Toast is a good system with a captive rate.
Toast built a genuinely strong restaurant platform. It also makes you process through Toast, at Toast's pricing, forever. That bundle is the business model. It's worth knowing about before you sign.
Compare against my real numbersWhere Toast shines
Restaurant feature depth
Online ordering, KDS, payroll add-ons. The platform is broad and polished.
Slick hardware
The handhelds and guest-facing screens are well designed.
Where the broker wins
Processing you can bid
Our restaurant systems are processor-agnostic. That means they're not locked to one processor. So the rate gets negotiated. Then re-negotiated later. And it's yours to move. Toast's rate is take it or leave the platform.
Dual pricing actually available
Fee-elimination programs need room to move the processing. Captive platforms don't give you that room. On our systems, the 3% can leave your P&L entirely.
Lower exit costs
Leaving Toast means replacing everything at once. Our setups keep the POS and the processing apart. Neither one holds the other hostage.
Local humans
Setup, training and support out of Federal Way. Not a national queue.
You can get the same restaurant features without the captive processing. Bid the rate. That's where the money is.
Fair questions
Is Toast's software better than what you carry?
It's competitive. So are KwickPOS and Paradise. Look at the features restaurants use daily. That means KDS, handhelds, online ordering and QR pay. The gap that matters is the processing model.
So what does Toast's processing cost?
Rates are quoted per merchant and not published, which tells you who holds the leverage. Bring a Toast quote or statement and we'll put it side by side with a bid.
Can I run dual pricing on Toast?
Toast runs its own processing stack. So a fee-elimination program can only go as far as Toast allows. Our systems aren't locked to one processor. On those, you get the whole program.
I'm mid-contract with Toast. Options?
Bring the contract to the consult. Sometimes the math says wait it out; sometimes the savings clear the exit cost quickly. We'll run it straight.