Toast POS Review
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- Date Established
- 2012
- Location
- Boston, MA
Pros
- All-in-one POS
- Android-based
- Advanced reporting tools
- Advanced employee management
- eCommerce integration
Cons
- Limited pricing disclosed online
- Early termination fee
Toast POS Overview
Toast, the brainchild of three former co-workers Steve Fredette, Aman Narang, and Jonathan Grimm burst onto the scene after its creation in 2012. The product, which caters to all types and sizes of restaurants, was competitively priced compared to legacy POS software and remarkably intuitive. It had robust features both on the front and back end and a commitment to customer service that’s virtually unparalleled. After it was named the hottest startup at the 2016 NEVY awards, Toast seemed almost too good to be true. Nevertheless, the tech darling continued to add new features and secure more funding, increasing its valuation to nearly $5 billion by February 2020. Then came COVID-19.
With restaurant sales declining precipitously beginning in March, Toast’s business model was sharply impacted, as many of its customers had to shut their doors. By early April, Toast had laid off approximately half of its staff. Still, Toast has been able to change its offerings in response to the crisis, increasing its online ordering and contactless checkout options. Toast ended up using most of the investor financing it raised earlier in the year to extend one month of free software for all Toast customers and provide three months of free access to its software for online ordering, takeout, and digital gift card services. Despite the pandemic’s unquestionably devastating impact on the restaurant industry, Toast has shown its ability to pivot to socially-distanced dining, which may continue, to some degree, for the foreseeable future.
Whether your restaurant is focusing more on in-person dining or takeout options, Toast POS comes with a fantastic array of built-in features to serve customers. Toast also acts as the client’s payment processor, and unlike many of its iOS-based competitors in the POS world, it runs on Android operating systems, making the tablets it runs on cheaper and more versatile. If you’re interested in many of the add-ons that Toast offers, the cost can start to creep up, but, at the same time, it’s nice to have those options as well as the score of third-party software integrations Toast offers. Toast Go, a mobile POS device created specifically for its platform, also makes Toast an appealing option for restaurants that want to implement tableside ordering.
Perhaps Toast’s only potential shortcoming is that it’s sold as an all-in-one package, which includes software, hardware — and an iron-clad credit card processing contract. If you’re happy with the system and its merchant services, great, but if not, you’re more or less out of luck. So, as with any POS company, it’s important to read and understand your contract with Toast before signing.
Read on to learn more about Toast’s features, pricing, hardware, and possible caveats.
Table of Contents
Pricing
Toast offers a competitive and straightforward price format for its POS software: Subscriptions begin at $75/terminal/month (first month free during COVID-19). This includes the core POS features, plus menu management, kitchen operations, orders workflow, and cloud-based analytics and reporting. All accounts also include 24/7/365 support and unlimited updates. If you’re running a large-scale full-service restaurant (or a chain) and need more than six terminals, you should contact a Toast rep for information about volume pricing.
Add-ons cost extra, of course. Add-on software modules include Toast Payroll & Team Management, Toast Online Ordering, Toast Marketing, Toast Loyalty, Kitchen Display System, Kiosk, Toast Inventory, Multi-Location Management, and more. Unfortunately, Toast does not give pricing for most of its add-ons on its website, except for its new “Toast Now” add-ons, which are all digital ordering solutions designed to get your restaurant up and running online ASAP. Pricing for Toast Now’s digital add-ons are as follows:
- eGift Cards: $25/month
- Digital Ordering: $50/month (includes Toast TakeOut, online ordering, and contactless delivery)
- Full Suite: $75/month (eGift cards, Toast TakeOut, online ordering, and contactless delivery)
Interestingly, you can purchase Toast Now digital ordering options even if you are not a Toast POS user. So even if you use a different POS for in-person transactions, you can use Toast Now to sell online. Merchants who sign up for Toast Now will receive three months of free service during COVID-19.
Another facet of Toast’s pricing is its hardware, which starts at $999 for the starter kit, pictured below. You do theoretically have the option to use your own hardware — though Toast strongly discourages it and can’t provide support for your POS equipment if it’s not purchased through them. You have the option to buy the hardware upfront or with 0% financing (through a third-party Toast affiliate). Remote installation starts at $499 (50% off during COVID-19).
Finally, Toast’s credit card processing fees (which are not disclosed online but are negotiable) are another aspect of pricing to consider; read more about them in the Compatible Credit Card Processors section below.
If you need all of the add-ons, such as inventory management, loyalty, online ordering, and gift card functionality, it can move Toast out of the “highly affordable” category. However, Toast is also reasonably flexible with its quote system and can help you make sure you’re not paying for features you don’t need. Keep in mind that while Toast is billed monthly, that doesn’t mean you can leave your contract at any time (at least, not without penalty); contracts may be as long as three years, so be sure to read and understand your merchant agreement contract before signing.
Cloud-Based Or Locally-Installed
Toast is web-based, though the company does create a LAN network for customers; the POS data (the menu and other configurations) is downloaded and cached on each connected device. That way, if the internet goes down, all devices can still function normally in offline mode. Toast can handle credit card payments in offline mode, storing the data until your internet is restored. Printing is communicated via the LAN, and credit cards are encrypted and stored locally until the internet comes back up.
Specific Industry
As an “all-in-one restaurant management system,” Toast offers some convenient jumping-off points for whatever food industry business you’re in (ranging from full-service establishments to bakeries, cafes, bars, nightclubs, pizzerias, and so on). Toast works well anywhere you would serve food or alcohol.
Specific Size Of Business
Toast is suitable for small establishments (cafes, bakeries, and the like), but with its advanced table mapping and menu creation, Toast can also handle pretty much any full-service restaurant. Data syncs automatically across all locations; the owner of the chain or franchise just needs to use the same username and password, so Toast is also a solid option for franchises.
Ease Of Use
Toast’s system is easy to learn, and the company does an excellent job during the setup process, making sure that you have everything you need to get started quickly. A representative will walk you through the system, taking as much time as you need to feel comfortable with it.
To get a full grasp of all of Toast’s front- and back-end features, you’ll need to spend some time playing around, but the touchscreen is intuitive, and most of the processes are relatively self-explanatory. Toast isn’t as sleek or modern as some POS systems, but, at least in my mind, that’s a plus. If I’m a stressed-out barista or server, I want large buttons that say “pizza” or “latte” and easy access from page to page — and that’s what Toast provides.
The following are some of the most user-friendly and efficient components of the Toast POS system:
- Splitting Checks: With Toast, it’s easy to split checks. You can drag-and-drop menu items into separate bills, split the total evenly (into as many as nine tickets), or divide items according to seat numbers. Similarly, transferring a check to a different table (or to the tablet of a different server) requires just a swipe or two from a manager.
- Simple Voiding: The voiding process is child’s play. Just press a few buttons, whether you’re voiding single items or full orders, and voila, you’re done. Toast also allows you to track all the nitty-gritty details of each void or comp. You can instantly know what happened, who initiated the void, and who ultimately authorized it. Then, if a guest calls to dispute a charge, you can simply pull the data from historical transactions to clear up the matter or issue a refund.
- Close Out Day Function: One of the most handy-dandy little features available, Close Out Day functions as an audit report. It apprises you quickly of the current status of all checks and employee activity. Toast is also designed to close out any paid but un-closed checks and clock out employees who have forgotten to clock out every night (at 4 AM, to be exact) automatically, so your manual intervention is not strictly necessary. You don’t have to use this function to its fullest extent, of course; nevertheless, you can use it simply as a review tool. Since Toast will not automatically close out unpaid checks, it allows you to see and handle issues before you or your night manager leaves for the evening.
- Creating Service Areas: It is so easy to create custom service areas that my grandmother could do it. And that is saying something, believe me. As you can see below, you can choose from a variety of different table shapes and sizes and then simply drag-and-drop them where you want them to go. If you click on any of the placed icons, you can assign it a table number, name, size, width, or height. Any alterations you make to the layout of the service area are instantly saved when you publish the changes and sync to all devices.
- Tableside Ordering: Tableside ordering is all the rage in the foodservice industry right now, and for good reason. Not only is it convenient, giving customers confidence that their order will be taken correctly, it can also dramatically improve turnover. Accepting payments at the table is simple and takes just seconds, saving servers trips to the POS station, and servers can make quick changes on the fly and send orders directly to the kitchen.
Hardware & Operating System Requirements
Again, Toast can provide you with as much or as little as you need here. For companies truly starting from the ground up, Toast offers mobile point of sale tablets, terminals, bar printers, card readers, kitchen display screens, and more. Hardware packages start at $999 for a starter kit that includes a Toast Flex (14″ flip POS), Toast Tap reader (supports tap, dip, and swipe), cash drawer, printer, and router. You also have the option to add a guest-facing POS screen for an additional $200. Click here for a fuller look at the hardware you can purchase through Toast. The company also offers Toast Go devices for tableside ordering and payment functionality; call Toast for a quote.
