Toast POS Reviews

Pros

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.

Cons

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.

Alternatives Considered

Aloha EPOS

Reasons for Choosing Toast POS

The main reason was functionality. TouchBistro required us to use card readers attached to iPads, but finding iPad protectors that would allow enough room for the card readers was extremely difficult. I also had to be onsite to make any changes to the back end which was extremely inconvenient.

Switched From

TouchBistro

Reasons for Switching to Toast POS

While it has a lot of features, we couldn't justify the cost versus the features we would actually be using. Since we don't have a kitchen in our Taproom, we didn't need the inventory and recipe features that make Aloha a standard in our industry.

Pros

I have been using restaurant POS for over 20 years and Toast has shown itself to be one of the best on the market. It is so user-friendly and easy to work in, including the handhelds, that it's amazing. In training new teams they offer a great program and support team. The layout is ideal for high-volume. Reporting is excellent. I refer Toast to most of our clients.

Cons

As with any new system you install, there will be issues and "clunks." Toast is no exception. The worst was the display screen and the use of it on the line. If you do not set aside enough time to train, prior to opening or first use, it will be challenging to understand, especially if you are not used to systems other than tickets and calling out. It just takes time getting used to and working out the kinks upon install.

Alternatives Considered

CAKE POS, Aloha Cloud and Clover

Reasons for Choosing Toast POS

We needed to have a better system than the old one we were using, as in most places. Toast offered the package at a wonderful price and the system supports the costs.

Switched From

Aloha Cloud

Reasons for Switching to Toast POS

Price, support, system use

Pros

The ultimate decision of why Toast was because at the time they were one of the only POS that integrated well with third party deliveries For that functionality it has been great and done what we needed it to do included wrapping up our payroll and scheduling into one system.

Cons

A few things. Toast is extremely complicated to get set up for some reason. Unlike other POS systems we have used in the past they do there PCI compliance through a router rather than through there software. However, you can not use their router for regular internet usage so the restaurant needs static IPs, one for Toast, one for everything else. This has made it so our hardware/infrastructure is extremely complicated and every time we have an issue we have to get our ISP, Toast, and now a IT Consultant involved to solve issues. Very time intensive and expensive.

Second, when the system has a disruption or even if you want to make certain changes you have to be at the store using the terminals. The backend is pretty useless and as a owner that doesn't live by my store this is extremely frustrating. When speaking to the reps and going through the demos it is pitched as if you can run and correct items from your house but the reality is you can only do a handful of things that are not impactful. For example, when credit card processing goes down, which happens often with them for some reason, you then have to key in cards (which Toast then charges higher merchant fees to do this) and then you have to get to the store and either wait until your slow or closed to fix the issue for the next day. There is nothing you can do on the backend, customer service can't help you, nope you have to be physically present manually doing everything on your own time with maybe someone on the phone to assist you .

Alternatives Considered

Square Payments

Reasons for Switching to Toast POS

Attempt to integrate all third party delivery services and other items to have everything under one roof.

Pros

Toast is incredibly easy to use for the front of house, back of house, and the back office. The ease of reporting makes my life so much easier. Utilizing the handheld system helps my staff turn tables faster and make less mistakes.

Cons

We have a hard time integrating with InforHMS and sometimes the integration with Resy malfunctions. The system upgrades and there is no warning, which can be difficult to navigate at first.

Pros

Toast software works pretty well, and has a lot of integration partners which is nice for a growing small business who is looking to integrate several different tech options.

Cons

The "Support" or lack there of leaves much to be desired. When I call support often times I am teaching or coaching their support people on what the issue is or how to fix it. They often sound like they are reading solutinos from a flip book and many times the solutions offered are not for the problem I am describing. I have to repeat myself more than 4 or 5 times for them to understand what the issue is and even then, it is painful to get them to understand the problem and offer me appropriate support.Further, I recently had a support issue that I had to call and email about for 3 weeks straight every day in which they continued to offer no support and today told me they refused to send me to the integrations department because the problem I was experiencing was not a toast problem. Turns it is WAS. I have never been refused support before. Very dissapointed in their support or lack there of.

