Toast is a comprehensive POS or point of sale solution for restaurants and other food businesses. It is a tablet and cloud-based software that offers a variety of tools such as takeout, delivery, online ordering, e-gift purchases and contactless payments. It offers restaurant management better visibility and control over their operations.
Restaurants can use the software to ensure their business performs smoothly. For example, if you own a full service seated restaurant, your waiters can use Toast for facilitating and managing orders. The software has a handheld tablet that servers can use for the diners’ orders and for the quick processing of payments.
Toast has functionalities that make payroll tasks simpler and easier to do. It also has a feature for splitting orders and customers’ bills. Toast also helps enhance the full operation of your restaurant by streamlining tasks and enhancing the overall customer experience.
Toast POS caters to various restaurant types such as casual dining, fine dining, bars and nightclubs, fast-casual and enterprises or restaurants with multiple branches and franchises.
Toast uses the Android operating system. It is packaged with essential hardware that includes a cash drawer, a magstripe card reader, a receipt printer and a kitchen display screen.
Toast Features
Toast has a lot of features and functionalities that make it one of the most comprehensive POS solutions in the market nowadays. Furthermore, Toast has both hardware and software features intended particularly for restaurants and food businesses.
Toast hardware was created to help your restaurant and food business function efficiently. It is hardware that’s made to fit any restaurant environment or theme. Primarily, it helps you manage all varieties of payments. You can tap, dip and swipe according to payment type.
The following are the different features of Toast hardware:
Toast Flex
This is a 14” screen/monitor that you can use for optimizing different workflows for ordering, waitstaff, and payment. Likewise, its touchscreen is spill-proof. Toast Flex’s G-Sensor-equipped screen can be flipped. Its height can also be adjusted and you can mount it, too, if you choose to do so.
Built specifically for restaurants, Toast Flex can help enhance and speed up your services. It also accepts all types of payments.
There is also a Toast Flex for Guest, which you can use for processing orders faster and for providing visibility to your guests—so they can see their orders facilitated in real-time.
Toast Flex for Kitchen, on the other hand, is for the kitchen staff and front of the house. It is intended to help ensure efficient kitchen tasks and workflows.
Toast Go
This is the handheld component of Toast, for restaurants that offer drive-through services. Toast Go allows you to offer convenience to your diners by offering pickup or curbside services. They won’t have to leave their cars and take out their credit cards when paying. You can simply bring the POS to them—whether they’re in the drive-through window or outside. You won’t even have to issue a printed receipt as you can conveniently issue a digital one.
Toast Go also allows your waitstaff to take table orders and immediately input them into the system. Toast Go technology will also allow you to keep accepting and managing payments even if your internet connection is interrupted or down.
Kiosk system
Toast POS’ Kiosk system is for self-service restaurants or dining places that offer self-service options. Guests can access the menu through a terminal or screen, so they can choose their orders properly. It’s an easy-to-use system that’s visually appealing—guests can see photos or images of the drinks and dishes. Likewise, they will also be notified when their orders are ready.
Kiosk also has a tip option displayed on the screen so customers won’t have to worry about it. They’ll even be provided the tip amount according to their purchase. Orders are also sent directly to the kitchen for better efficiency and delivery.
Toast tap
These are tools or hardware meant for seamless payment as well as for providing guests with a swipe, dip or tap-to-pay option.
Toast also provides many software features that can help with different parts and components of your restaurant business, including:
Point of sale
An efficient POS system that offers seamless and comprehensive restaurant management functionalities.
Toast Now
This is intended for managing e-gift cards and online orders. This is completely digital and does not require POS or hardware purchases.
Toast Takeout
This is Toast’s mobile ordering app for takeouts.
Online ordering
This feature gives your customers the convenience of placing their orders on your website—and using any device.
Toast Delivery services
Toast comes with an on-demand delivery feature. So when there are delivery orders, you won’t have to worry about looking for a driver.
Payroll & team management
Facilitating and managing the payroll will be easier and more efficient with the help of Toast’s payroll management feature. This will effectively cut off a lot of manual tasks and paperwork.
Email marketing
Toast comes with email marketing features, the better for you to connect and stay connected with your guests. This is an essential aspect of sales and marketing. Staying connected with your guests will help establish a solid customer-restaurant owner relationship.
Reporting & analytics
Toast provides you with metrics that give you insights into your business’ performance.
Inventory
Inventory management is one of the main functions of Toast. This feature allows you to efficiently control your inventory and ensure profitability.
Multi-location management
This feature allows you to follow a central standard for your business operations across all branches and locations.
Toast Benefits
Toast offers a multitude of benefits to restaurants and other food businesses, all of which are designed to make the management of your restaurants easier and more convenient. These include:
Easy-to-use, comprehensive solution
Toast covers all the essential aspects of managing a restaurant or food business. It’s an all-in-one system, which means you don’t have to look for other software or programs for a variety of tasks. It has everything you need.
Features that improve efficiency
All the features that Toast provides you with can help enhance not only the way you manage the restaurant but also improve the overall performance of your business.
Remote management of restaurants
You don’t have to worry about not being around all the time because you can access your management system anytime you need to. So even when you’re away, you can still coordinate with your staff and manage reports, menu modification and all other essential tasks.
Industry-specific solution
Toast was made specifically for restaurants and other food businesses. With this, you’re guaranteed that all features and functionalities will match your business’ needs and be catered towards exactly what you need.
Reliable customer service
Toast provides reliable customer support and service 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Time-saving solution
Since Toast integrates a variety of apps and it likewise automates functions, you’ll be able to save time and money. Instead of doing things manually, you can do everything on Toast, automatically.
Toast Pricing
Toast offers flexible pricing packages for restaurants and other food businesses.
The All-in-One Point of Sale package is the ideal option for those who want the complete POS platform. There are three plans to choose from; Starter Kit, Small-Medium Restaurants and Restaurant Groups.
If your restaurant has only one location and you want two terminals, the monthly fee starts at $999 plus $75. Along with the package, you’ll get the software, hardware, support and flat rate payment processing.
If you want to give gift or loyalty cards to your customers and if you prefer online ordering as an option for guests, you’ll have to be prepared to spend an additional amount.
The Small-Medium Restaurant package is ideal for restaurants that have up to ten branches or locations. For a monthly fee that starts at $1498 plus $75, you’ll get all the features and functionalities of the Starter Kit in addition to 0% interest financing.
You can also choose to include add-ons like kitchen operations, restaurant tech integrations, digital ordering suite and payroll and team management.
If your restaurant or food business has over 10 locations, you’ll have to avail of the Restaurant Groups package. This one comes with custom pricing though, which means your monthly fee will depend on the package that Toast will customize for your business.
Aside from the All-in-One Point of Sale plan, you can also choose to go with Toast’s Digital Ordering Solutions. This package does not require POS or any hardware. The goal of this plan is to set up your restaurant online. There are three packages to choose from; Digital Ordering, Full Suite and E-Gift Cards.
The Digital Ordering package is worth $50 a month and includes Toast Takeout, online ordering and contactless delivery.
If you want to complete the package, go for the Full Suite, which is priced at $75 per month. It comes with all the Digital Ordering package features plus e-gift cards.
Option number three is the E-Gift Cards package, which has a monthly fee of $25. Unlike the first two packages, however, this one only comes with one feature, e-gift cards.
Conclusion
Toast POS is a solid and comprehensive point of sale system that also provides a multitude of features and functions for effective and efficient restaurant management. It automates and centralizes the entire restaurant management process.
Toast provides an easy-to-use platform for users of all technical abilities whilst offering all of the features and functionalities required to effectively manage your restaurants.