Toast Hardware primarily consists of Elo Touch devices that run on Android 7.1 (and future updates). Some hardware, such as the Touch Go, are custom-built for Toast.
Here is some more info about Toast’s certified hardware options:
Toast Flex
- IP54 rated, spillproof, and water-resistant
- 2x the RAM of consumer tablets
- 14-inch screen size for easy order entry
Toast Flex For Guest
- 8-inch touchscreen
- Accepts tap, dip, or swipe payments
- Can be counter-mounted or attached directly to Toast Flex
Toast Go
- 14 hours of battery life
- Spillproof and drop-resistant
- Weighs less than one pound
- Integrated EMV credit card reader
Toast Flex For Kitchen (KDS)
- Screens rated for higher temperatures than iPads
- Wall or counter mount options available
- 14-inch full HD LCD and touch screen
Toast Kiosk
- 10″, 15″ or 22″ Elo Touch I Series 2.0
- Integrated EMV-enabled card reader
- Wall or counter mount options available
Toast Tap
- Accepts tap, dip, or swipe payments
- The case protects from drops, bumps, and spills
- On-counter and direct attach options
Features
For as simple as it is to use, Toast manages to pack quite a punch when it comes to the sheer number and variety of feature options. Toast’s new digital ordering options and features for a socially-distanced guest experience are especially relevant right now.
As follows are some of Toast’s most notable software features.
- Ordering: With Toast, your staff can take orders in two different ways, either by using handheld tablets or with counter-top terminals that swivel to become customer-facing. Unlike some of the tablets touted by competitors that can only deal with ordering and taking payments, Toast’s handheld tablets are capable of accessing the whole application (including reports). Directly from a tablet, your wait staff can take orders, send orders and firing instructions to the kitchen, and manage their customers’ tabs and payment options from anywhere in the restaurant.
- Tips: Toast offers customized tip percentage options. When a guest checks out, the system automatically nudges the customer to tip by providing some fair tip options (10%, 15%, 20%, and so forth, or whatever tip percentages you want to present — you can put a 50% tip option in there if you really want to test the limits of your customers’ goodwill). This method provides, um, gentle pressure to promote tipping, playing on the natural human instinct to save face when someone else is watching. Toast also enables you to save time at the end of the day by automatically calculating tips, distributing them, and conducting server payouts. Toast’s newest update also allows for servers to declare negative tips. Another update includes the ability to calculate tip percentages based on multiple sales categories.
- Menu Creation: The POS menu will generally correspond to any physical menus you use in your restaurant and can be divided just like your normal menu would be into Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Cocktails, Dessert, etc. Each separate menu in the Toast system can be further broken down into menu groups (in a dinner menu, this might be Appetizers, Salads, Entrees, etc.). Each group then contains the actual menu items (artichoke dip, club sandwich, General Tso’s Chicken, Tutti Fruitti pancakes, or what have you). Items may be further customized with any number of modifiers and submodifiers. You can learn more about creating, using, and editing modifiers on Toast’s site. I will say, though, that Toast’s modifier system is comprehensive and feature-rich enough to be especially useful for pizzerias, sandwich shops, and other restaurants that regularly make food to order.
- Pricing Menu Items: Toast allows you to strategize when costing your menu items and create pricing rules that can be applied to entire groups, different item sizes, or to items that need special pricing based on the menu they are located in. For example, if you usually sell an appetizer for $8 on your regular dinner menu, you could modify the price to $6 when it is ordered off the Bar menu. Group pricing is straightforward; all you need to do is specify a price for all items under a specific menu group. If you use the size pricing option, you can identify multiple size categories and designate prices accordingly, as seen in the example below.
- Restaurant-Based Reporting: Internal reporting is one of Toast’s most compelling offerings, and there are a wide variety of reports available, from simple sales reports to labor reports, product mix reports, tip reports, and more. Reports update in real-time and can be accessed anywhere, anytime. The summary report is especially robust and shows net sales, gratuity, tips, total guests, table turn time, and a breakdown of all service types and payment methods. It is designed to give you a quick, “scannable overview of the sales metrics you care about, at a high level.” From there, you can drill down into any metric if you want “more detailed insight into sales as they relate to orders, payments, shifts, cash drawers, and house accounts.”
- Customer Data Collection & Customer-Based Reporting: The Toast system has great internal reporting, but it also features an integrated customer relationship management (CRM) system that works to collect customers’ contact information and order history. Using the customer report, you can see which customers have visited your restaurant the most or spent the most amount of money in any time frame you choose. You can then drill down further by selecting individual customers and viewing detailed information about the person’s average checks, days since their last visit, and most frequently ordered items. Similarly, the gift and rewards report gives you a bird’s eye view of all active rewards and gift cards, along with information about how the cards were used.
- Labor Management: User-based permissions allow you to control what information your employees can see and who has access to what. If you want, you can require manager approval for voids and discounts and even set separate schedules for your kitchen and service staff. Similarly to its CRM, this function allows you to micromanage your staff but in a positive way. You can see the efficiency of your kitchen and quickly assess servers’ sales, comparing them with expectations. You can also see if managers are doling out a larger number of voids than would be expected. Additionally, you can customize your Toast account to create different services/roles for your staff and designate specific hours of operation.
- Time Tracking: Time tracking is a feature that few POS companies dare to tackle, but with Toast, you can assign each of your employees a unique 4-digit PIN (used to clock-in and clock-out on the Toast tablets). This simple method allows you to track labor, and managers can see a quick overview of everyone who is currently clocked-in and out whenever they need to.
- Inventory Management: Toast also includes an inventory management system. Specifically, this new feature provides inventory control, inventory reporting, a recipe costing tool, a food cost calculator, an inventory variance report, and a menu engineering chart that helps you analyze your best-selling and most profitable menu items.
- Kitchen Display System: Toast’s KDS system is very intuitive and helpful to cooks. The system is color-coded and can feature times on each ticket. On the other end, servers can be notified when an order is ready either through a flash or a sound on the system to help improve turnover.
- Toast Go: Toast is at the forefront of the game when it comes to tableside ordering. Toast Go is a completely optimized and integrated handheld device that is simple for servers to use and can help get orders to the kitchen quickly and accurately. It also allows servers better communication with your customers and the ability to make changes instantly from the palm of their hand. In terms of health and safety, the device also minimizes touchpoints; since each server has their own portable POS, they don’t all need to use the main POS register.
- Kiosk Mode: Toast’s kiosk mode makes things easy on its customers, allowing users to order on their own, cutting down on errors, and minimizing human contact points. A new feature added to kiosk mode adds to this level of convenience, as Toast also has a quick re-order function for repeat customers who often have the same order. They can swipe their card, and it will immediately pull up their previous order, which they can select with the touch of a button.
- Digital Receipts: Offered through Toast Go, this is a genius feature that allows customers to give an experience rating while still at the restaurant. If the customer has a negative experience for some reason, the restaurant will receive this information, and a manager may have the opportunity to rectify the situation before the customer leaves to give the dreaded negative Yelp review.
- Pay At Table (Order & Pay At Table App Coming Soon): The Pay at Table feature, available to all Toast customers, allows guests to pay for their meal using their own device. This socially-distanced dining feature allows guests to scan a QR code on their receipt and pay on their phone without handing over their credit card. Additionally, a mobile app that will enable customers to order from their phones is in the works as well.
- Loyalty Program: The Toast loyalty program (available as an add-on) is great for two reasons. First, it’s fully integrated with the rest of your POS system and any data therein. Second, it is set up so that customers can opt-in right at the table or counter. All they have to do is check a box on the tablet screen when they are closing their tab or paying for their food. People will almost always take the path of least resistance, so having an easy, one-click signup process (on a screen the customer would have to look at anyway) is a no-brainer. Once they’ve signed up, your customers will get a unique code via email as well as a rewards account number, which they can use to check their rewards balance any time they want. As the restaurant owner, you can choose how you want to customize the loyalty program. Depending on how your restaurant/menu is set up, you can use a dollar-to-points exchange, create points milestones, or select specific menu items or groups to be redeemable with loyalty cards. You can even set up your rewards program so that customers get signup bonuses “to further incentivize loyalty opt-ins.” I’ve mentioned this before in other sections of the review, but the CRM data collected by Toast can also be used for loyalty purposes. When you know what kind of food your guests order, how often they frequent your establishment, and how much money they tend to spend, it’s easy to send custom messages and personalize deals and coupons for each customer.
- Online Ordering: Integrated online ordering (available as an add-on) is one of Toast’s most popular features. Toast will help you create a webpage “that customers can access on their computers, tablets, and mobile phones to view your full menu, to purchase gift cards, and to order food online.” If your restaurant already has a website, all you would need to do is add a link that would take visitors to your online ordering page. The best thing about online ordering with Toast is that the whole system is integrated. For example, menu changes made in the POS are instantly reflected online (you can also control which menu groups and specific items are available for online ordering). If you want, as soon as your customer places an online order, their ticket can be automatically fired to the kitchen (and routed to specific prep stations). However, you can always require online orders to be approved by a manager first if that fits your restaurant better.