Alternatives Considered

Aloha Cloud, Clover and Olo

Reasons for Switching to Toast POS

Price, integration opportunities, growth potential, ease of use

Pros

The handheld device is nice, but i only ordered one, when i tried to send a second one back they told me to keep it, but still charged me for 2 ($100.00) month.

Cons

I was mislead by their sales team, it never felt right but i was sold on the 3rd party integration, once i found out they don't integrate, it took a month to find out the truth, but was still billed for things i didn't receive or use, even things like Caller ID (common 101 stuff with so called older POS companies) i understand they discontinued, but they still charged me for it, and refused to refund without a fight.Bottom line, this has been the single worst decision iv'e made as a small business owner, and it's not over yet, i'm still fighting to learn new system, a system i wish i never moved forward with. do your research, it's not always greener on the other side.If you're a huge company with multiple locations then Toast might work for you, you would also need to have a very small menu with very few modifiers for it to work and be worth it, but honestly after the huge expense monthly plus CC processing is it really worth it?

Alternatives Considered

Square Point of Sale

Reasons for Choosing Toast POS

I was under the impression they offered features that i found more valuable like 3rd Party Order Processing and Marketing, however by the time you add up all they have and charge you for it's 70% more than other companies, not to mention they don't actually offer things like 3rd party order integration, unless you use their drivers, that's not what i was told by sales team, now i'm stuck here, and they charged me fully right away and refused any refunds even though i did NOT get what i wanted, also charged me for Caller ID too which was new to they, they scrapped it after we went live, but still charged me and refused to refund.I wish Caller ID was the least of my problems.

Reasons for Switching to Toast POS

What they offered to do and integrate, but they failed to integrate what they said, but still charged 100% right away and refused any refund.

Pros

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.

Cons

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.

Alternatives Considered

Square for Retail

Reasons for Switching to Toast POS

We chose Toast over Square because of: 1. Dedicated support 2. Individual labels for each shake 3. Text notifications to customer when their food is done 4. More reliable KDS (Kitchen Display Systems) 5. Much larger and more functional KDS screens

Pros

How easy it is to set up and categorize. Also see sales report and track inventory.

Cons

When it freezes, glitches, or has an issue processing payments.

Pros

There are a lot of features and functionality with Toast, how to use them is another thing

Cons

Not very intuitive to use. Also i have not been able to get ahold of customer service

Pros

One stop shop plug and play solution! I was not interested in having to switch between systems and wanted easy reporting across the business.

Cons

Takes a while to learn all the functionality but worth it once learned. Although it’s not a problem with the software itself, either a better hard copy training manual or disk would be helpful.

Alternatives Considered

Aloha Cloud and Time Tracker

Reasons for Switching to Toast POS

More robust and offered more scale as we grow to keep everything on one platform.

Pros

The suite of features in the software make it easy to integrate into almost any restaurant environment. They have an excellent team to get you started and help you design your system to your specs. Email marketing and loyalty program have been great for us.

Cons

I am not very happy with the fact that we were forced to take on Toast as our payment processor! This is costing us way more in fees than my original "Interchange Plus" processing that I had through my bank. This is a little disconcerting and could add up to some major dollars in expense!

Alternatives Considered

Aloha Cloud

Reasons for Choosing Toast POS

NCR did not support my existing system any longer

Switched From

Aloha Cloud

Reasons for Switching to Toast POS

Cost and benefit analysis

Pros

I love how robust it is! The search bar feature at the top makes it easy to find what you are looking for in a platform that is really encompassing of any of our retail and restaurant POS needs. I also love Quick Edit and that people on the floor can make quick changes without relying on management to go into the back office.

Cons

I wish there were a mobile app that would allow me to quickly check sales instead of having to login through a browser.

Alternatives Considered

Square Point of Sale

Reasons for Choosing Toast POS

Terrible customer service, nonfunctioning online ordering, terrible loyalty program.

