two of the best payments and marketplace founders of all time unknowingly pitching @blackbird and scaling the experience of being a "regular" at restaurants

Three friends, three agents, three different platforms. One says "find dinner before the game." The agents negotiate, pick a restaurant, and book it. Social coordination is becoming an agent-to-agent protocol.

.@benleventhal (prev co-founded @Eater & @resy) is hiring a product manager right now in NYC for his latest startup, @blackbird. 🐦‍⬛ Blackbird is building a loyalty platform that aims to help restaurants guests feel like a VIP everywhere they dine. You'll be in a high-ownership role on a small, fast-moving team. where your decisions will directly shape what the startup builds, how fast they ship, and how restaurants and guests interact. Target salary is $170K - $200K annually. Apply here: jobs.ashbyhq.com/blackbird-l…

Bye, Tock: Amex is upgrading Resy to win the restaurant reservation wars once and for all fastcompany.com/91496951/ame…

.@benleventhal says we’re living in a golden age of restaurants. He breaks down why in this convo, and covers: – Lessons from a decade in hospitality (Eater → Resy → @blackbird)
– Why most restaurant tech misses the point
– How Blackbird uses crypto without making restaurants think about crypto Plus, his favorite spots in NYC.

Restaurants did $1T in sales last year, but don’t control the payment rails those dollars run on. @benleventhal (Eater, Resy, @blackbird) on why this matters — and how going onchain could help restaurants build stronger relationships with their guests.

full convo here: x.com/a16zcrypto/status/2021…

Welcome to 2026. Here is how @blackbird is thinking about the year ahead. linkedin.com/posts/benlevent…

gm FLY and F2 holders and @blackbird community. We realize the updates have been slower than you’d like. Putting the fine strokes on our next update has taken longer than planned. That said, soon we’ll be announcing a Q1’26 F2 unlock date, a FLY > F2 swap platform, and providing details of what decentralization looks like for Flynet. 🖤🚀

*All restaurants in the world are either diners or clubs.* This very important post will get an update soon. WDYT? thesupersonic.blackbird.xyz/…

Hosting a @blackbird Flycrawl this Wednesday! Come through. partiful.com/e/cch7cWN1f2Kbu…

👋 LA fam! Starting today, you can check in and pay with Blackbird and earn $FLY at 50 of LA's best restaurants across Santa Monica and Venice. From icons like Gjelina and Felix Trattoria to favorites like RVR, Beethoven Market, and Milo & Olive, LA's most celebrated tables are now part of the Blackbird network. To see all of our current LA spots, open your Blackbird app and set your map to Los Angeles, CA. You'll earn $FLY every time you check in and pay — and you can spend those points at any Blackbird spot across the country, from Venice Beach to Brooklyn. Restaurant lovers unite.

Our @blackbird FLYNET community and and its F2 token holders have been patiently waiting for an update. Here is one of a few you’ll get from us this quarter: —Transaction volume on the FLYNET has grown more than 1000% since we launched the mainnet in February. 🚀 —We have launched two new markets — Denver and SF — and LA is up next, at the end of this month. 📍 —Season 2 F2 airdrop particulars as well as guidance on the timing for unlocking F2 will be made clear by end of October. 📅 —Our immediate focus for FLYNET is on building out its capabilities and enhancing the utility of the chain, especially as it relates to serving our partners in the restaurant industry.🍝 —Development of FLYNET will continue to happen in lockstep with development of Blackbird's consumer platform. Hopefully you've been using the app and having fun.⭐️ —If you’ve been following along, you know that we are a highly iterative team, and we’ll continue to be that way. In this next phase of development, we’ll be calling on developers from outside the company to collaborate with us. Is that you? DM me.🧑‍🔧 —Lastly, thanks for your patience. We appreciate you.❤️

An under-appreciated aspect of the 2025 bracket is that Houston is out and there will be no October baseball for Jose Altuve. #repbx

It’s officially been one year since we launched in Charleston, one of America’s most elite restaurant towns, and we couldn’t be happier to be in the Holy City 🤝. As our CEO and Founder @benleventhal told the @ChasCityPaper: “Charleston is one of the most exciting food cities in the country,” he said. “The city’s blend of history, community and a deep respect for independent restaurants makes it a natural fit for Blackbird. It’s a market where diners are curious, loyal and love discovering new experiences – exactly the kind of environment where great dining thrives.” Reflecting on year one in the Lowcountry, Leventhal noted Charleston has been Blackbird’s most successful city launch thus far: “We’re not surprised it’s clicked, but I’m not sure we would have predicted that it is outpacing New York in terms of speed of adoption. But maybe we shouldn’t be shocked: Charleston diners love supporting local restaurants that love them back.” Read the full story here: bit.ly/4nIVPrf