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

As far as POS systems go, Toast is very user-friendly and highly customizable to your restaurant, bar, or venue. It is easy to set up and when changes need to be made, they are easy to do.

Cons

If you need customer support to resolve an issue, help with a feature you may be unfamiliar with or network support, Toast is very weak in this area. The customer service reps have minimal knowledge and are running off a script with no actual knowledge of the product. In the event they need to "escalate" your issue, the call is over at that point. The ability to speak with someone with the knowledge to help you with your issue promptly is practically non-existent. DO NOT use Toast Payroll services. They greatly messed up on tax reporting and nearly caused a significant increase in our IRS fees due to their incompetence.

Pros

It was supposed ti be easy. It is not for a small business. Be ready to be a full tech ex0ert with zero help.

Cons

I gave a rep a low review. They took me off my account and I could not access my own business for more than 20 hours. I was on the phone for 34 minutes and not one person could figure out how to reinstate my account. But you better know they still charged my account even though I had zero access. This was live during my business hours. Toast admitted it was their own employee who did this. I'm going to keep posting this for every small business owner to see. We cannot allow these tech companies this power.

Pros

Very easy to use, awesome user interface, very helpful customer support. Toast POS is great in almost every way!

Cons

Constant updates can cause confusion when menus and their items randomly move around sometimes. Some processes are complicated and difficult to understand or remember.

Pros

Toast is the easies POS to use from front end to back end. They are the most compatible POS company for restaurants that I've had the experience working with.

Cons

Toast is growing fast and does seem to make some changes before doing any user research to see how the changes will affect the users who interact with it most. I'm happy to see them grow, but don't lose the user friendliness we all know and love!

Pros

Working with toast on the set up was great and easy. As we have grown their support has been solid. Not like other POS we have used in the past.

Cons

Reporting is eh and needs work...mostly data is there, just not obvious how to get what you need and they have to data dump and email it. Also, menus for serving customers can get a little much drilling sometimes 2-3 levels deep to do an 8 oz brown ale.

Alternatives Considered

Square Point of Sale and Clover

Reasons for Choosing Toast POS

It was too basic and lacking. Was good for a first year brewpub but as we grew, it did not.

Switched From

Lightspeed Restaurant

Reasons for Switching to Toast POS

Better support upfront making the decision, price was fair, and cc pro fees were good.,

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

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

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

Very easy to use and make on the fly changes

Cons

The constant Nickel & Dimming! I have multiple restaurants and its so frustrating that each one has different pricing. I have had toast for over 5 years now and it constantly has changed so much so fast that the customer service line employees have no idea how to get things done. If you power on and off and it does not work you will have to wait for someone to call you back that has higher credentials.

Also I have had their special router go out 2x now (funny just a week after warranty both times) and my restaurant could no longer use the POS and they could care less. Its been 1 week and still no replacement. Such a shame their customer service is so bad and it just feels like a money grab at times.

Alternatives Considered

Square Point of Sale

Reasons for Switching to Toast POS

AT the time it was the only POS that could continue to accept CC when the internet went down. Now that many offers this, we are currently looking at other alternative companies.

Pros

Affordable
Customer facing customization

Cons

1. Their technical support is AWFUL. Every time we have a major support issue- now only does it take them DAYS to respond via email, but they almost always find a way to deflect the blame.
2. You cannot process voids or refunds properly through the system. We have tried countless times to do this, only to have the ticket not void, causing the customer to file for a chargeback. Keep in mind, TOAST charges you a fee every time they have to refund a customer via a chargeback claim.
3. For TWO YEARS now, our delivery receipts keep printing to our self-ordering kiosk's printer instead of our cashier facing printer. TWO YEARS!
4. Every single time they do an update on their system, it almost always crashes, freezes, or goes offline, causing our employees to freak out when they can't get it back up and running.
5. Despite us paying a premium for our monthly subscription, they still cannot get the gift card or loyalty reward program working properly.
6. We have our delivery zone set to a certain zip code, yet we still receive orders outside of this zip code, causing customers to get upset with us.

Overall, from a price point, with how much your monthly subscription will run you and the amount of headaches and acid reflux you will deal with- it's not worth it. Go with Revel or Clover. Pass on this. You end up paying more in lost time, chargeback fees, and waste money on a subscription that doesn't even provide you with enough support.

