By Krysten Brenlla
Jean Danny Cherubin has witnessed South Florida’s dynamic evolution firsthand – from working as an accountant at a national firm, to pioneering revenue strategies at a local Palm Beach restaurant, he has seen South Florida’s transformational growth in technology and hospitality.
It’s why, seven years ago, this Haitian-American Florida Atlantic University graduate decided to change the restaurant game with technology and innovation.
“While I was in college working on the restaurant’s revenue strategy, I noticed that they were spending a lot of money on advertising, and it was difficult to see whether or not they were getting a positive return-on-investment (ROI) with those campaigns,” said Cherubin [pictured above]. “I knew we could come up with something better.”
Thus sparked an idea for Cherubin, and MeetNative – an upselling platform designed to help restaurants and servers generate more revenue – was born.
After years of research, experimentation, and feedback from customers, business mentors, and restaurant owners, Cherubin and his co-founder, Travis Diamond, who also serves as the platform’s chief technology officer, launched MeetNative publicly on April 8. They steered away from earlier ideas of offering free transportation to restaurants and focused solely on offering perks and incentives to get customers in the door, keep them longer, and have them coming back.
The application works with restaurant owners and franchises to offer customers exclusive rewards with a minimum spend, which the specific restaurant or restaurant owner designates. Customers can enjoy things like free drinks or appetizers, and at the same time, the restaurant’s revenue and profits have the potential to increase dramatically.
“Our main goal with MeetNative was to create a win-win situation for restaurants and customers,” Cherubin continued. “The whole goal is to make the customer feel special.”
Using the application is quick and simple. Users can download the application on the Apple App store or Google Play store, and create a free account. Once the user has created their account, it will take the user to the homepage of the app. The app uses location services to show the user nearby participating restaurants, or they can search for participating restaurants outside of their area. When a user clicks on a restaurant, they can see the rewards and the minimum spend amount. Then, the user can claim their reward directly on the app, and show their server their reward to redeem their free goodies. And, through the platform’s referral program, users can earn up to $50.
Restaurant owners, on the other hand, have complete control over what perks to offer (and can change them up, too) and designate the minimum spend. To be listed on the app, MeetNative charges restaurant owners $1 every time a customer redeems a benefit. And, as an incentive to use the platform, MeetNative is offering $99 worth of free credits so that restaurant owners can test the platform and see if it works for them.
In addition, the platform also offers data for participating restaurants through a specialized dashboard that highlights how many perks were redeemed, how many credits they have, and copies of the platform’s invoices.
“90 percent of restaurants close within five years; it’s a very tough market, and there’s a lot of competition. The profit margins are very thin,” Cherubin said. “We want to come in and provide another tool that restaurants can use to increase their revenue.”
MeetNative is currently serving customers in Palm Beach County, Orlando and Houston, with plans to expand to South Florida, including Miami and Fort Lauderdale, in the coming months. They’ve also been working with different universities who are interested in applying the MeetNative application to the restaurants and food courts on campus, and are in conversations with bigger hospitality chains in New York and Las Vegas.
For the future, Cherubin and Diamond are excited to collaborate with more restaurants and hospitality chains nationwide. They’re looking to grow their team of five by adding new Account Executives to help onboard new restaurants across South Florida, and are looking forward to further elevating MeetNative’s brand identity for customers and restaurant owners alike.
“Whenever a customer thinks of exclusive, free perks, we want them to think of MeetNative,” Cherubin said. “And, for restaurants or restaurant owners, whenever they’re thinking of upselling promotions – we want them to think of MeetNative.”
READ MORE IN REFRESH MIAMI:
- From Europe to Miami, this startup rides in with world’s first VR superbike championship race
- This South Florida HR pro created Abe to be your career co-pilot. Abe may find you a perfect job, too
- HealthBird founders launch MedPass, an all-in-one wellness application
- Seaweed SOS: Turning beach blight into eco lumber gold
- TENNTS introduces AI robot to co-working center as part of Miami proptech’s commercial market expansion
- UM students launch AIdMD, reimagining electronic health records with built-in AI - February 27, 2026
- Six women founders pitched at eMerge Americas’ SHINE! competition. And the winner is … - December 19, 2025
- UM grad’s safety app helps students stay protected and connected. Now with seed funding, he’s expanding access - November 12, 2025