Switched From

Lightspeed Restaurant

Reasons for Switching to Toast POS

I like that they are based in Boston, close to where we are, and that there is a local rep who covers our area. The personal touch is huge.

Pros

Very feature rich with a robust online delivery platform that seamlessly integrates with the POS solution. Synchronization is almost immediate and we have seen a huge increase in online ordering already. The self service kiosk was easy to setup and has a great look and feel

Cons

Overwhelming and we have barely begun to turn on all the other features - customer loyalty, customer feedback, delivery and so on.

Alternatives Considered

Aloha Cloud, Revel Systems and Lightspeed Retail

Reasons for Choosing Toast POS

Looking for increased capabilities such as kds and better customer support

Switched From

Clover

Reasons for Switching to Toast POS

Lower TCO and features we were looking for. Also has a bigger footprint in our city

Pros

Online Ordering, reporting, ease of Menu updates, delivery by DoorDash… there is anything that I’m not impressed with.

Cons

Truly nothing… I absolutely love all the features that Toast offers

Alternatives Considered

Square Point of Sale

Reasons for Choosing Toast POS

Toast is way more technologically advanced

Switched From

HungerRush 360

Reasons for Switching to Toast POS

For a pizzeria it offered way more options… square just wasn’t as flexible with pizza combinations and delivery services

Pros

I love that i can change a button on a dime, update prices easily and the customer service is friendly to work with and always helpful.

Cons

I don't like that during a power outage that there isn't a battery backup on the system so my staff can still update their tips before the 4:00 am batch out time for credit card processing. We recently lost power for almost 48 hrs and we were open, there was not really any plan in place per Toast. We cant just not pay our staff their hard earned tips.

Alternatives Considered

1Breadcrumb

Reasons for Switching to Toast POS

its a better system, with better customer service.

Pros

I think it is very user friendly and creates easy to analyze data points.

Cons

I feel there are some aspects that can be very useful but without taking the time to become an expert I am probably not using it the most effectively. And time is hard to come by.

Alternatives Considered

Aloha Cloud

Reasons for Choosing Toast POS

We felt it was a bertter system and at the time the cost incentives were great!

Reasons for Switching to Toast POS

The sales rep did an excellent job of compelling us to choose Toast

Pros

Toast is a cloud based POS system. It is easy to use, pretty intuitive. It doesn't come with the baggage of the traditional old school proprietary systems. I've worked in restaurants for 30 years, and have worked with all sorts of POS systems. This one is pretty straight forward.

Cons

It would be nice to have an ON screen list of 86 items, so you can ensure buttons are reactivated in a timely manner. Also, we recently had a charge back due to someone using someone elses credit card through the online ordering platform. This is where a guest literally orders and pays from their computer or mobile device, so WE at the store level have absolutely no interaction with the guest. I just simply do not understand how the charge back for that fraud comes out of OUR pocket, when it was the POS that approved and allowed the transaction. This seems highly unfair. Every dollar counts. This was a big order too like $200. Might not seem like much, but when you're fighting and scraping to maximize your profits, it hurts.

Pros

The hardware is nice. Having a handheld order taker is very nice. Also saving some paper with people signing the handheld device, but there are some issues as well. If there is an issue, it is nice to have a US based support center..

Cons

Well, You can not add an auto charge of 3% if a person is using a credit card unless you manually add it, the kitchen display has glitches, an order with 5 things will send a text alert for each item rather than the entire order when finished. I was also promised that the credit cards would not cost more, they would match or beet what I had in the past, and that is not ringing true to the tune of around 100 ish a month.... Took 4 months to get someone to finally review the credit card charges only for him to “shine me on” which is frustrating to a business owner. I have also had a few extremely good feature requests that I know other restaurants would use, like using the hand held to present the final bill rather than printing a receipt... But honestly there is no way to know if anyone has herd you, if anything will happen or if anyone cares... Also you can’t have pictures in the POS.. having pictures as well as having descriptions and a recipe would be great.. but no options...

Pros

It initially fulfilled our need to have orders print out directly in kitchen and for system to integrate with delivery services and online ordering...

