What makes inKind an exciting place to work?
“Simply put, the restaurants we all know and love depend on us,” said the company’s co-founder, Matt Saeta. “We have an opportunity to help restaurants thrive and it’s up to us to seize it.”
The restaurant industry continues to be rocked by world events. Even as the Covid-19 pandemic begins to loosen its grip, a labor shortage, supply chain issues and rising inflation each bring unique challenges. To thrive in the current market, restaurateurs need to be adaptable, find the right resources and make connections in the community.
Enter inKind, a company that offers debt-free capital through purchasing food and beverage credit from the restaurant, which is then passed on to the app’s customers — encouraging them to visit. inKind’s team members are dedicated to supporting the company’s restaurant partners and bringing their intelligence, creativity and diligence to make that mission a reality every day.
“We take great pride in being one of the best sources of financing for restaurateurs,” said Saeta. “We succeed when our restaurant partners succeed.” Built In reported that patrons of their service spend 80 percent more and return to restaurants 2.5 times as often, according to inKind.
Built In Austin sat down with Saeta to learn more about what makes inKind a great place to work, from the company’s culture to its critical spot in the industry. Restaurants are bouncing back slowly — the National Restaurant Association predicted that sales numbers in 2022 will return to pre-pandemic levels — and organizations like inKind are helping them do it.
The best part? inKind is hiring now.
What’s one word you would use to describe your colleagues?
Dedicated.
One of the great things about our team is how dedicated they are to our mission. Everything we do as a business is to benefit our partners, and every member of the company is focused on improving their lives and livelihoods. To that end, we don't just focus on financing — we look for ways to make our restaurateurs savvy business people and help them create efficiencies in all aspects of their business.
It is exciting and rare to find a mission that galvanizes staff in the way ours does. It is even more rare to find coworkers that are as committed, caring and kind as those with whom I have the privilege of working. I look forward to our brainstorming sessions, team building events and happy hours because our team is made up of some of the most fun, creative, innovative and generally awesome people I have ever met.
We fully understand how the hospitality industry works and build products that set restaurants up for prolonged success."
Why is your industry an exciting place to work right now, and what role does your company play within it?
With rising inflation, interest rates, food costs, labor shortages, a pending recession and a myriad of other challenges, restaurants are in uncharted territory. The hospitality industry as a whole is in need of innovative companies who can present new products that mitigate the adverse effects of industry uncertainty.
We are restaurateurs ourselves — we started inKind in our very own restaurant — so we fully understand how the hospitality industry works and build products that set restaurants up for prolonged success. What started as a revolutionary financing product that allowed restaurateurs to open debt-free and retain ownership of their restaurants is quickly transforming into a suite of products, networks and resources that holistically improve the hospitality industry as a whole.