- Toast TakeOut: Toast TakeOut is a mobile ordering app for consumers that lets them place orders at local restaurants (including yours) for pickup or contactless delivery. TakeOut integrates with your online ordering module, and unlike third-party apps, it does not charge commission fees. Furthermore, customers seem to love it—the app is highly rated in both the App Store and Google Play store.
- Toast Delivery Services: With the Toast Delivery Services add-on, you can completely customize your delivery system and sync it nicely with online ordering and the Toast TakeOut app. Delivery Services is now synced with DoorDash — meaning you don’t have to have your own delivery drivers — and includes a contactless delivery option. Restaurants pay a flat fee per order and can choose how much, if any, of this fee to pass on to customers. You do have the option to integrate Toast with third-party food delivery services, such as Grubhub or Uber Eats. However, the Toast Delivery Services add-on is potentially cheaper than using third-party delivery.
- Gift Cards: The ability to create and process digital and physical branded gift cards is another valuable add-on. Because the gift cards are directly associated with the POS system, it becomes very easy for you to sell, track, and complete transactions using both physical and digital restaurant gift cards. If you opt to use traditional plastic gift cards, “Toast will completely customize, print, and program the cards to integrate with your system.” To sell them directly to customers, all your staff has to do is select the gift card option (as they would do with any regular menu item). It must be swiped (like a credit card) to activate, and this will also load the card with the desired dollar value. Digital gift cards, of course, are a whole lot simpler and only require guests to give you their email or phone number (which the Toast database stores automatically) and select the dollar amount they would like to purchase. The digital gift card is then simply emailed or texted to the intended recipient almost immediately. I tried the system out; it takes just a few seconds for the recipient to gain access to the gift card. Customers can also purchase digital gift cards online and include a personal message to the recipient. Gift cards purchased online may be emailed or texted immediately or at a later time.
- Toast Now: As mentioned, Toast Now is Toast’s digital ordering suite, which includes eGift cards, online ordering, Toast Delivery, Toast TakeOut, and email marketing. It can be added to your Toast subscription or purchased separately from the Toast POS.
Customer Service & Support
Toast has invested in a level of support rarely seen in other POS companies, from hands-on training material that is available to anyone (even the casual visitor to the Toast website), to personal customization of the software for every customer, to menu configuration and 24/7 technical assistance. Many of these services are free, 100% included in the monthly service fee. Nothing rubs me the wrong way more than a company that charges extra for technical support. That kind of money-grubbing attitude steams my bean. So needless to say, I have a soft spot in my heart for companies such as Toast who at least appear to give a hoot.
Toast provides the following tools and services for customer support:
- Platform Configuration: After you pull the trigger and buy a subscription, a Toast expert will start collaborating with you to customize your entire platform (everything from your dining room layout to menu configuration, modifications, and staff permissions). They will also “advise you on ways to optimize your menu and streamline processes at your location.” In most instances, you will be able to pull your system out of the box with all of your preferences preprogrammed and ready to go upon installation.
- Installation: Toast offers on-site and remote POS installation for every customer. Depending on the size and scale of your restaurant, one or more experts will come to your physical location and set up the entire system for you. If you want to set things up yourself, Toast will ship you everything you need with detailed instructions and 24/7 phone support. And Toast does want you to be fully comfortable once you’re up and running, making sure that you understand every facet of the software before your business launches.
- Staff Training: Toast is user-friendly, sure, but it is also multifaceted and can take time to master. For this reason, after installation, a Toast expert will show up at your restaurant and conduct staff POS training. They “won’t leave until you and all of your staff feel comfortable with the system.” This dedication is paramount to Toast and, in some cases, the company has even had a representative on-site during a business’s first day of operation.
- 24/7 Support: The monthly fee also includes 24/7 support from a US-based technical support team via call, email, or live chat. Each time I called, I was speaking to a representative in mere moments.
- Support Tickets: Support tickets are easy to create and can be submitted quickly without ever leaving the app.
- Training Material: Toast has invested in a considerable amount of training material, some of the best I’ve ever seen. There are full programs complete with training videos for staff, managers, and admins. In addition to the video tutorials, there are innovative hands-on training demos that allow you to push buttons, complete orders, take payments, etc., just like you would on a Toast terminal. I’ve never encountered such robust professional training material on a POS website. Ever. I cannot stress enough that Toast takes customer service and support seriously. It also offers a POS buying guide with some terrific information. Sure, it all makes the POS look good, but the information is helpful and accurate.
- Knowledgebase: If you don’t get the answers you need from the training material, Toast provides a comprehensive (searchable) knowledgebase with FAQs, troubleshooting tips, and information about anything from menu management to close-out training. It works, it’s comprehensible, and it’s accurate, as far as I can tell, but it looks for all the world like it was hastily slapped together by someone who was simultaneously juggling eggs, studying for the LSAT, and watching Bob Ross paint trees. However, Toast provides such stellar support tools in other respects that I’m willing — just barely — to forgive a bit of sloppy text. Yes, I know, I’m such a magnanimous person. Please hold your applause until the end of the review.
- Blog: The Toast blog is better than many I’ve seen from POS providers and contains a lot of useful information and helpful articles.
The only caveat is that some (but not all) customers feel that support quality has deteriorated in recent years or that Toast’s support team is not as responsive and helpful as the sales team was during the signup process.
Compatible Credit Card Processors
As I’ve mentioned a few times before, the general Toast package includes secure, flat-rate credit card processing — in fact, it is mandatory. If you want to use Toast as your POS solution, you must use Toast as your payment processor as well. Toast does offer to match the rates you’re receiving from your current payment processor. That sounds great — in theory — but appearances can often be deceiving. Here at Merchant Maverick, we have reviewed enough payment processors and merchant account providers to have nurtured a healthy suspicion of the whole “meet or beat” gimmick, which is easily manipulated with added fees. The good news is that there are no hidden fees with Toast. Toast customers “can even see the rates and fees applied to each transaction right next to their sales reports,” so there is little room for subterfuge.
The bad news is that per Toast’s merchant contract, Toast reserves the right to increase its credit card processing fees at any time during the contract (with 30 days’ advance written notice), and some customers have reported this happening. The contracts themselves can be as long as three years and renew automatically after the initial term for another year. If you want to get out of your contract at any time, you’ll have to pay an early termination fee (ETF), which is equal to the remaining software fees for your term, plus “any applicable processing fee related to software financing.”
Toast’s credit card processing model may seem draconian to merchants who are used to month-to-month processing offered by other popular cloud POS systems, such as Square. However, these terms are similar to legacy POS systems and par for the course for merchant services contracts in general. For comparison, Upserve Payments and Revel also require multiyear merchant contracts.
One more thing to note is that with Toast’s online ordering options, restaurants will pay card-not-present processing fees, which are as follows: 3.5% + $0.15 for Visa, Mastercard, and Discover, and 3.89% + $0.15 for AMEX. These are also the rates you’ll pay for any keyed-in credit card transaction. These rates are definitely on the high side; for comparison, Square charges 2.9% + $0.30 for all online payments, including AMEX, and Lightspeed Payments charges just 2.6% + $0.30 for card-not-present transactions.
Integrations & Add-Ons
Toast offers a solid variety of integrations and is quite competitive in this area. The list of available integrations expands frequently, and while Toast offers an impressive number of in-house add-ons, it’s nice to have third-party options too. Integrations include but are not limited to:
- 7shifts
- Appfront
- Avero
- Bevager
- Bevspot
- BrewLogix
- Chowly
- Compeat
- Craftable
- CrunchTime
- Grubhub
- Harri
- Homebase
- ItsaCheckmate
- KitchenSync
- LevelUp
- Marketman
- OpenTable
- PayTronix
- PeachWorks
- Punchh
- Restaurant365
- Shogo
- TapMango
Toast also has an open API (which allows you to develop integrations).
User Reviews
Toast has no shortage of complaints and negative reviews, but the majority of Toast’s reviews are positive, and Toast seems to take the time to respond to most or all online complaints to help the customer find a solution to their problem.
Toast has a “B” rating on the BBB, and a total of 20 complaints in the last three years; of those, 11 were closed in the last 12 months.
Negative Reviews & Complaints
- Payment Processing Contract: The majority of Toast POS complaints have to do with the payment processing contract. If you use Toast, Toast will be your payment processor, end of story. The lack of options and lengthy contracts (two to three years) understandably gets people’s ire up. Many customers feel stuck in contracts they’re not happy with or feel the terms are different than how they were presented to them by Toast’s sales team. For example, some customers say they didn’t understand that processing fees could increase over the life of the contract.
