• by Steve Ellwanger , March 14, 2022

QSR chains are finding it hard to resist engaging with the crypto world as the federal government seeks to exert control over digital currencies.

Shake Shack is the latest to experiment with the cryptocurrency Bitcoin, while International House of Pancakes has cooked up the faux cryptocurrency PanCoins as part of its first loyalty program.

Through tomorrow, Shake Shack customers who use the mobile payment service Cash App will receive a 15% refund paid in Bitcoin.

The chain announced the move March 4 on Twitter and other social media platforms.

While Shake Shack hasn’t seen customer demand for cryptocurrency payments, the chain felt it had to test the waters.

“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,” said Shake Shack CMO Jay Livingston, as reported by The Wall Street Journal.

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are unique digital assets monitored with blockchain technology similar to that used to protect cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, which are fungible—meaning if you trade one Bitcoin for another, you basically end up with the same thing.

Because of the uniqueness of their underlying assets, NFTs are not considered a currency. 

Announced last week, IHOP’s near-crypto experience involves PanCoins issued by the International Bank of Pancakes.

Instead of receiving genuine digital assets as is the case with NFTs, IHOP loyalty members earn one PanCoin—as opposed to traditional loyalty points—for every dollar they spend. Each PanCoin is worth one pancake, and three can be redeemed for a short stack.

IHOP’s loyalty program begins next month.

On Nov. 1 of last year, Burger King ran a promotion in which members of its loyalty program who spent $5 received cryptocurrency via the crypto-broker app Robinhood.

According to digital platform Apptopia, November installations of the Burger King app increased 14.9% over October—totaling 579,000.

Farther down the QSR food chain, The Halal Guys is celebrating the opening of its 100^th store—located in Pittsburgh—with rewards for anyone who has dined at the gyro and chicken restaurants 100 times or more.

The Halal Guys is offering those patrons induction into The Century Club and a variety of merchandise—along with an NFT in the form of a digital representation of the chain’s original food cart.

Last week, the Biden Administration signed an executive order that directs federal agencies to study seven risk factors surrounding the potential regulation of cryptocurrencies, including their use in facilitate transactions on the “dark net.”

The Biden Administration also is considering centralizing cryptocurrencies with the potential U.S. Central Bank Digital Currency.

“The good news for restaurants that accept Bitcoin is if regulations stopped that from happening—which I highly doubt will be the case—then they will go back to the same financial payment structure that they have been using since their inception,” crypto-token developer Steve Bumbera tells Marketing Daily.

“It's hard to lose by accepting crypto, because the worst case scenario is that you just don't anymore.”