Alternatives Considered

Clover and Revel Systems

Reasons for Switching to Toast POS

The price was more affordable and they gave us a discount.

Pros

Self-Install was a little bit complicated but Toast Support was very helpful. The interface is very intuitive and overall simple to follow and teach. Some financial reports don;t show exactly what we'd like, but Toast Support is helping us create custom reports for everything we need.

Cons

Setting up the menu and revenue centers, especially chaging the revenue centers has been less simple than I'd like.

Pros

L working with many payroll systems over the years, this system is by far the best! The amount of features and levels are extensive. As I go through Toast, I learn more everyday the capabilities available.

Cons

I would like to see a more set procedure for private events and private dinning for the restaurant.

Alternatives Considered

Aloha EPOS

Reasons for Switching to Toast POS

Toast is completely integrated and provides more features.

Pros

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

Cons

*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.

Pros

The online access is the most important. Being able to make changes in real time with no service interruptions.

Cons

I wish I could process payments for customers on the desktop version. Same for gift cards sales.

Alternatives Considered

Square Point of Sale

Pros

The UI is pretty intuitive and the reporting is very solid.

Cons

It failed constantly. They're charging me anyway.

Pros

User friendly! Customer service and software is up to current.

Cons

That it's still in the building blocks stages and it's not 100% full proof when integrated with third party deliveries. It will unarchive old data daily. One has to be very dedicated to this position to make it work!

Alternatives Considered

iCloud

Pros

That is super user friendly. Fast and overall a great system. Seriously aside from what I write in the CON section. Toast REALLY is the best software POS system I have worked with. Hands down.

Cons

The credit card processing fees they initially promise you they can match your current rates which they DO NOT its a LIE. Then customer service never gets back to you or passes you on to someone else then someone else and someone else. Never follow through with their promises and never can get ahold of your sales rep and he doesn't reply or follow through when you finally do get him on phone. Beware they will not match your credit card rate like they promise you. They will overcharge you if you don't watch exactly what they are taking out of you bank account. You will get charged for modules they say they will " give you for x amount of months free" and then continue getting charged and have to wait months and months and make a million phone calls to try and get your money back for 'free trials they charged you for and your money back for when you told them you didn't want them at all after "free trail" and they continue charging you. Biggest advice is get your credit card rates in clear upfront writing and sit down and figure it out. Make sure they are not screwing you. Because its not only happened to us but several other businesses.

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

I was hired to help customize, train, and implement this new software at a friends restaurant. I have worked with a few different POS systems and this was by far the most user friendly. Easy to customize their menus and check preferences. Easy to update if we figured out how we originally entered in an item needed to be changed. Cloud based so when not on sight I was able to fix remotely when not at the restaurant. Also the handheld option is great for taking orders and splitting checks on the fly. Also were able to implement gift cards with the new system.

Cons

No real cons. The only downside was the initial few days after switching for the staff to get used to it.

Pros

User friendly and efficient. That pretty much sums it up but they said my response was too short.

Cons

Many additional charges after purchase
Reports cannot be easily pulled for long date ranges
LACKING IN CUSTOMER SUPPORT

Alternatives Considered

Clover

Switched From

Aloha Cloud and POSitouch

Reasons for Switching to Toast POS

Price point and referral

Pros

The analytics and reporting are fantastic. Getting Toast go's for your servers allowed me to cut back on server staff and the servers make more money because they can turn 3 times as many tables

Cons

Their set up map for delivery is garbage, if you plan on having delivery go with a different system. They have been telling me for 3 years they are going to upgrade and instead we have 3rd party integration with delivery services which are way over priced.

Pros

Toast is a simple to use and even easier to train POS platform for all restaurants. Setting up menus and editing are both quick and easy and can be done for multiple restaurants at the same time.

Cons

Some of the reports have a time constant that you can run them for, like 6 months, would prefer to be able to run full year sales reports or more if needed.

Pros

We love Toast and its modern/easy to use setup. It is very easy for both our employees and customers to utilize. We love the online ordering features, the terminal setup and the customer service.

Cons

We are always left disappointed with the processing fees for credit cards. We wish we could price compare. This makes the system more expensive than it initially seems.