Good afternoon everyone, I hope your week is going well. 2 weeks ago, I was in New York City with Laura for her Spring Break. We had a great time seeing musicals, walking around Manhattan, and eating out at fancy restaurants. During our time in NYC, we used 2 apps for restaurants and food that I wanted to share: InKind and Too Good To Go. If you have never heard of InKind before, it is an app that you can use to pay at participating restaurants. Several times throughout the year, InKind runs various promotions with Chase Offers, Citi Merchant Offers, and AMEX Offers that you can use to buy discounted InKind credits. If you are new to InKind, you can use my referral link which will give you a $25 reward bonus after you spend $50 or more with InKind.
I’ve written about InKind many times, but I don’t think there is a city in the country with more InKind restaurants than New York City. Just look at this map of participating InKind restaurants! I’m not sure the total number, but I would guess somewhere in the 150-250 restaurant range, with multiple options in every area of the city.
During our time in NYC, we met up with friends and went to Brasserie Cognac Midtown (near Grand Central Station) for dinner. The total check came to $155.13 (which I paid for entirely with InKind credits that I purchased at a discount), and then I charged the tip to my credit card. The tip charge coded as a restaurant purchase and earned 3x points on my Bilt Rewards MasterCard.
A few days later, Laura and I went to Serafina (Broadway 55th) for dinner before we saw a musical near Times Square. The total check came to $111.04 (which I paid for entirely with InKind credits and a $25 referral credit), and then I charged the tip to my credit card. Both restaurants were great, but I’m sure the other 150-250 InKind restaurants in NYC are equally as good, these just happened to be close by and available for dinner on OpenTable.
A few years ago, Frequent Miler wrote Save money on takeout (and maybe do good) with Too Good to Go. The app allows you to buy leftover food from participating cafés / bakeries / restaurants / etc. at the end of the day (for a big discount) before the food is thrown away. Think of your local café that has unsold pastries at the end of the day, a bakery with leftover bread that did not sell, or a pizzeria with a random assortment of unsold slices. For 1/3 or 1/4 of the original price, you can buy these leftover items and save the food from being thrown away. There is only 1 participating location where I live (a Peet’s Coffee & Tea), but in big cities, like NYC, there are several hundred participating locations available. Each location sets their own number of Too Good To Go bags for sale each day and the popular places do sell out fast (which you can hide by unselecting the Sold Out option). There is no referral or sign up bonus, but you can download the app here (iOS and Android).
We used Too Good To Go twice in NYC and got lucky that there were participating cafes close by that still had bags available for sale. At Ole & Steen at 518 Lexington Ave, we got 2 pastries and 2 large loafs of bread that were easily worth 2-3x the $4.99 price tag.
At Cafe D’Avignon (next door to the Moxy Times Square), we got 2 pastries, a cookie, and 4 small dinner rolls that were easily worth 2-3x the $4.99 price tag.
I love pastries and baked goods, so that is my usual go to option for Too Good To Go, but if you there are many types of cuisine available on the app, especially in a big city like NYC. If you have any questions about either app or service, please leave a comment below. Have a great day everyone!