- Bugs: A couple of Toast users reported issues with bugs in the software. One client has had problems with the system not sending complete tickets to the kitchen and messing up customer orders.
- Hit-Or-Miss Customer Support: Some customers are unhappy with Toast’s customer support and find the solutions to be generic or unhelpful. Others report that the support is “hit or miss.”
- Aggressive Sales People: Some users said they thought the sales team was pushy or misleading, or the sales rep talked them into a decision that they later regretted, such as financing their POS hardware.
Positive Reviews & Testimonials
- Android-Based: Not everyone in the world is an Apple aficionado, and many people like the relative freedom and flexibility that come with reliance on Android devices.
- User-Friendly: In general, most users agree that Toast is user-friendly, easy to learn, and easy to train others on.
- Loyalty Cards: Toast’s integrated loyalty card program is simple and easy to access and manage, and many restaurateurs use Toast just for this feature.
- Online Ordering: Like integrated loyalty programs, integrated online ordering is rare in restaurant management software — a kind of POS Holy Grail. Toast’s online ordering system is very good, and it is the sole reason that some people use the system at all.
- Good Customer Support: Though some customers are not happy with Toast’s customer support, others praise the level of support.
Final Verdict
In an ideal world, there would be an affordable POS system that covers all of your needs in one, making it so that you only need to make a single call if you run into issues with your credit card processor, your hardware, or your software. Toast is a real-world product, but it appears to be about as close to the ideal solution as we’ve seen. Toast provides all of the features you would expect from a top-notch system with very few product gaps. Its add-ons can make the product a little pricey. However, those functions are generally well worth the cost, as they are both robust and extremely easy to use.
Because we’ve seen people get burned in similar situations, it would be nice if customers were given a choice whether to use Toast as their payment processor. It’s not a deal-breaker, but it concerns me enough to recommend at least a bit of caution before diving into a subscription, particularly a multiyear contract.
Overall, I have few qualms in recommending Toast. Particularly in the wake of COVID-19, Toast is especially impressive for its online ordering features as well as its options for a socially-distanced dining experience inside the restaurant, such as self-ordering kiosks, contactless payments, and the ability to pay and even order on your own device. As the product is continuously evolving to stay up to date with restauranteurs’ needs, I’m always looking forward to seeing what innovative solutions Toast will come out with next.
Do you already use this system in your restaurant? Let us know what you think about it in the comments below!
Matt Sherman
Point of sale writer at Merchant Maverick
Matt Sherman has been immersed in point of sale systems for over a year now. Previously, he spent 14 years in the newspaper industry, the majority of which was as the sports editor for a pair of weekly newspapers in suburban Portland, Oregon. He is a graduate of the University of Oregon where he majored in English because he knows where the money is. Matt is the father to a pair of energetic boys and can easily be distracted by Netflix, Amazon and HBO Go.
Latest posts by Matt Sherman (see all)
- The Top 5 Most Surprising Things About Telecommuting & Homeschooling - November 16, 2020
- The Complete Restaurant Guide To Kitchen Printers & Kitchen Printing Setups - April 20, 2020
- Restaurant Delivery Guide: Everything You Need To Know About Implementing In-House Delivery - March 30, 2020
- How To Calculate Food Cost For Your Restaurant - March 19, 2020
- Third-Party Delivery Services For Restaurants & Retailers: Your Best Options - March 19, 2020
The Merchant Maverick Seal of Approval 🏆
Toast POS  |
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After hours of in-depth research and evaluation, we can confidently recommend this brand to our readers. Get started today and see Toast POS for yourself.
The Merchant Maverick Seal of Approval 🏆
Toast POS |
|---|
After hours of in-depth research and evaluation, we can confidently recommend this brand to our readers. Get started today and see Toast POS for yourself.
Read Next
Organization Name: Shin Hollywood
I’m going to be very honest with you guys toast POS system has some decent qualities the problem with toast is their customer service, lack of knowledge with their technical support team on tier 1, their bona fide phone answering people, and what makes me even more upset is I have tried in the last month to have my rep review my credit card rates and I have been flat denied that they will not review or change any rates and they are extremely expensive they’re only willing to match rates that you’re given so it’s time to go get a quote and probably switch.
Do not do business with toast unless you can get an annual review of your credit card fees included they creep up overtime without letting you know and they blame it on rising costs which is baloney.
We are very happy with the results of switching to toast. Our cafe runs an average of 400 + transactions per day, and have made our third (and hopefully final) switch to a much more stable POS. we have had several malfunctions over the past few years, with fast communicative response and assistance. perhaps the best part for us is the fast training for our staff. order screens, hand held, and customer screens are all smart and easy to use. wanted to share a positive review Among the negatives. we have not had a bad experience since we switched 2 1/2 years ago, after 15 years with other POS / systems . highly recommend!
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: The Sarah Street Grill
My TOAST system is a nice upgrade from my Micros system in many ways, but I do regret the switch.I was promised a match on my existing CC processor Heartland and it simply was a lie.I was promised having a chip reader would end charge backs from contested transactions.What I have is the same issues I had before with a $15 charge per challenge which holds even if you prove the challenge false. Most of these challenges are from on line to go ordering taken by TOAST. Then they get challenged, TOAST asks me for the information on a charge THEY accepted, my staff spends the time getting the information together and mailing it to them and it all means nothing except an expense. They also have a group Facebook page for existing customers to communicate, but they BLOCK this from being brought up and talked about.This makes me regret doing business with them and being stuck with them for the three year contract.Obviously there are good things about TOAST or they never would have got my business, but unfortunately there is no point to share them.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Dlighters
I have been in the businesses for 40 plus years and have opened several restaurants and can state Toast has the worst customer service in the industry and that is saying a lot. The most recent example is Toast informed us of a “duplicate order” on September 4th. . There was no duplicate order–a customer came in twice on the same day–at 2 PM *check #43 and 6:30 PM check #123 and purchase 2 different items from are kiosk and signed both orders. So Toast sent a email saying I must dispute the charge by September 18th or be charged for the amount of the purchase and a $15 fee. This is where the fun began. I faxed the requested information to Toast on the 4th and called to confirm–they said they would call–never called back. On the 7th i received a email from Luke K from the CX Service cx-service@toasttab.com -stating he had attached instructions on filling out a 12.6.1 form. Nothing was attached and I had already faxed the 12.6.1 form on the 4th. So I had to call them on the 7th, 9th, 11th. 15th and 16th each time I was put on hold for a average of 55 minutes and was told that the merchant accounts was another department and that Luke K would call me in 24 hours—I never received a call back and Luke K never answered my direct email for confirmation of the fax. On September 15th I was told my case was transferred from Luke K to Joshua who would call in 24 hours–and did not. On the 16th the rep did send me a email with Josuhua email address ans suggest I email him. I also sent 4 emails requesting to confirm that they received the fax including a picture of the confirmation that they received the fax I also asked each customer service rep to send me a email confirming our discussion and their promise that I would receive a call from the proper department within 24 hours–And only received 1 email from the last of the 6 different customer reps. I talked to So do your self and your business a favor and DO NOT USE TOAST POS. And may the lord help you if Toast is the company you believe is the best for your business.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Batch
Hey toast,I actually like the hardware and non-online ordering software for Toast quite a bit. After switching over from Revel we immediately found a HUGE FLAW in Toast’s online ordering system that has been costing our servers (and every server that uses toast right now) lots of money. LOTS OF MONEYThere is a serious flaw in the coding of online ordering on iphones that has made our tips go down 10% since switching to Toast. If you are thinking of switching over, you may want to think twice!! I have been trying to get this resolved by Toast for over 2 months. We switched over from Revel during the Pandemic and immediately noticed our tips drop by 10%+. It is because when ordering on an iPhone older than a 10, the submit order button is fixed at the bottom of the screen. Once you put your CC info in it becomes active and turns blue. Lots of people just push it instinctually. The problem is that you have to keep scrolling down in order to get to the tips section. Easy fix, move the tips section above the CC info section, or make it so the submit order button isn’t fixed. I have been trying for 2 months to get Toast to fix this to no avail. Friends who are in the industry just thought that people were tipping less on to go during the pandemic. WRONG!! This huge coding FLAW is making servers and essential workers lose money and has been throughout this entire pandemic. Shame on you Toast…get it together! HEY TOAST: side note… this coding FLAW has made you miss out on all of those sweet Credit Card processing fees for those tips that are being lost. Does that get your attention? You’ve also missed out on a whole lot of money. Unfortunately so have the workers who have been actually putting themselves at risk throughout this Pandemic.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Toast, Inc
Hi Josh, Mora from Toast here. Thanks for this feedback – this issue is very much on our radar. Our Online Ordering team is hyper-focused on reliability given recent outages, but the team has plans to address this soon.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: The Bagel HOle
This has -0- stars from us! This is appropriately named a POS system as it has been nothing short of that for our small business. We were sold on the customer service and quick response by the sales team. Just prior to opening our small business, we discovered that our sales contact and most all other Toast employees were laid off. We still had faith that we would be properly trained and the system would work fine. That is absolutely not the case. We were sent a “trainee” trainer who is not a Toast employee and had to look up the answers to many of our questions. That was an absolute waste. Then we were sent their “field expert” who attempted to help, albeit the time of day 10:00 a.m. for breakfast place was ridiculous, and he didn’t have the time needed . We have been experiencing problems with the system not working at all and having to move customers to a different, line after they’ve already placed their order, to having to take cash only, which we all know folks generally do not pay that way any longer. Many customers walked out. We still didn’t have what we needed and when I contacted the “field expert” , I was told that his boss basically stated it was too bad for us, it will have to wait until Monday! This system is substandard and their customer service is subpar. Do not get it. Nobody we know has ever heard of it but I’ll make sure they do now and not make the mistake we made.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Oregano Pizzeria
I wish I would have read these reviews before we bought the system. Salespeople were aggressive. Was so hesitant about the credit card processing only through them, now I regret it. Just got a chargeback on a $13.00 check and Toast automatically charges me a $15.00 processing fee. The training people were soooo nice but did not train us very well. They were there for one day and always smiled when they helped out but did things quickly and made the staff confused. The trainers were way to quick and made it hard to understand. Do not buy this system!
