This week Stephen Starr’s futuristic Pod became the first restaurant to adopt Xipwire (pronounced zip wire), a new payment service that enables consumers and merchants to send and receive money via text messages from mobile phones. Developed by University of Pennsylvania grad Sharif Alexandre and partner Sibyl Lindsay, Xipwire draws on funds from bank accounts, debit cards and credit cards that users can apply towards their tab at restaurants simply by punching a password into their mobile phone and verifying charges via text message. According to a mutual statement issued by Starr Restaurant Organization and Xipwire, the service ia supposed to be rolled out across Starr’s entire portfolio of restaurants in the months to come. Grub Street wonders if this is what Feran Adria had in mind when he partnered with Spanish telecom giant Telefonica at El Bulli?
