Fast-Food Chain Shake Shack Trials Bitcoin Rewards for Customers Using Cash App

The American fast-food restaurant chain Shake Shack is giving bitcoin rewards to customers leveraging Cash App’s debit card payment rail, Cash Card. According to Shake Shack, participants will get 15% of their purchase back in the form of bitcoin, and the crypto promotion will last until mid-March.

The fast-food restaurant chain Shake Shack is experimenting with cryptocurrency rewards as the company has partnered with Block Inc. in order to give away bitcoin (BTC). The announcement stems from a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report authored by Ann-Marie Alcántara and Shake Shack explained the move is meant to lure younger customers.

Executives at the burger chain told Alcántara that while it’s looking to attract millennial and Gen Z-age customers, Shake Shack is also “interested in more cryptocurrency options.” The offer will give Shake Shack consumers the ability to receive 15% of their purchase back, but paid in bitcoin. Essentially, customers need to leverage Block’s Cash Card and Cash Boost system in order to get the BTC reward.

Jay Livingston, Shake Shack’s chief marketing officer, told the WSJ reporter that the fast-food restaurant chain has not seen demand for crypto payments. However, Livingston said the experiment with the Block’s Cash App is a good way to determine whether the restaurant should accept digital assets.

“You’re always trying to place your bets on those things that truly will be meaningful and not waste resources on the ones that won’t,” Livingston told Alcántara. “If we just started taking crypto right now at our kiosk, it would have very low adoption. But through someone like Cash App, who’s been promoting it, you will get some more people that want it and that also want to learn,” the Shake Shack CMO noted.



Shake Shack is not the first to test the waters with crypto solutions as Burger King (BK) and Robinhood gave a single dogecoin (DOGE) reward to BK consumers for spending $5. Robinhood and BK also distributed 20 bitcoin and 200 ether during the rewards event timeline.

McDonald’s has yet to trial crypto payments but the fast-food giant has been testing non-fungible token (NFT) technology. For instance, McDonald’s introduced the cult-classic “McRib” NFT collectible last November, and McDonald’s France tweeted out images of NFTs in April.

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