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Wow…so glad I read your comments (and those of others.) We have a few locations and can’t afford to make a mistake when we move to a new POS. Thanks for the info!
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Grind
Do not sign with this company! The promise you everything, and give you nothing but a basic POS. They make you sign with a leasing company, which pays toast in full at the moment of signing so when you have issues you have no collateral to use against them because they have already been paid in full for 3 years. They promise that since they are android based, the POS can be made to do almost any request as compared to an IOS device which can not implement new features or requests when you need them. They always just say “we will put in a feature request” which never amounts to anything. Any problems are “transfered to a different department or to a certain case” which takes days to even get contacted. They are a terrible and greedy company that is just after you money, by promising whatever it takes to sign with them, and than they dont care what your experience is.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Toast, Inc
Hi Keith, Mora from Toast here. We value your feedback and experience with Toast immensely, so thank you for sharing. We receive many great feature recommendations and ideas from restaurateurs – there are numerous feature requests in the queue and our product development team does their best to incorporate these into product updates. Our monthly “Release Notes”, available on central.toasttab.com, highlight the latest product updates.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Pureganic Cafe
Do NOT work with this company. They overpromise and underdeliver. They also immediately sell you contract to a finance company so you have no recourse if you have an issue.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Cafe & Barr
Be careful with Toast. We just opened our business and about a year ago when we started the process, the rep from toast told us in order to get the deal pricing we would need to have a contract signed but would not need to start payment until we opened our doors. We were also told it is better safe than sorry to add all the equipment we might possibly need because we could always just take it off, it would be harder to add anything on later. Cut to January they say we need to start paying for their service, even though verbally our rep said that we wouldn’t pay till our doors were open. Then as we were finishing the architecture of our space we requested to remove an entire POS setup and one of the handhelds only to be told that it would cost us more to return anything so our rep suggested to quietly sell the items to a new business. ( I would never do put anyone through that) With all of our disappointment we were told that we could have free gift card service for a year to help compensate for all of our trouble. Then when we go to set it up they say it’s only 20% off a month. They MADE us sign with FALSE promises, they REFUSED to work with us to resolve anything. They are truly a disappointment to a small business. Avoid at all costs, if you do decide to go with them, make sure you record your appointments with your rep, because even though they seem sweet and like they want the best for you, they are slimier than car salesman. Your IT rep is probably going to be the only person who can help you with anything so make sure you ask a lot of questions. Don’t sign anything until you are ready to open.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Steel City Payments
Don’t believe everything you hear and half of what you see if it’s not in writing it’s not true. Always get statements in writing especially if they have access to your checking account that way it’s legally binding
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Top Dog of Rockport
We wanted to go with toast – we were forced into financing when we wanted to pay up front – and then we were told we needed all their hardware when we had dedicated routers , splitters and wifi boosters of our own. We never went any further and requested to cancel – nothing had been ordered or shipped. We had only the phone # of our sales person who has stopped answering phone calls – so they are not delivering and not cancelling – If someone can tell me how to get to the top brass I would appreciate it – I hate to start legal proceedings but at this point have no choice
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Toast Inc.
Hi Laurie, Jasmine from Toast here. I’m sorry to hear you are not continuing with Toast. At this time, I believe our team has worked with you to reach a conclusion.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Joselito's Mexican Food Tujunga
Toast is great. It’s very easy to use. The third party API’s are extremely useful and connect very well. Customer service is better than any POS company I have used in 30 years. Toast is the first POS company in 30 years that actually pushes updates, that make a dofference, without charging you or you having to ask. A few people have mentioned the CC processing and the fact that they are forced to use Toast. When you sign your contract it is yo to you to negotiate a good deal. I am extremely happy with my Toast Deal. They beat, only slightly, by ratedls from the previous company which were already very low. Training on toast was great and their online university and social site is wonderful as well. I am definitely a Toast user for life
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Toast Inc.
Hi Jose, Jasmine from Toast here. Thank you so much for your review! It is our top priority to meet the needs of all of our customers, whether that is customer service or product updates. I’m happy to hear you are taking advantage of Toast University as well. We’re excited to see your restaurant continue to thrive on Toast!
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
I have used toast since its inception. There have been some bumps along the way, but for the most part they are very responsive to whatever we need. I have never had any issues with their tech support, and we found some workarounds for issues tat have come up. We have also beta tested hardware for them, which i would not recommend.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Annabella's
Avoid at all Cost!!!! Slow! Unorganized! If you don’t want to go bankrupt stay away!!!! They will tell you what you want to here and drop you like a hot potato!!!!
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Toast Inc.
Hi William, Jasmine from Toast here. I am sorry you are feeling unheard by Toast. We are here to help you. Your Restaurant Success Manager will be in touch.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Cafe & Barr
Same
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: MonAlyssa
Great System Great Employees. Our Staff and Management team LOVE Toast
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: The Den
Great software and great customer service!
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Lodgenuity, LLC
I have used Toast in all 3 of my locations (quick service, bar, full service). The best attributes are the ease of use and the constant improvement that the upgrades provide no matter what the application. The customer support is very solid on all issues and we have had very few incidents of being offline in the last 2 years. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a POS, no matter what style of restaurant.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Toast
Hi Adam, Jasmine here from Toast. Thank you for your review! I’m thrilled to hear that Toast is providing value in all of your locations of different service styles.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Boyd Restaurant Group
Credit card payment processing Is VERY profitable for the credit card processor and fees can escalate over the life of the contract. We were not informed that credit card processing was required to be a Toast user and because of this connection we are looking for other options. Purchasing hardware, software, back-office, Maintenance is enough under one roof. Adding a requirement for credit cards is just too risky!
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Toast
Hi Jim, Jasmine here from Toast. I am sorry to hear you were dissatisfied with our credit card processing fees and have decided to explore other options. We know that the world of credit card processing can be confusing and we strive to be as transparent as possible about our competitive rates. Please be aware that we have a “meet or beat” policy- with a formal quote from a competitor, our team is happy to review all of our customers’ rates at any time.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Archers BBQ
Toast has shorted me $6500.00 in deposits over the first 3 months of use. Toast promised to match my effective credit card rate of 2.23%, but my effective credit card rate with Toast is 2.7%. Run, dont hide, from the Toast POS rep.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Toast
Hi Archer, Jasmine here from Toast. I’m sorry to hear about the misunderstanding about your deposits and effective credit card rates. Please continue to work with the payments representative that has reached out to you to find a solution that works for you.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
What a lame response from Toast. I mean, it is so vague. Clearly, Toast is committing to NOTHING. No help at all.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Sergeant Pepperonis
Toast works great for us. We love that when our internet provider fails us as they often do, Toast can still process cards and we don’t anger or lose business. Usually the staff doesn’t even know. Quick menu editing allows us to make changes on the Terminal that reflect to our integrated online ordering as well. Training staff is super easy, and most things you can learn by spending 15 minutes playing around!
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Toast
Hi Kevin- Yes! The value you’re seeing from our offline mode is exactly the intent we had when building it into our POS system. We believe your Internet connection should not hinder your restaurant’s ability to thrive.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Duffys Tavern
Love using Toast! It makes everything so much faster and simpler!
