Franki – The Cash Back Restaurant App

(Editor’s note: below is a guest post from reader Vince)

I discovered this app a few weeks ago and I have fallen in love with it. It is in NO WAY sustainable as a business model, but for now it is ridiculously generous and free money for eating out at restaurants.

Franki Restaurant App

Franki app direct link (but you’ll want to signup with a referral link for additional bonus, we included Vince’s referral link below)

At its core, Fanki is like Yelp + Instagram + Payment processing data collector that is getting me 5% to 20% cash back at certain restaurants.

Connect your credit card in the app via Plaid in the app. AmEx, Visa, Mastercard all work. Then, use the connected card to pay at the restaurant.

When you open the app you can search by what is nearby using the map feature to find restaurants that are near you. This will also show any restaurants offering increased percentage back. Most of the offerings are for 5%, and 20% is the highest I’ve seen. For perspective, within walking distance from my home, I can see 37 restaurants on the app giving 5%, one giving 10%, and two giving 20%.

The real pro tip is to search for a familiar restaurant by name since even more restaurants seem to show up there that are not found on the map screen.

You must first link a card in order to see the available offers at nearby restaurants. Once you find a restaurant, tap on the Get Cash back button. Then pay with linked credit card and boom you are done.

Eligible Restaurants

If you have used Rakuten before, it is almost exactly the same. EXCEPT unlike Rakuten: Almost. Every. Single. Local restaurant is on here (at least in Los Angeles area).

AND it stacks with Rakuten as well.

Currently the app only works in the United States, and certainly tends to favor larger cities. I’ve heard from friends using it in Denver, Tampa, Phoenix and multiple cities in Texas that there are an insane amount of restaurants that it works at. According to the company they are constantly adding more cities and restaurants.

They are clearly just using VC money to front all of this, so make hay while the sun is shining.

What is NOT on here currently are massive fast food restaurants such as Starbucks or Wendy’s. No fast casual here either like Chipotle. That being said, they do appear to be adding more mid size chains (BJ’s Brewery appears to have been added to Franki in my neighborhood since last weekend) so YMMV.

Additional Notes

• Cash back takes about a week to hit your Franki account and then you withdraw to your connected debit account (again via Plaid). No minimum required as of right now.
• There is also a leveling system, that as you level up they throw you $ when you level up past a certain point, which you do by visiting places and leaving ratings, showing off videos etc. At higher levels (9 and up) you become a Franki insider and start getting paid $10 per video you post at places.
• For the most part it doesn’t seem to have a cap on the cash back per restaurant either. My $600 anniversary dinner paid earned 5% on the entire purchase.
• As noted, the Franki app stacks with Rakuten too; my brunch yesterday got me 5% back on Rakuten + 10% back on Franki.

Referral Program

Referral bonus details can be found here.

Someone who signs up using a referral link gets a special intro cashback rate of 10% back (up to 20%) on all purchases at qualifying restaurants for a month. After the first month it goes back down to the regular 5% (up to 20%).

The new member will also get $2 for signing up. And, if you are located in California, Texas, and Illinois, then you’ll also get $10 after making your first purchase.

The referrer also gets a $2/$10 bonus. You can find your own referral link on the cash tab in the app.

Our Verdict

Like I said: no way this is sustainable, but take advantage while you can. Your mileage may vary for the restaurants where you live.

Here is my referral link, thanks for using: https://frankiapp.com/referral?user=user_790494941

(Editor’s note: thanks to Vince for doing this write up. Feel free discuss the Franki app in the comments below. You can also leave your own Franki referral links in the comments below, but do so in a separate comment with no addition words in the comments other than the referral link. Non-conforming comments will be sent to spam.)