are on inkind. If you really hit anything in west loop you’re not gonna go wrong. If i’m not mistaken there are a few michelin stars on there, and many many honorable mentions. Plus you can stack with happy hour/restaurant week/other promos that make it very attractive. Highly dependent on where in chicago you’re looking at, but if you look at restaurant hubs you’re bound to find multiple world-class restaurants on there.
Is it me or does this site have the worst map search/name search of any site?
agreed
Charlotte doesn’t offer much either–and way less than Toast more generally does. Hoping this continues to expand, as it would be very useful at regular destinations.
Thanks for the writeup Tim!
Not much in the greater Boston area in terms of “real” restaurants. Last I checked, it was Figs and Rosa Mexicano. Other than that, lots of coffee shops. It’s an in kind wasteland otherwise.
@Mark, I just used inKind at Alcove 1/14 and I see that MIDA (all their locations) are on the app as well. Not sure when you last checked, but there does seem to be a nice variety.
FYI, they recently went through a devaluation where if you were visiting a restaurant for the first time, you, typically, could receive a $50 off $150+ spend for every restaurant you visited for the first time. Now, they nerfed that so you can only receive 1 welcome bonus.
Also, in 2024, when you visited 12 different restaurants in a month, you would receive 10% back as cash back; however, that too has been nerfed.
Regarding, the inkind pass: I pay $100/year and every month I receive a reward where I get $50 off $150+spend. Last year they had an amex offer where the inkind pass was free.
We have become regular users for some time now. Chicago has lots of options near our home and these are place we really enjoy. We’ve also used it in Hawaii where it made a big difference in our meals out. Don’t sleep on the Costco sales!
The restaurant (Inkind) landscape is barren in SW Washington State
I know Kent, the second biggest city in the state has zero InKind locations, this is a travesty
The only thing I would warn your readers about in using referral links to signup to inKind is that many restaurants offer a welcome offer that can easily exceed the $25 from the referral. Initially these offers did not have the “new users” language but it has been added recently.
For example when Shinbay in Phoenix was initially added to inKind it was offering $120 off the bill for new users.
I would strongly recommend people first look to see if a restaurant they are interested in is offering a welcome offer before using a referral link to signup.
I figured it out. Your hyperlink in the 1 takes you to a different site with a $9.99 monthly fee.
Ahhh…I didn’t realize that we were linking to the search map on the inKind Pass page. Thanks for noticing that, I’ll change that link on our other posts about inKind as well.
One question to ask is who’s getting robbed to provide this much cashback and so many discounts? I don’t know if the restaurants have the margins to give away 10%+ of the bill.
Maybe it’s a new round of clueless VC money, which will run out soon enough.
It’s an interesting business model for both restaurants that want to access investment capital and yes, VC money. https://www.forbes.com/sites/garystern/2021/04/02/inkind-innovating-restaurant-financing-without-ownership/
Is this for barely-open restaurants? I’m curious why established restaurants would want to join. Seems like it’s only for whoever has very low traffic.
Ironically this fin-tech is from Austin and has crap for restaurant selection in their own backyard. Pretty much nothing that I would ever want to go to.
I’m guessing that for established restaurants, this is a no loan source of capital for remodeling, new marketing, initiatives, etc. But yes, restaurants participating in this program are certainly making a bet on their medium and longer term prospects.
Found this on Reddit. So it’s basically for any restaurant that’s desperate for cash up-front, willing to feed people for pennies over a spread out time.
Don’t think I’ll be seeing any place I’d actually want to go on that app.
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As a restaurant owner, I am considering whether to go with inKind Capital or not. On the surface, it seems like a great deal–they make a pre-purchase of food and drink credit at a discount, which they sell to guests. This should drive new customers into the restaurant, and those customers are incentivized to spend more. There’s no debt or equity that the restaurant has to give up, as it is not a loan. Customers get some pretty great deals too. Sound fantastic for everyone, right?
Until you find out that it’s the small business restaurant owner who pays for all of it. Based on my conversation with an inKind account manager today, the cost of the prepaid food and beverage order is always at a 50% discount. For example, as a starting deal, they would give us $10k for $20k worth of food and beverage for their customers. So all those great deals you’re getting–they are entirely funded by the restaurants. And while sure, it’s great to get additional customers, restaurant margins are razor thin across the board–less than 10% average nationally, and that includes the giant corporate restaurants with deep pockets. So why would I even consider doing something like this? Between inflationary pressures on food costs, skyrocketing labor costs, and the fact that overall restaurant-going numbers are down across the board (also likely due to inflation effects), we are really struggling. We may be desperate enough to get any kind of positive movement in our guest numbers that I’m actually considering it.
Salvation Pizza in the Domain has great wings.
I regularly use it there.
mr. negative
Here is what it says on their website: https://inkindcapital.com/#rec472718252
Capital That Works For You
inKind provides upfront capital by purchasing food & beverage credit to your restaurant. Operators receive a lump sum of nonrestrictive cash and do not incur debt or sacrifice ownership.
Because inKind holds credit to your restaurant, our incentives are aligned. When your restaurant succeeds, inKind succeeds, too.
AFFORDABLE CAPITAL
• Lowest cost of capital available
• Never pay inKind back
• $5k – $20M in funding per partner
• Debt-free, equity-free fund
Why did you not address the $9.99 monthly fee to belong?
Because there isn’t one? Normal use is free. I haven’t paid a dime since I signed up. The inKind Pass is the only thing that they charge for, which is their “VIP” service.
your hperlink is the problem. See my comment above. 😉