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Magico Pizza
good system getting better, lots of new features, not too many glicches. missing some basic features like customer comments, and could use some improvements for delivery, online ordering, and better discounting features, and one big one there is no way to get your customer addresses from your deliveries. would love to see the pizza features promised 2 years ago. but it is better than most everything out there for the price. My staff and customers like the system
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Toast
Hi John, Jasmine here from Toast. I am thrilled to hear you notice our system is improving. As your restaurant grows, we love to grow with you. You should definitely be able to access customer delivery information- please refer to this article in our Knowledge Base for more information about your takeout and delivery options: https://central.toasttab.com/s/article/How-do-I-set-up-my-take-out-and-delivery-options-1492745822028. If you have further questions, give Toast Support a call at (617) 682-0225, or log on to Toast Central to chat with them live during business hours.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Hot Shot Espresso
the struggle is real!!! i like the daily use that the toast go provides. the customer service is lacking for sure. i feel very abandoned once we went live. i am here for some help more than this review.. i cant seem to get anyone at toast to help me figure out how to download the daily sales from Toast to Quick books. if any users could help me i would be greatful. please email me at hotshot1038@gmail.com thanks in advance. 🙂
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Toast
Hi Emily – I’m sorry you haven’t been able to get the help you need. Toast and Quickbooks can be directly integrated through our partners Shogo, UT&I Solutions, or Cohesion. Here’s more information: https://central.toasttab.com/s/article/Toast-Quickbooks-Integration-1492723820682
For more detail or specific help, please work with our professional Support team. You can call (617) 682-0225, or log on to Toast Central to chat with them live.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: The Livery
As mentioned in reviews above, Toast isn’t the PERFECT system, but what’s great about it is that they’re constantly updating it. Our previous systems were bought and done with- used for years “as is” and became outdated quickly for staff and customer needs. Toast puts out an upgrade nearly every month, and almost all of my complaints and suggestions have been addressed in those updates. The back-end is by FAR the easiest I’ve seen (comparing to Micros and Digital Dining) and save me HOURS of entering new items. My servers find everyday use easier as well- splitting checks, transferring checks, etc.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Hessen Haus
I researched Toast very thoroughly and went through many hours of Q&A with the sales team. I feel duped.I should have dug deeper and gotten more personal feedback from current users.The platform has certain features that are very good, but not enough to outweigh all of the bad.Hands down the worst part of it is their service and support after the sale. If I ever get through to support, they typically have to call me back with a solution…which never happens. My account “manager” responds to every communication with regurgitated boiler plate BS and has yet to solve any of my issues.We have frequent issues with our card readers, and our warranty period is up in November. They won’t replace the crap readers with the newer upgrades.You don’t get nearly the functionality and ease of use on the back end that you pay for. The reporting features are weak at best.The inventory module is terrible. They claim you can use the tablets to do inventory…which is true, but it takes 4x longer to do it that way because you can’t select the fields to enter the numbers and then when you do, often times the quantities change. My account “manager” replied to my complaints about this with “Our inventory module may not be as robust as you need, maybe you could add on one of our partner software companies.” For another $500 a month. No thanks.Short story: Run from Toast and never look back. I regret the move every single day.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: T.G.I
Software is not nearly as innovative as they claim. Yes they use a cloud but when toast is having issues and their whole cloud goes down you cannot do much. None of your tablets and terminals will talk to each other, you lose tabs and you cannot process credit cards. This has happened at peak times for us and is a huge inconvenience. Another big draw back is that if you own a bar/restaurant like us this isn’t a system that’s ahead of the curve. You are not able to accurately track your bartenders indivual sales. You also don’t have the ability to precisely see when/what exact time sales are being made. It’s very hard to notice this until you actually get the system at your place. I pointed this out to several people at Toast. Most of them were unaware this was the case. They told me it would be dealt with and then two months later said it wouldn’t be because Aloha didn’t have it as a feature, (which I found out later they do) and also because they felt not enough customers were requesting these features. One more thing is that they overcharged us for the startup equipment and debited $500 more than they should’ve. They eventually correct things but had I not spoken up they never would’ve.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Kay's Restaurant
The good reviews on here must have been reviewed by employee’s because it’s the complete opposite. I chose this company for the reviews and it was the biggest mistake. The training is a disaster, if they show up at all. The software is outdated just like their terminals. It takes forever to put in an order and their 24/7 support is a lie. They will tell you what you want to hear to get you to sign a contract then they won’t even show up on install date after you have already waited over a month. Don’t fall for their lies. Clover or lavu are so much better. They will have you going in less than a week and their software is so much better for half the price. Don’t make the mistake we did.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Do you know if Clover also has a remote option for places like food festivals or events? Have you used Clover? We are shopping for a POS provider now.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Curry Tub
Worst system ever, Never works properly. Their charges are too much. Not up to date with the technolodgy. Their sales people will say anything to make a sale. Dont trust them. save your money and time. Dont work with them. Really bad people, out to steal money. They will get you to sign papers and then keep staeling from you. DO NOT RECOMMEND IT
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
I’m shopping Toast right now. Do you have a better alternative in mind?
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Beachland Group
Toast is by far the worst POS I have ever used in over 20 years in the restaurant business. I installed it in two locations with a plan to install in a third but it was a failure from day one. The KDS never worked correctly and all my servers and bartenders hated it. The biggest issue is the credit cards. They almost never work on the first swipe and the busier the restaurant gets the worse they get. In 3 months we keyed in over 1000 cards which costs the server time and the owner money. In addition we had connectivity issues that were never solved. I uninstalled Toast at both locations and now cant get a refund. Toast expects me to pay $12,000 to get out of my contracts so I guess I will see them in court. By far the worst POS on the market.
Chip Kohn
Beachland Tavern
West Hartford, CT
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Toast
Hi Chip – Juan here from Toast. I’m so sorry to hear about the issues you’re experiencing with our credit card processing. It is unfortunate to hear that you have uninstalled Toast at two of your locations. I assure you that your restaurant success manager will be in touch with you shortly to help with your situation.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Curry Tub
Hi Chip
I have had similar experience with Toast as you. Did you ever resolve with them? I am cosidering contacting a lawyer about thier contract too.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Hessen Haus
Chip, I agree. We were looking at using this across all of our 16 locations. We brought on 4, and we will be dropping them all if things don’t improve soon. Luckily we negotiated a shorter contract, but still; 2 years is a long time with a bad system. Good luck!
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Gianni's
I made a big mistake as well. Never ever will I purchase a POS that forces you to use their processor. The inexpensive hardware/software/services are made up quickly when they screw you in on a long term contract with the ability to raise processing rates ay any time.
Buyer BEWARE
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: pFriem Family Brewers
Maybe it’s because I’m a millennial in management, but I’ve had a good working relationship with Toast. I haven’t needed a lot of customer support since implementation 9 months ago, but I largely taught myself everything about how to build systems in Toast — it’s fairly intuitive in that way that I can figure out “how it works.” It might be because I have an existing penchant for these types of systems, but whatever. They’re a young company growing rapidly, maybe too rapidly — aggressive sales team with slow moving customer support.All in all though, cloud-based reporting, mobile functionality, offline mode, cash and tip tracking have all made this a mostly positive experience for me.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: RHM corp dba LaSuprema Mexican Restaurant
We have had Toast since January of 2017, had some initial issues with implementation, but other than that have been happy with the system. The customer service has been moving up since we first started and is much better now.We are an independent operation that seats 140 and have been in business since 1970, so Toast was a much needed update to our old POS system. I wish it integrated with Quickbooks better, but it does provide a lot of functionality. The cost of the processing fees can be an issue and requires monitoring. Super easy to use and learn, thanks!
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Marinara Pizza
We started using toast and to be honest I wasn’t in love with it. After two months I genuinely loved the service. As the manager I spent two months daily as the cashier and learned the system like the back of my hand. The better you know your POS the better you know your business. Toast has an extensive FAQ section where they cover almost everything. Their staff is so prompt with responding and if they don’t have an immediate answer they will forward you to someone who does. Since I have moved from PC America and Revel at two of our different stores to Toast and the staff have been raving how it immensely helped them do their jobs.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Toast
Hi Jon – Juan here from Toast. We really appreciate your feedback. We’re always trying to provider customers with the best support possible through responsive support reps and helpful articles. Thank you so much for the kind review!
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Four Seam Hospitality
Our entire partnership with Toast has been nothing less than WONDERFUL. From Jeff our Sales consultant, to Robin, Matt, Mike, and the rest of the team, we have never felt like we had to figure the system out on our own. Some one has been with us each step of the way. We have now been LIVE for 1 month. In my over 16 years of restaurant industry work, this is by FAR the best POS system out there. User friendly, easy to learn, and has every report we need at our finger tips, I simply love it,
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Hey Jenn, Juan here from Toast. Congratulations on your first month being live! We are so happy that you’re enjoying the system and working with the team – thank you for the wonderful review!
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Dante’s Bistro Bar & Grill
ZERO after sale assistance. Not at all trustworthy. There company is just a party place. Half of their positive reviews are from employees! Big costly mistake to go with toast. They nickel and dime you to death and their response time for repairs( which is frequent) is dismal. Had to spend $2000 to fix their system after only 6 weeks working. They couldn’t fix problem so I had to hire outside! Reimbursement ?!? Hahahahha. Run from toast.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Pi LLC
Stellar customer service!! Moving 4th restaurant over to Toast and couldn’t be more happy. Easy transitions with all. Updates happen all the time which are great! Toast keeps evolving!
