Franki's App: Earn Rewards by Sharing Video Reviews of Local Restaurants

Franki is a social discovery and video-based review app where users can interact with a community of foodies, discover local dining spots and create their own videos showing off their favorite restaurants.

Franki recently underwent a brand refresh, which included the introduction of a new “Social Club” rewards program. This program rewards creators for posting about their favorite restaurants by allowing them to earn cash back when they order food with a linked card. The new program aims to encourage more users to sign up and earn rewards, ultimately helping promote local businesses.

Additionally, Franki launched a new feature this week called “Adventures,” which are similar to scavenger hunts but for finding nearby restaurants.

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Launched in 2021, the company calls itself the “TikTok for restaurant reviews” and aims to move away from the typical written five-star review. As users become more hesitant about trusting often fake reviews online, which the FTC officially banned yesterday, consumers are turning to social media and short-form video apps for more authentic opinions.

Eugene Varricchio, CEO and co-founder, told TechCrunch, “Customers are [evolving]… They use Yelp and Google because they’re easy, but our research says that, on average, to find the right experience and be sure they don’t make a mistake, they’re looking at three and a half different sources, and they’re going to two and a half different sites to book an experience, so it’s quite cumbersome at the moment…They don’t necessarily trust the sources.”

“Everybody that we’ve spoken to in the marketplace, at the Yelps and the Googles of the world says, ‘Yeah, we take the five-star reviews with a grain of salt because we don’t know [which] businesses pay for those,’” Varricchio added.

Franki’s Social Club program is designed to reward loyal customers through a cash-back system. This means that when customers make purchases, they receive a percentage of the amount spent as cash rewards, encouraging repeat spending in the process.

Franki users link either their bank account or credit card through Plaid and start earning rewards whenever they shop at local businesses they find on Franki, post videos, give a rating and recommend restaurants to others on the app. The money can be taken out of the in-app wallet feature.
Franki is making waves across 30 U.S. cities, from Austin to New York, with plans to expand even further in the coming years. The goal? To become the ultimate all-in-one discovery app, branching out to include travel destinations, hotels, and a variety of experiences. With ambitions to have 80 to 100 major travel destinations in its roster by 2026, Franki is on a mission to revolutionize the way users explore and discover new places.

Partnering up with OpenTable has been a game-changer for Franki, allowing seamless reservations directly through the app. And the numbers speak for themselves – over $500,000 paid out to creators, quarterly revenue doubling, and a steady 30% month-over-month growth. With a seed funding round in the works, led by First Class Capital, Franki is gearing up for some major expansion in the near future.

Currently boasting 25,000 monthly active users and a database of over 5,000 restaurant listings, Franki is steadily making its mark in the app world. Available on both iOS and Android devices, the sky’s the limit for this innovative discovery platform. Stay tuned as Franki sets its sights on becoming a half-a-billion-dollar revenue business within the next five years.