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Toast

Last Updated: December 2024

Toast logo

Our Summary

Toast was started in 2011 in one of the founder's basement in Boston, MA. In 2013, they launched a cloud-based POS on Android, and as their popularity took off, they began to develop fully integrated restaurant management features. They support restaurants in all 50 states, turning the whole house into a collaborative ecosystem that provides the innovative tools restaurant owners need to increase productivity and revenues.

Ease of Use
Toast is designed to unite the whole house's functioning with tools that reduce friction in the kitchen, free up servers to delight guests instead of spending a lot of time in front of a POS, improve back-office operations, help leaders manage inventory, vendors, and payroll, all in one platform. And that one platform can be accessed remotely from Android devices, providing the portability and convenience servers need to delight customers.
Toast is currently only compatible with Android devices. Toast has partnerships with over 70 manufacturers of other food and drink services, android-based apps, and technology so that you can customize your system with fully integrated third-party apps that work seamlessly with Toast.

Some of these third-party apps include: 

  • LevelUp
  • OpenTable
  • Harri
  • Grubhub
  • Alo
If you choose, you can work with Toast's integration and implementation team to set up your system, add features, customize, and even schedule in-person training for you or your team. 
Toast provides intuitive features to support a variety of food and drink establishments, such as:
  • Casual dining
  • Enterprise
  • Bars
  • Nightclubs
  • Fine dining
  • Fast-casual
  • Cafes
  • Bakeries
Their tools and third-party integrations make it easier for all kinds of establishments to run their business on their terms through customizable solutions.

Benefits & Features
Toast POS has intuitive features and benefits like:
  • Quick and easy check-splitting
  • Offline mode
  • Kitchen display system
  • Course firing options
  • Handheld POS options
  • Digital loyalty capabilities
  • Analytics to track inventory, sales, and guest behavioral information to better plan, cut cost, and increase margins
  • Guest-facing POS options for self-service
  • Pre-authorization of payments
  • Suggested tips
  • Kitchen display
  • Automated notifications and reminders for the kitchen and servers
  • Online ordering
  • Delivery management
  • Third-party delivery management (Grubhub, etc.)
  • Infinitely scalable, so whether you have one location or have locations around the country, this tool supports your day-to-day operations as well as expansion and growth
Pricing
Toast has 3 plans:
  • Starter - $69/mo - Works well for food trucks, cafes, bakeries.
  • Essentials - $99/mo - Works well with off-premise channels
  • Growth - $189 - Includes the features from the Starter and Essentials packages, plus additional loyalty management and marketing features to grow your customer base
If you choose the Starter or Essential, and just one or more of the Growth features, you can customize your system "a la carte" to get those features. Some of the Essentials and Growth features you might choose to add to a Starter include:
  • Payroll and Scheduling Management
  • Delivery Management tool 
  • Extra contactless payment options
  • Restaurant grade hardware that takes all payment types
  • Gift cards
  • Marketing
Hardware for a Starter starts at $799 and will go up from there depending on the number of terminals you need, monitors, cash drawers, etc. Toast offers a customer financing program, so you can pay that over time. 

Payment Processing Fees
Toast manages all of your payments, so you don't have to contract to take Visa, Mastercard, or American Express. Like most, they do charge a fair payment processing fee. 
For Visa, Mastercard, and Discover, it's 3.5% + $0.15. For AmEx, it's 3.89% + $0.15.  E-gift cards are managed through one of Toast's partners. Their rate is 2.9%+$0.30. Card-not-present fees for phone and online orders vary but will be fully disclosed.

If you exceed $1M in processed payment with any one payment network (Visa, MC, etc.) in a 12-mo cycle, they may require you to directly contract with them. In these cases, Toast may become your Merchant Agent regarding the payment network. They will then defer to the contracts and fees of that payment network. These fees are comparable to those charged by Toast.

You can cancel your Toast account anytime and will only be responsible for any outstanding balance you have at that time.

Toast is PCI compliant, so they can securely process payments while protecting the personal and financial information that belongs to you, employees, and guests.

Customer Support
Toast has an extensive online resource center to help your business learn how to get the most out of the POS system. You can also call, email, or webchat with Toast Customer Service 24/7/365.
Toast Central is your online customer care portal where you can submit, review, and mark as resolved any issues you might encounter.

Bottom Line
Toast was built for restaurants by people who know restaurants and how to make user-friendly technology to support restaurant functions. The ease of use and availability of in-person training if you need it to make Toast an attractive option. 