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Organization Name: Four Seam Hospitality DBA The Sutton Legion
Jeff was great through the sales process then Robin took over as our project manager and was fabulous. They got us up and running ahead of schedule and we are having amazing results already. Joining Toast has been the best business decision yet.
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Swapping to Toast was one of the best decisions here at our restaurant! It allows me to run different reports and export them with ease. I can even get up to the second numbers with cloud connectivity. It’s makes my job a lot easier and gives me flexibility to be more creative. I’m glad my boss upgraded to Toast!
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Toast is super intuitive and user friendly for both the staff and mangers. Thank you for tailoring this POS to the restaurant industy.
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Helped us switch 5 locations to Toast from PosiTouch. It has been a great decision. The flexibility for multi-unit concepts is great. We have been able to improve our efficiency with the use of KDS, handheld mobile units, along with traditional terminals. We look forward to further changes and improvements.
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Toast has made it so easy for us to integrate third party systems and their support s top notch!
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Toast has made my life so much easier with enterprise level reporting and and open API. We have been able to integrate with almost all of our 3rd party vendors.
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Toast was the right choice for me because I have a very young staff and a customer base that loves to use technology. The support staff at Toast are second to none and my sales rep is always there To help me grow my business.
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Toast is the best system we have ever used. We experience no down time. The hardware has held up extremely well. The KDS screens in the kitchen have greatly reduced errors and have improved efficiency. The servers and customers love the handheld tablets and the ability to process cards right at the table. Server tips have gone up over 20%. The menu is amazingly easy to customize. I really can’t say enough about how positive an impact Toast has had on our restaurant.
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The reality is that the system goes down all too often and wether thats the network Toast set up or wether the internet is down, the system can blow your entire dining room and loose thousands like my places did. Toast says that the system still works in off-line mode but that isn’t true. Its happened to me so many times i can’t begin to tell you how much money I’ve lost with this system. When it stops communicating, the printers can’t print, can’t cash out checks and can’t take new orders. People get so upset you can’t imagine. Look at some reviews of ours, guests actually say “why do you have this shitty system if its ruing your business” I finally smartened up and got touch bistro. This system has its own server so we don’t rely on internet or someones cloud. We have our own cloud so it doesn’t go down. This is the reality of Toast after dealing with it for years, Ive lost many managers over the frustrations they encountered!
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Would love to know how touch bistro is working out
toast has been the worst business decision we have ever made
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
I looked at 7 other cloud based or tablet systems and have worked with all of the “big companies” in the past. While there’s is a lot of growth potential with Toast innovations, I still believe Toast is head and shoulders above the others. Having an offline mode on tablets has saved my managers and staff time and stress. The reporting has some needs but a non issue for us because we use a restaurant management software along side Toast. The biggest issue is the 24-hour support. They may not have answers very quickly as some of them are very green. The upside is the sales rep hasn’t left our side and will still assist with service issues. Our account rep is very sharp too. The kinks now are worth it for the long term upside down the road.
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I searched and tested POS systems for 2 1/2 years before deciding on Toast. We needed a system with kitchen video displays because I refused to revert to printed tickets. The system also needed to handle our Valutec gift cards which numbered in the 1000’s . I discovered the Toast android based system with 10″ screens, kitchen video, the ability to import all our gift card data and online ordering. This was our solution to replace our outdated XP based back office computer and registers. Our menu is complex and the toast menu system is VERY customizable. We needed to help with the menu programming to get it set up correctly and have an easier transition. The installation went as smoothly as could be expected and after a couple months we implemented online ordering. The next step will be to set up an in-store kiosk!We’ve been pleased with the reliability of the system and the ability to maintain orders when the internet is down. A couple disappointments have been the ability to get a real time labor report, online inventory and bogo discount setup. During an 11-3 lunch shift it’s not possible to get an accurate labor report at 2pm for adjustments to be made. There is an option to take an item out of inventory on the tablets however, the item still shows up for online ordering. For example, we serve 3 soups each day and have 7 different soups each week. A person placing an online order can choose an out-of-inventory soup but then gets an order error. Out of inventory items show as grayed out or not appear at all for online orders. The last comment regards BOGO coupons. The $ discounted include any upgrades to the order rather than just the base items discount. For example, a person purchasing a sandwich and soup and a bogo sandwich will get a discount equal to the sandwich and soup not only the sandwich. We’ve been unable to use the BOGO discount at all because of this problem.Overall we are happy with the decision to purchase Toast and hope that the minor issues above can be resolved.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Lena’s Cafe
I am considering toast and I use valutec for gift cards as well. I would love to hear how you feel about Toast since your review. Thanks
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
We were excited about partnering with Toast for our POS system, and invested over $25,000 with this company. We use 5 terminals, 4 Kitchen displays, their integrated online ordering, and their integrated loyalty program. In the beginning we had several issues with the system when it was installed. Their local installers were great, however there was little they could do to resolve the software issues. Apparently the Epson printers sold to us by Toast conflicted with their software. This took weeks to resolve, but eventually did get resolved.In addition, their loyalty program has serious issues. So buyer beware. You are exposing yourself to confrontations with your customers if you sign up for it (which costs extra) and then advertise it to your guests. People don’t get the emails, you can enter a valid email, but it says the email it not valid, you can’t link multiple credit cards to one loyalty account properly (and as we all know many people carry more than 1 credit card), clicking on the already registered button and entering your email doesn’t get you the points, even though it says you go them. There is no way this company hasn’t been aware of these issues or has spent time the amble time trying to resolve them because likely it’s an add on that many of their restaurants don’t pay for, so they put their resources elsewhere. This is a serious issue for your company as if you tell your guests that they are getting something and they are in fact not getting it, you are breaking the law. The stands for the 15″ screens are also very flimsy and poorly designed. Due to weight, they fall over because the rubber feet they provide to you do not stick properly to your countertops. It’s very badly design. We have customers freak out when they choose to flip the screen back to our employee after they sign for their purchase and the the screens fall over onto the counter. For the most part, the ordering side of the system works for our cafe. They are not really set up properly for counter ordering. It is more designed for servers taking orders at tables. So consider that when you are deciding to make this large investment. There are definitely other systems on the market that you should look at and consider.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Easy to use but tough to update and do deep copy of menu
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
This POS system has been great to me in almost a year using it.. Its very user friendly and comes with some top notch features. Offline Mode pays our Toast Monthly bill as we are able to capture payments even without internet. Also the idea of been on Cloud Technology helps a lot.Make my day to day easy, I recommended
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Toast is ahead of the game in many ways compared to a lot of out-dated POS systems. They are constantly reinventing ways to stay ahead of the tech world in hospitality. Keep it up Toast!
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We have been using Toast since December 2015. The staff is friendly and they’re customer service has always been outstanding. I also love the ease of the reporting. My only complaint would be that there needs to be more in-house support at the beginning of the launch. I am lucky enough to have my son on sight who used to do IT work and if it weren’t for him, I can see where there could have been problems. You just need to take some time to learn the system. Otherwise, great job…we’ll continue to use Toast.
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We’ve had Toast for just a few months but we love it. The customer service is prompt and friendly. Tech support is very helpful. One of the big selling points for us was that we can have digital gift cards that will work at both of our locations which is something that our old system didn’t offer. Also for me as the admin, I love that I can control pricing, check reports, and add and edit menu items from my computer. The Quick Edit feature is a great option. Just today, in between serving customers, we were able to add a button on the menu for a double cheeseburger (something we’ve been meaning to do but kept forgetting about). All in all this is a great system and we are very pleased.
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No review.
Prospective client
Can screens be shifted to a second language in particular chinese
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
We have been using this system for just under a year, and it has made our lives so much easier. I enjoy that I can upload something to the tablets in a few clicks, I can make changes to pricing and availability and offerings from anywhere. I shopped other systems before settling on Toast, and I find that this is absolutely the one for us. I stumbled upon them on accident, and it was the best accident ever. We came from a cash register and CC machine, and now everything is integrated– it’s a breeze. This is hardwired, but also has an internal memory, so if the connection goes down, you can keep ringing and when it comes online again, all the transactions will be pulled into the system like nothing ever happened. Totally worth it!
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Toast is heading in the right direction but it’s still far from a robust POS for a full-service restaurant. Courses are strangely handled, you cannot track when a course was fired, there is no wine BIN system, and the fast bar screen is far to be desired. We are going to stick with them because they are willing to find ‘work arounds’ but they are not ready for prime time just yet.
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Our brand (Costa Vida) has over 60 locations using Toast and it has been a great POS solution for us. The support has been outstanding and there is a high level of care shown whenever we have had an issue. The main reasons we chose Toast was it’s processing speed and ease to learn. When we bring on new cashiers they learn the system quickly and are fully proficient in a short amount of time. I have personally recommended Toast to several of my friends that operate restaurant brands.