Cons

1) Overly complicated for our front of house management 2) Customer service is abysmal - there is allegedly a 24/7 help line, which is NOT always available. There have been times when we had major system issues during busy hours and had to leave message to wait for a callback. Unlike every other b-to-b service we use, they don't have dedicated customer reps - all the manpower is in sales, and once they've got you installed -- even before successful setup -- they drop you. Bait and switch. 3) Proprietary equipment is expensive and prone to errors/breakdown

Pros

Reports and analysis is so good and it's so user-friendly and so easy to learn and train for employees.

Cons

They are so busy when it comes to customer service but if you wait for them they definitely fix your issue but the problem is they're super busy for calls. But honestly for the past w years I had to call them like 2 times and the system worked so good all the time.

Alternatives Considered

Square Point of Sale

Reasons for Choosing Toast POS

Better options on toast

Switched From

Clovers

Reasons for Switching to Toast POS

Options and accuracy also the reports

Pros

Easy to train and use.Good reporting.Integrated timecard/payrollConnected to caller ID

Cons

They are charging OUR customers .99 per order for "online processing". We pay all their fees monthly and do not receive any benefit from this additional cost to OUR customers. This adds complaints from customers (justified), cuts into tips, and is a poor business practice that we can't opt out of. We didn't know they would/could do this to OUR customers. Need to shop around for new POS.

Pros

This software is incredibly user friendly. Anyone can learn how to use all the functions of Toast if they're willing to go through the plentiful help articles and/or watch the videos. Toast is easy to edit, easy to organize, and the app works much better than other mobile apps we've used for our coffee shop. The reporting options are very helpful, managing active employees, time entries, and menu organization is all very simple!

Cons

If I could change anything, it would be me to make absolutely everything 100% customizable. The only complaint I've ever had with Toast is there are a few things over the years we've wanted to tailor specifically for our business and its locations, but haven't had the ability via Toast. However, there are new features being added consistently, so I have no doubts that the Toast team is committed to making the software as best as it can possibly be.

Pros

Toast software is updated. Constantly, I find this refreshing and knowing that new features and securities are always top of mind from the engineers, we constantly submit future requests to help provide valuable input on the usefulness in the marketplace.

Cons

Often times, toast engineers, create features are pathways to solve issues, and Toast could do a better job at leading the operators know that these features exist, and the problem-solving is built-in

Alternatives Considered

Aloha Cloud, TouchBistro and SpotOn

Reasons for Choosing Toast POS

Functionality, reliability, and features

Reasons for Switching to Toast POS

Price features and trust

Pros

Great analytics but the on boarding and follow up customer service is embarrassing.

Cons

I've been trying to set up online ordering for weeks now. It's been counting a lot of problems because of the basic lack of customer support. They are responsive but spend a lot of time telling you how they understand where you're coming from without actually solving any problems. It got so ridiculous that I asked a basic question about how toast had approved a test transaction outside of the 5 mile delivery radius and what happens if a customer did this. The agent I was poking with actually told me that she didn't know what would happen, or even if those delivery services was functional right now. I asked her frank advice as to whether or not I could trust the system I if I turned it on and she said she didn't know. I was supposed to receive a follow up call from a manager this morning and have now been waiting by my phone for two hours past the appointed time. Also, I was actually charged a fee for setting up online ordering when I first got the system. Just embarrassing.

Pros

Toast has been a serious upgrade to our establishment. It is very user friendly and operates off a more "in the times" type of software than some other very outdated POS systems. All of their staff is friendly. The third party integrations are endless and offer something for all kinds of businesses. Online ordering and the ability to have an unofficial doordash partnership is very helpful and easy to use.

Cons

Support is not always the most efficient or informative. We often find where they simply cannot help us during odd inquiries or glitches, or we get multiple answers from different people. We also would like to see toast work on a table management and waitlist system that is actually functional for the restaurant. Currently, they offer third party table management integrations, but we have done trials with a few and none have quite what we are looking for.