LevelUp launches Sweetgreen Rewards, its first custom-branded payment and loyalty app

Mobile payments platform LevelUp has released today its first custom-branded payment and loyalty app for Sweetgreen, a collection of 16 farm to table salad restaurants in the DC area.

The app, called Sweetgreen Rewards, allows customers to pay for their meals using an iOS or Android device. Signing up is a very simple process thanks in no small part to a camera feature, powered by PayPal, that allows you to take a photo of your credit card and scan in all of your payment information.

You can add a few extra details such as your nearest city, food allergies and Sweetgreen card number – if you have one – before landing on the app’s homescreen. Here you’ll find a tab to find all of the nearest restaurants, as well as the aforementioned rewards scheme. The first tier, referred to as ‘green status’, requires you to spend $100 in a Sweetgreen restaurant in order to receive $10 of free credit.

That’s hardly a jaw-dropping deal, but combined with the ease of actually paying with the app, it’s a pretty nice perk for any Sweetgreen enthusiasts. LevelUp has also re-emphasized today that they are the only payment network with zero processing fees, ensuring that both the restaurant and consumer aren’t hit with any nasty additional charges.

To coincide with the launch of the app, Sweetgreen is even launching a three-day promotion called a “credit card diet”. This means that for 72 hours, the chain of restaurants will accept payments only by cash or LevelUp, thereby “eliminating the need to pay credit card processing fees.”

It’s all a bit silly, admittedly, but it does highlight the growth and adoption in mobile payment technology. This is just one partnership for LevelUp, but if they can push this sort of mindset into all of their clients, it might just be the trigger needed to get everyone using their smartphone and ditching the traditional wallet entirely.

LevelUp is recognizable for its use of QR codes in order to help users make payments with their smartphone. However, the company has made steps to try to expand its influence, first off by launching LevelUp White Label last September. It’s a service whereby LevelUp will create “a fully white-labeled, custom-branded mobile payment app” powered by the existing LevelUp payment infrastructure.

Sweetgreen is the first company to benefit from the idea, although last December LevelUp also revealed that it was developing an app for First Trade Union Bank. It hasn’t been released just yet, but was slated for early this year when the company first made the announcement.

That will arguably be a much more important partnership, as it ties LevelUp to an infinitely larger pool of customers who, provided they download and use the app, will further endorse and support its payment infrastructure.

LevelUp is an off-shoot of the location-based game SCVNGR, which is backed by Google Ventures, Balderton Capital, Continental Investors, Highland Capital, Transmedia Capital and T-Venture, the venture arm of Deutsche-Telekom.

➤ Sweetgreen Rewards | iOS

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