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I work with the Que’s Brothers BBQ in Marion and we checked out several different POS Systems but felt that Toast was a good fit with us. They were able to come and spend more time than most to help us to be up and running. They came to our soft and hard opening to help the servers work through any problems they have with the program and to make sure they understood everything. We can call and talk to someone right away if we do have any software questions or issues. They definitely seem to care more than most.
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We’ve had Toast for over a year and could not be happier. We never planned on switching from our old POS but after seeing a presentation of Toast we were blown away by the possibilities. Toast has increased our efficiency immensely which shows in our sales. We recently had over 10,000 people for our annual St. Patrick’s Day Street Event. We’ve always been pleased at how easily it handles our volume, but wow, it ran smoothly and effortlessly all day long! We had 17 handhelds running and 5 terminals! We cannot say enough good things about Toast! We learn new things every day that increase our productivity! Highly recommend!
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We brought Toast in to our restaurant in January of 2017. We switched from Micros. Toast has been everything we were hoping for and more! We love how easy it is to use. Our staff picked up on it quickly and have been able to train incoming staff easily. As managers, the back office is simple to understand and use as well. We have had no major issues since the switch and the Toast team helped to ensure a smooth transition. We are looking forward to putting Toast into our new restaurant opening next spring!
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How would you compare it to Micros? What would you say distinguishes Toast from Micros?
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I have previously worked with both Aloha & Micros. Toast is a HUGE contender with those power houses in the POS world!Pros: I really like the ease of use behind the software. There is still opportunities to expand the functionality, but overall it is great. They are constantly pushing updates, we have had 4 since we started using the system.Cons: The “versioning” of the menus is a bit of a task and naming “flow” is flawed. It has been since we started using the product 6 months ago. They advised they are aware of the issue, but it still hasn’t been resolved.Overall: When we contemplating switching to Toast, I was on a mission to prove it wouldn’t work in a full service restaurant. I was wrong. I fell in love with the ease of use behind the system and the overall functionality of it. The only struggle I have had to date is with the support. We use their Master Menu Management functions and most of the tech’s that answer the calls are not able to answer those questions and have to refer my questions, up the chain. — They are making a lot of changes to correct this issue, but I would be remiss not to mention it.
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Great system, very innovative. Few kinks, but fast working team and updating software spells success for this POS. Very customer friendly, efficient for the staff as well. Thanks for making work easier!
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toast has been great for my business. i used to have two separate pos companies one for the in shop and on for online ordering. with toast i have both for a fraction of the price. it’s accounting and end of day reports have been a life saver and i can already see money popping up! i would recommend this pos to anyone who owns a restaurant. it’s so simple to use!
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Best Pos i’ve used yet, user friendly with great tool to develop new and existing employees! tons and tons of training info on their website, good job guys!!
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We have a small Cafe. I am looking at a Toast proposal where it is impossible not to notice that Toast is asking me to pay 50% higher than my current card processor charges. Seems Shady to call that a Meet or Beat. We have had Micros for 10 years and I assumed I could not pay more than what we paid now!I recommended to my boss that we look at solutions that have more track record.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Hi Tom,
Did our analysts have an opportunity to review two months of recent statements to calculate a rate match? I’ve worked at Toast for 18 months and have learned a lot about processing and CC rates from our team, and we can only be sure to match or beat a rate if we can see what your current processing costs are. Does your current processor use an interchange + model? Since Toast processes on a flat rate, our analysts will calculate your effective rate and back into it so you will pay an equal or lesser amount with Toast as your new processor. Your sales rep should be able to dive into this further.
Here is a blog post about processing to help you calculate your true rate: https://pos.toasttab.com/blog/how-credit-card-processing-works-plus-calculator
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Toast was a no brainer. The ease of use, e gift cards, on line ordering capabilities and finger signature were among about 20 reasons we went with Toast!
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Thank you so much for your review, Mike! It’s great to hear that our digital gift cards, integrated online ordering module, and e-signatures attracted you to Toast.
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Organization Name: Boss Lady Pizza
Sure, e-gift cards are great until you realize they cannot be redeemed on Toast Online Ordering (which is Toast’s *own* online ordering platform. That’s right, they do not accept their own-issued gift cards online. It’s now 2019, this is completely unacceptable and infuriates our customers!
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Toast has been great to my 5 restaurants. Its very user friendly and comes with some top notch features. Offline Mode pays our Toast Monthly bill as we are able to capture payments even without internet. Looking forward to adding the customer Kiosks here shortly. People are friendly and very knowledgeable. If you make the switch, make sure to ask for Marrisa as your project engineer. She is amazing!! Great experience thus far!!
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Is Toast EMV ready?
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Hi Becky,
Yes, Toast is EMV-compliant.
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Organization Name: T's Rockin Roadhouse
NOT TRUE!!!!!!
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Hi Tammy,
Thank you for writing. In response to your comment, we have reached out to Toast to see if the status of their EMV compliance has changed. They have confirmed that they are, in fact, EMV compliant. If you’re running into trouble I’d suggest reaching out to them directly for help. Our experience with their customer service has been excellent; I hope the same is true for you. Best of luck!
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Toast is not fully EMV compliant. The terminals can now finally ( 2 yrs after liability shift) compliant. Unfortunately their tablets are not and I gather won’t be for at least another 6 months.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Thank you very much for your review, Jon! We’re happy to hear that Toast has benefitted your multi-location restaurant chain, especially with our Offline Mode. Excited for you to implement our kiosks in your restaurant. Marissa is great! We’re grateful to have customers like you, Jon.
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It’s one of the easiest, convenient, and intuitive interfaces we’ve used. Our guests love it and it has helped us in so many different ways!
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Thanks you so much for your comment, Jazmin! We’re happy to hear that your guests are loving Toast. We appreciate everything you do for us.
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I moved our restaurant from Aldelo to Toast, and I’ve found it to be a Very Good Decision.Competitive processing rate, excellent customization, great integrated online ordering, cloud-based reporting so I can take care of all kinds of tasks from anywhere I have internet, and the list goes on. I’ve recommended it to many restaurants and will continue to!
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Thanks very much for the comment, Jack. Your team has done some very cool things with Toast. We’re grateful to have you as a reference!
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Hi Julie,
I enjoyed reading your post, very informative.
Cheers to you!
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Absolutely, Toast can be setup in many languages, Chinese is an option. However, be mindful that we do not have 24/7 support in Chinese, yet.
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Good Review, but Julia hit on a key point.
I just got off the Visa website and Toast Payment Processing is not there. So this makes me wonder if they pushed the product to market and sacrificed the P2P Encryption. There are major software companies still waiting on that certification, so how was Toast able to cut in line.
If its not secure, then who’s responsible? I bet there contract has a hold harmless on merchant services..
Dave Miller
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Hi David – Toast is in fact registered as a service provider with Visa.
Here’s a link to the Toast certification:
http://www.visa.com/splisting/viewSPDetail.do?coName=Toast%2C%20Inc&HeadCountryList=U.S.A.&pageInfo=1%3B30%3BASC%3BcoName
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Kendal, what does that registration on Visa mean? registered to do what?
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Beware of any POS system who “forces” a merchant to use their credit card processing. They’re almost always a scam (especially if up front costs are low), and now you’ve lost flexibility and are locked into two entities. Sign on for the Gift Card program, too, and you might as well throw away the key.
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Julie–Great review. I work with companies of all sizes and recently engaged with a client opening up a chain of Italian restaurants. We are building the new website to integrate the online ordering connected to a POS system, however helping them find a viable POS product that meets their requirements has been challenging. Your review of Toast really helped with my recommendations but I would like to know if there is an updated on your following statement since we need an open API to brand the online menu page the same as the rest of the website. “Toast does have an open API as well (which allows you to develop your own add-ons) but it is not currently available to all Toast users. This will be changing shortly, so stay tuned.”
Nathan
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Hello Nathan,
Thank you for the kind remarks. We asked Toast about their API and they said that it is essentially opened on a per-case basis. You can request to build an integration and if they agree to move forward, they’ll open the API to you.
Hope this helps.
Best,
Jordan
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Hi Nathan,
I work at Toast, and earlier this month, we did a Press Release announcing our first batch of partners using our API: https://pos.toasttab.com/press/api-partner-program.
For the most up to date information, this page (https://pos.toasttab.com/integrations) will be kept up to date. If you are interested in using a service that is not on this list, let your sales rep know, and we’d like to speak with them.
Derek
Product Specialist, Toast
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Excellent review of Toast. I am a POS vendor involved with retail mail and parcel stores. I am always leary of POS software that requires the end-user to use their payment processing. Your remarks on this are spot-on, especially on the whole “meet or beat” gimmick.
Rick Ives
OLSON & IVES
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.