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The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

rewards program

Restaurant Rewards Platform Seated Raises $30M, Acquires VenueBook

Restaurant rewards platform Seated announced today it has raised $30 million in fresh funds. The round was led by Insight Partners with participation from Craft Ventures, Greycroft, and Rho Capital Partners.

The company also announced it has acquired digital event booking company VenueBook. The acquisition will allow restaurants to offer consumers and businesses rewards for booking private events, according to a press release sent to The Spoon. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. 

Like most other restaurant tech companies out there, Seated has been repositioning itself ever since the pandemic forced the industry to shift to off-premise formats like takeout and delivery. Originally, the platform allowed customers to book a table at a restaurant ahead of time and earn rewards, which could then be spent on in-person food and wine classes or gift cards to Amazon, Sephora, Airbnb, and other brands. 

When the pandemic hit, Seated added Seated at Home to its roster, which lets customers order delivery and takeout through the app.

With the acquisition of VenueBook, Seated now also offers Seated Events. Both individual customers and businesses can now get the aforementioned rewards for booking private events — anything from a birthday party to a corporate holiday party — at participating restaurants. 

It remains to be seen how popular Seated Events proves in the current times. By state mandates, many restaurants are still operating at reduced capacity, and large gatherings are banned. That doesn’t necessarily include birthday parties at restaurants, but whether consumers even want to invite 20 of their closes friends to congregate in a single space is uncertain.

What is certain is that restaurant tech companies are having to diversify to  stay relevant in these turbulent times. Seated’s addition of both its at-home platform and this event platform will allow the company to reach a wider audience than it would have with just its dining room app. Seated said in today’s press release it will use the new funds to further build out its platform and develop new products. 

Merryfield Raises $3.5 M, Set to Launch App That Rewards Clean Label Purchases

Merryfield, a soon-to-launch app that rewards shoppers with gift cards for buying clean label products, announced this week that it has raised $3.5 million in a seed round.

Merryfield, which will launch on iOS in April, was founded by David Mayer, a former healthcare private equity investor, and Joe Dickson, former director of quality standards at Whole Foods Market. The app curates a list of packaged goods products that meet Merryfield’s set of clean label standards, with participating companies paying membership fees to Merryfield as well as the costs of the points when shoppers buy their products.

The platform is retailer agnostic — all Merryfield users need to do is look at the app for clean label products when shopping and then scan their receipts that include any qualifying purchases. Points will then be added to their accounts that can be used for gift cards from brands such as Adidas, Amazon, Sephora, Starbucks, Target and Whole Foods.

Dickson told The Spoon during a phone interview that Merryfield chose to go the app route instead of a package label sticker because it easily allows shoppers to research products and track shopping lists.

“It takes hours to go down the aisles to figure out what brands people should trust — that’s why we’re here,” he said. “We want to incentivize people to try new brands and for continuing to choose those products. We’re looking to thoughtfully curate the brands and products to focus on the true innovators and standard bearers.”

Merryfield’s appeal to brands is that it can be difficult and expensive for individual companies to create their own loyalty programs, a necessity amid increasing competition and rising customer acquisition costs in the food space, Dickson said. Speaking of members, Merryfield boasts of well known food companies: Applegate Natural & Organic Meats, Beyond Meat, Califia Farms, Good Culture, GoMacro, Health-Ade Kombucha, Justin’s, Once Upon a Farm, Thinksport, RightRice, Stonyfield Organic and Vital Proteins. Merryfield said in a press release it is looking to add six to eight additional brands covering different product categories ahead of its April launch.

Merryfield will eventually be available on Android devices, and Dickson said his team is looking into possibly including ecommerce purchases. The Boston-based 2-year-old startup is a public benefit corporation that donates 1 percent of its sales directly to No Kid Hungry.

The CPG industry is increasingly leaning toward cleaner labels, but as Dickson pointed out, average consumers either have to rely on label claims or conduct their own research to find products that meet their needs. A third party that verifies products may be welcomed by consumers, especially with the promise that their purchases also lead to rewards.