Forge Rewards

What do they actually do

Forge Rewards runs a consumer mobile app on iOS and Android that consolidates many restaurant loyalty programs in one place. Users can discover participating restaurants, check in on-site to earn points for that specific restaurant, view available rewards, and redeem them by showing a time‑limited pass in store. Accounts are tied to phone numbers, and points are not transferable between restaurants (FAQ; App Store; Google Play).

On the merchant side, restaurants can sign up via Forge’s partner page, after which Forge launches a digital loyalty program or a restaurant‑branded rewards presence inside the app (and in some cases a restaurant‑specific app). Partners can see customer activity and redemptions through a dashboard. The App Store listing links to multiple restaurant‑specific reward apps powered by Forge, indicating active deployments (partner page; homepage; App Store partner apps).

Forge’s site markets additional features like VIP memberships, in‑app ordering, AI‑assisted marketing, and payments/financing, but public materials do not yet show these as consistently available across all merchants (homepage). They publicly claim a growing user base (e.g., “Join 70,000 active members”) on the homepage (homepage).

Who are their target customer(s)

• Independent single-location restaurant owner: Needs repeat visits but can’t justify building or maintaining a custom app; current loyalty is ad hoc (punch cards, paper lists) or via costly marketplaces and lacks clear ROI tracking.
• Small multi-location restaurant group or regional operator: Wants one system for loyalty across locations, selling memberships, and measuring store performance; current tools are fragmented and expensive to scale.
• Restaurant marketing or operations manager: Tasked with re‑engagement and personalization but lacks automated tools and clean data; campaigns are manual, slow, and hard to attribute to visits or spend.
• Owners worried about cashflow and predictable revenue: Face uneven sales and tight margins; want recurring revenue (VIPs/subscriptions) or faster payouts/financing without complexity.
• Frequent local diners (end users): Juggle multiple cards and apps and forget to redeem; want one app to find nearby programs, earn points, and redeem rewards easily.

How would they acquire their first 10, 50, and 100 customers

• First 10: Founder-led local pilots: visit nearby restaurants in person, install signage, and run a free 30‑day pilot to prove check‑in → points → redemption works; collect visit data, testimonials, and referral intros.
• First 50: Use early pilots as case studies to target neighboring restaurants via referrals, email, and calls; host a local demo night and offer small launch credits or referral revenue shares, with templated onboarding and a simple ROI sheet.
• First 100: Add 1–2 part‑time reps for outbound to small groups and consultants; build self‑serve onboarding and sign channel partners (regional POS, agencies, distributors) with reseller commissions and a standardized launch playbook.

What is the rough total addressable market

Top-down context:

Primary TAM is U.S. independent restaurants; Datassential counts 483,885 independents. The broader market exceeds 1M U.S. restaurants and over $1T in annual sales, indicating large upstream demand (Datassential; NRA 2024 sales).

Bottom-up calculation:

Multiply 483,885 independent restaurants by per‑location monthly SaaS fees. At $49–$300/mo, TAM ranges ≈$285M–$1.74B per year (Datassential count; pricing examples: Stamp Me, Rivo).

Assumptions:

• Pricing is per-location SaaS ($49–$300/month) for loyalty/CRM features.
• Focus is independents/small groups; large national chains excluded from the core TAM.
• No deduction for churn, share-of-wallet limits, or bundled POS competition.

Who are some of their notable competitors

• Punchh: Enterprise loyalty and guest data platform used by multi‑location chains; overlaps on branded loyalty, campaigns, analytics, and ordering integrations.
• Thanx: Restaurant‑focused CRM and loyalty with automated lifecycle marketing and attribution; directly competes on marketing automation tied to loyalty.
• FiveStars (SumUp): Consumer rewards network and merchant loyalty product aggregating many local businesses; closest to Forge’s multi‑merchant consumer app approach.
• Toast: Restaurant POS and payments platform bundling loyalty, online ordering, analytics, and financing; many operators prefer an all‑in‑one POS‑centric stack.
• Square: Integrated payments/POS with Square Loyalty and Marketing for small restaurants; competes by bundling loyalty and ordering within the POS ecosystem.