What is Toast?
Toast is an all-in-one POS system designed for the hospitality industry. Toast makes being a restauranteur look effortless with its transparent payment processing, efficient cloud-based software and restaurant-grade hardware.
The Toast platform is entirely digital with all information stored safely in the Cloud. It functions via Android technology, which makes the devices longer-lasting and easier to upgrade. Toast offers a stack of add-ons and integrations including; GrubHub, 7Shifts, Avero, AppFronts, Restaurant365 and others.
The Toast platform has four pricing plans available including the Starter, Essentials, Custom and Restaurant Basic. The Toast POS system was co-founded by Boston app-developer Steve Fredette, along with engineer Aman Narang and software entrepreneur Jonathan Grimm in 2012. In March 2022, it was estimated that Toast is used in around 62,000 restaurants across the US.
Recent products and devices by the company include Toast Hardware,Toast Printer, Toast Flex and Toast Tap. Toast is the perfect choice for restaurants looking for a total solution for payment processing.
Toast
What popular features do you get with Toast?
- Combine back of house and front of house operations
- Restaurant Gift Cards
- Profit and loss analytics
- Contactless guest experience
- Online ordering
- High class integration technology partners
- Loyalty and Rewards Program
- Ability to manage multiple stores
- Low-cost delivery
- 24/7 support
- Handheld POS
- Accessible capital and finance
- Customisable solutions
- Free business plan templates
- Automated invoice processing
Customer Support is available at Toast
Toast Customer Service is excellent. Firstly, they have the ‘Toast Classroom’ that can be accessed via their website. It exists as a training tool for users to brush up on their skills. There are live classes as well as on-demand training and quizzes to test your knowledge. There is also a Toast Resource Center where you will find eBooks, and short video clips to help you run your business. There’s business-plan templates for various restaurant types. There are also comprehensive marketing and branding guides. If you require personal assistance, Toast is always available to help. Contact can be made via their sales or customer care line. You can also read their regularly updated blog.
What kind of business is Toast ideal for?
The great thing about the Toast platform is their offline mode, meaning whether you run a restaurant, a bar, a cafe or a nightclub, if the internet connection dies, your restaurant remains unaffected.
Toast is ideal for a whole range of hospitality types including Hotel Restaurants, Fine Dining, Cafe Bakeries, Food Trucks and others. And some of the newest products by Toast listed below, will really give this diverse array of businesses an edge.
Toast Flex suits any restaurant concept. Easy to set up, it can be mounted to a wall or flipped.
Toast Kiosk reduces wait times and allows customers to be in control of their ordering experience with contactless payment options and SMS text updates.
Third-party Delivery Integrations save some businesses up to $600 a week in labor and operational costs. Rather than pay someone to handle delivery tablets and order entries – they go straight to the kitchen.
Toast Loyalty is a rewards program that will keep your guests coming back, time and time again. Apparently, research shows that restaurants receive repeat visits and improved sales when they implement loyalty programs. Guests will be given access to birthday rewards and sign-up bonuses.
Online Ordering allows businesses to boost their revenue whilst protecting their bottom line. Guests are able to order from you directly, commission free. There are less hassles overall as the system is fully integrated with your point of sale. Toast online ordering means no more manual entry or overseeing multiple menus.
Toast Email Marketing allows restaurants to increase profits with targeted promotions. Restauranteurs can create customized email lists, automate email outreach whilst measuring results. Research shows that 68% of guests wish to receive emails from restaurants at least once a month.
As stated on their website, Toast is trusted by over 57,000 restaurants of all concepts plus restaurants using their complete point-of-sale platform throughout the pandemic – outrivaled their competitors.
Pros and Cons
- Toast offers installation for every customer
- All-in-one POS
- Advanced features
- Add-ons & Integrations
- When you use Toast, you have to use their payment processor
- Pricey early termination fee
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Lavu
- À la carte integration options
- Highly customizable
- Offers third-party processors
- Money-back guarantee
- No interchange rate markup
- Free virtual terminal
How much does Toast cost?
*based on information provided by the vendor. Actual cost may vary.
Toast has the perfect pricing package for every restaurant, which includes flexible payment options, 24-7 support, fast set-up and an offline mode.
- Starter – $0/month – this package is ideal for small businesses who only require one or two terminals. It includes cloud-based POS, hardware configuration, advanced tools such as Toast Takeout and Toast Delivery. Gift cards and a reward system also exist within this tier.
- New Restaurant Basics – $110/month – this package is a brand new addition to Toast. It’s for restaurant owners that are looking to save cash by bundling payroll and POS together. Standout features include; cloud-based POS, payroll lite, scheduling lite as well as additional employee management tools.
- Essentials – $165/month – this package is suited to existing restaurants that are getting started with Toast, it currently includes 3 months of online-ordering priced at $75/month, cloud-based POS and customized hardware configuration.
- Custom – get a personal quote – this package is fitting for restaurants who are ready to increase their business revenue with the full Toast package.
At Toast, the two upfront costs every customer will encounter are hardware and implementation. Obviously, the price can vary for each restaurant depending on their installation requirements and exact hardware packages. With the Toast Starter Package, there is also an option for restaurants to “Pay-as-You-Go” which will decrease their costs via an all-in-one platform rate.
Final thoughts...
Toast covers everything with its complete solution for restaurant procedures and processes. Their monthly pricing plans are suitable for a wide range of restaurant types including startups and pre-existing restaurants. Toast is said to be one of the most rapidly growing POS solutions in the states, enabling restaurants to understand their business better by giving them access to live data, comparative reporting and advanced analytics. And with their abundance of add-ons and integrations – they really are a great choice.
