Toast POS

Compared to POS systems I've used in the past, Toast is a lifesaver! It has tremendously improved efficiency and flow of our Taproom. We now have the ability to swipe a card and store credit card information; which is a huge benefit for those of us in co-op spaces. Although they look bulky, their handhelds fit into your back pocket and allow us to close tabs out table side. They are shock and water resistant, plus you can log into more than one device at the same time so if you're working alone, you can close out multiple parties at once. As a GM, I'm grateful that Toast is not only cloud-based, but allows me to access the back end from my laptop or smart phone so I don't have to be onsite to make system changes. Updates are incredibly quick so there's not a ton of down time. There is also Toast Central, where you can troubleshoot issues yourself rather rather than immediately calling Support. They are helpful instructions with screenshots and videos.

Customer Support is hit or miss. I always get an answer, it's just a matter of when I get it. After hours and on weekends, I feel like their staffing is very limited which leads to delays in getting immediate help. Thankfully it's only happened once where I needed a quick answer and wasn't able to get it.

I love that Toast supports their product. You can call and get someone on the line that will help you answer your questions. They also provide the hardware necessary to run their software. They are constantly updating their software to meet the needs of their users and are staying current with the technology. One option that is particularly useful to us is printing individual labels for each shake. In other words, we could have a bus of individuals come to our restaurant, and we need to print individual labels on each shake to identify what is in the shake so that it gets to the right person. In the past, we had to individually write on each cup.

The most difficult part to swallow is the fact that you have a monthly payment for the software--even if you are a seasonal business and only open for less than half the year. Toast will make some concessions for that, but it still seems costly since our other solution we used was free and pretty much did everything we needed short of printing individual labels for the shakes.

*user friendly
*online reporting accessible from anywhere
*online food ordering
*easy to add menu items

*excessive hold times to reach support, ie: more than one hour and no way to email support anymore (as was the previous system.)
*no way to reach support via email, even when Toast emails a restaurant, the restaurant can't reply because the email gets bounced back...instead you have to get off email, find a computer, log in and navigate to support, find the case and respond there. This is a big problem when managers are not on site at the restaurant but still managing a support issue.
*support cases opened on their online platform are not addressed and no one calls restaurant to resolve
*No way to email a receipt to a guest until AFTER they have paid and the transaction is over...a big problem for CATERING needing preapproval.
*Upsell feature with online ordering has Toast making strange pairings. For example, the restaurant guest orders a breakfast sandwich and Toast suggest an upsell of a bottle of salad dressing (instead of a breakfast side)! Only Toast can control the upsell so the restaurant can't promote the items it wants to promote.
*Handheld device does NOT support ApplePay.
*ApplePay on POS terminal is additional. Actually, a lot of things with Toast cost more money than what sales tells you up front.
*No way to comp a gift card online and email it to a guest from Toast Central online.
*No way to offer a promo code on your online gift card sales....like during the holidays when you want to offer gift cards for a certain percentage off the regular price.