Toast was started in 2011 in one of the founder's basement in Boston, MA. In 2013, they launched a cloud-based POS on Android, and as their popularity took off, they began to develop fully integrated restaurant management features. They support restaurants in all 50 states, turning the whole house into a collaborative ecosystem that provides the innovative tools restaurant owners need to increase productivity and revenues.

Ease of Use
Toast is designed to unite the whole house's functioning with tools that reduce friction in the kitchen, free up servers to delight guests instead of spending a lot of time in front of a POS, improve back-office operations, help leaders manage inventory, vendors, and payroll, all in one platform. And that one platform can be accessed remotely from Android devices, providing the portability and convenience servers need to delight customers.
Toast is currently only compatible with Android devices. Toast has partnerships with over 70 manufacturers of other food and drink services, android-based apps, and technology so that you can customize your system with fully integrated third-party apps that work seamlessly with Toast.

Some of these third-party apps include: 

  • LevelUp
  • OpenTable
  • Harri
  • Grubhub
  • Alo
If you choose, you can work with Toast's integration and implementation team to set up your system, add features, customize, and even schedule in-person training for you or your team. 
Toast provides intuitive features to support a variety of food and drink establishments, such as:
  • Casual dining
  • Enterprise
  • Bars
  • Nightclubs
  • Fine dining
  • Fast-casual
  • Cafes
  • Bakeries
Their tools and third-party integrations make it easier for all kinds of establishments to run their business on their terms through customizable solutions.

Benefits & Features
Toast POS has intuitive features and benefits like:
  • Quick and easy check-splitting
  • Offline mode
  • Kitchen display system
  • Course firing options
  • Handheld POS options
  • Digital loyalty capabilities
  • Analytics to track inventory, sales, and guest behavioral information to better plan, cut cost, and increase margins
  • Guest-facing POS options for self-service
  • Pre-authorization of payments
  • Suggested tips
  • Kitchen display
  • Automated notifications and reminders for the kitchen and servers
  • Online ordering
  • Delivery management
  • Third-party delivery management (Grubhub, etc.)
  • Infinitely scalable, so whether you have one location or have locations around the country, this tool supports your day-to-day operations as well as expansion and growth
Pricing
Toast has 3 plans:
  • Starter - $69/mo - Works well for food trucks, cafes, bakeries.
  • Essentials - $99/mo - Works well with off-premise channels
  • Growth - $189 - Includes the features from the Starter and Essentials packages, plus additional loyalty management and marketing features to grow your customer base
If you choose the Starter or Essential, and just one or more of the Growth features, you can customize your system "a la carte" to get those features. Some of the Essentials and Growth features you might choose to add to a Starter include:
  • Payroll and Scheduling Management
  • Delivery Management tool 
  • Extra contactless payment options
  • Restaurant grade hardware that takes all payment types
  • Gift cards
  • Marketing
Hardware for a Starter starts at $799 and will go up from there depending on the number of terminals you need, monitors, cash drawers, etc. Toast offers a customer financing program, so you can pay that over time. 

Payment Processing Fees
Toast manages all of your payments, so you don't have to contract to take Visa, Mastercard, or American Express. Like most, they do charge a fair payment processing fee. 
For Visa, Mastercard, and Discover, it's 3.5% + $0.15. For AmEx, it's 3.89% + $0.15.  E-gift cards are managed through one of Toast's partners. Their rate is 2.9%+$0.30. Card-not-present fees for phone and online orders vary but will be fully disclosed.

If you exceed $1M in processed payment with any one payment network (Visa, MC, etc.) in a 12-mo cycle, they may require you to directly contract with them. In these cases, Toast may become your Merchant Agent regarding the payment network. They will then defer to the contracts and fees of that payment network. These fees are comparable to those charged by Toast.

You can cancel your Toast account anytime and will only be responsible for any outstanding balance you have at that time.

Toast is PCI compliant, so they can securely process payments while protecting the personal and financial information that belongs to you, employees, and guests.

Customer Support
Toast has an extensive online resource center to help your business learn how to get the most out of the POS system. You can also call, email, or webchat with Toast Customer Service 24/7/365.
Toast Central is your online customer care portal where you can submit, review, and mark as resolved any issues you might encounter.

Bottom Line
Toast was built for restaurants by people who know restaurants and how to make user-friendly technology to support restaurant functions. The ease of use and availability of in-person training if you need it to make Toast an attractive option. 

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