Toast POS: Best Restaurant POS System

Toast offers tons of advanced features that can be added to your POS in various ways. Some add-ons require additional monthly fees (many of which are custom-quoted), while others can be added by increasing your processing rate.

Toast PayCard lets employees access their wages as soon as you make them available via a PayOut. (Source: Toast)

For example, Toast offers a Restaurant Basics package that includes employee scheduling, payroll, 401(k) management, and Toast PayCard features. This is available for $100 to $140 per month, plus $4 per employee. On the flip side, Starter subscribers can add the Digital Ordering and Marketing Suite—which includes online ordering, loyalty, email marketing, and gift cards—for an additional 0.40% on processing fees.

Monthly fees for Toast’s various add-ons are listed below. Though, in our experience, when you add several modules, Toast will offer a package discount. These prices are more of a jumping-off point; if you worry that it might get too expensive for you, reach out to Toast for a custom quote.

Toast Add-on Software Monthly Fees

Toast’s POS hardware is industry-grade and IP-rated to withstand steam and dust intrusion. The handheld terminals are also drop-tested to withstand a high-volume restaurant environment.

You can get countertop and handheld terminals for no upfront cost if you are willing to pay slightly higher transaction fees. Toast lists its hardware options and pricing transparently on its online store so you can customize your hardware configuration before committing. For restaurants on a budget, Toast also offers a unique Starter Kit option.

Toast Starter Kit

Toast’s Starter Kit hardware option is available for Starter POS users and can be applied to up to two terminals. The Starter Kit bundles both software and hardware, plus Toast payment processing. It offers pay-as-you-go and standard paid plans, in which you can choose between a zero upfront cost with a higher payment processing fee or a $799 upfront cost and $69 monthly software subscription with standard transaction rates. Both options will tie you to Toast’s standard two-year contract.

Prices listed reflect pricing at the time of publication. For current pricing, contact Toast.

The upfront cost is for the hardware kit bundle, which includes a Toast POS Flex terminal, Toast Tap payment device, and router. The card-present and card-not-present transaction rate for the pay-as-you-go plan is included in the platform rate. The standard paid plan subscription can be billed monthly or annually. The pay-as-you-go option allows you to pay for your kit as a percentage of your sales.

Toast also offers pay-as-you-go options for the popular Toast Go 2 handheld devices. Additional hardware options include:

• Toast Terminals
• Toast Peripherals

Countertop Terminal Starter Kit	Self-service Kiosk	Handheld Terminal Starter Kit
Pay upfront: $799 + $69 per month Or Pay-As-You-Go: $0 and 2.99% + 15 cents per in person transaction	Pay upfront: $999 + $99 per month Or Pay-as-you-Go: $0 and 2.99% + 15 cents per in-person transaction	Pay upfront: $609 + $69 per month Or Pay-as-You-Go: $0 and 2.99% + 15 cents per in-person transaction
Countertop Terminal, Toast Tap card reader, Router	Touch-screen kiosk with router and card reader	Toast Go 2 order and payment device, Wireless Access Point, Router
Purchase from Toast

Kitchen Display System	Toast Printer	Epson Printer
$499 + $25 per month	$199	$333
Touch-screen KDS Screen	Toast-branded thermal receipt printer	Epson TM- L90 Thermal label printer
Purchase from Toast

Toast’s comprehensive Payroll and Team Management module is the best workforce management available in a restaurant POS. It is available as an optional add-on at a custom-quoted price.

Toast includes tools for:

• Compliance checks: Automatically calculate tip make-up amounts when tipped staff fall short of local minimum wage and track breaks where required by state law.
• Scheduling: Build schedules and send them to employee smartphones directly from your back office dashboard.
• HR Hub: Electronically onboard new hires for paperwork such as W-2s and payroll enrollment.
• Regulation updates: Toast will update with local prevailing wage and labor laws based on your address.
• Tips: Set up tip calculations in Toast, bulk import pooled tips via a .csv file, or manage complex tip pools and send tips directly to payroll.

This add-on acts as a full-spectrum human resources tool, allowing you to onboard new employees digitally and even auto-calculate additional wages required for restaurants that take a tip credit. The module is updated with the relevant labor laws based on your location, helping you comply with regulations like California’s meal break requirements and New York’s Spread of Hours law.

Toast Payroll and Team Management seamlessly syncs your time clock to your payroll system. (Source: Toast)

Toast Payroll users gain some additional tip management tools, though. With the Toast Payroll module, you can create and manage complex tip pools for various parts of your restaurant, calculate the tips for a specific shift, and immediately report those tips to payroll so they appear on tipped employees’ payroll checks.

At the time of this writing, users could add Toast Payroll and Workforce management tools for $110 per month, plus $4 per employee. That price can change at any time at Toast’s sole discretion (the highest we’ve seen for these tools is $140 per month), so you should reach out to Toast for the most current price.

Toast’s Payroll module includes tools for managing complex tip pools. (Source: Toast)

Toast’s baseline employee management options are substantial, even without the Payroll and Team Management module. The system can still act as your time clock, and you can configure tip percentages by role, hours worked, or a percentage of sales, then print the expected tips on server and bartender shift reports, so they are transparent. The system further allows negative tip reporting, so servers and bartenders are not taxed money they tip out.

Toast’s digital ordering system is one of the most user-friendly tools available. Toast Online Ordering lets customers place takeout and delivery orders from your website, the Toast TakeOut website, or the Toast TakeOut mobile aggregating app. You get the bonus of commission-free online orders along with the marketing boost that a third-party aggregating site offers. Customers can schedule future orders, and you can track order status in real time.

Toast’s digital ordering features include:

• Online and mobile app ordering
• QR code orders and payments
• Traffic control; throttle digital orders off when your kitchen is busy
• Centralized inventory that syncs in real time, so you never sell 86’d items

Adding Toast Online Ordering allows customers to order from your restaurant through the Toast TakeOut smartphone app. (Source: Toast)

Toast Online Ordering is the foundation for Toast’s QR code order and payment tool. You can create a QR code for counter-style quick service or for individual tables in a full-service restaurant. Many full-service restaurant Toast users use the QR code tools in conjunction with Toast Go 2 handheld terminals to reduce floor staff while simultaneously increasing sales. Toast’s internal research indicates that this combination can increase check size by 15% and increase staff wages by 20% to 30%.

Toast’s delivery management tools are incredibly flexible and effective. It supports three options for delivery management: Toast Delivery Mode, Toast Delivery Services, and third-party delivery integrations. Toast Delivery Mode includes basic tools for establishing a delivery area and managing drivers. It stops just short of maps-based driver dispatch, but if you want the Uber-like ability to see your drivers in real time, you can add a ShipDay integration to get live driver tracking and automated route optimization.

In Delivery Mode, Toast users can create a custom delivery area. (Source: Toast)

Toast Delivery Services is a little different. It allows you to hail third-party drivers on demand. Instead of relying on a team of staff drivers, you direct the delivery task to DoorDash Drive drivers. You will only pay a flat fee per delivery—no commissions—and you can pay these fees yourself or pass them on to customers. You will still own all of your customer information. Toast does not charge monthly fees for Toast Delivery Services, the only costs are the delivery fees. Users will need to sign a separate contract with DoorDash to get started.

Once you sign a fulfillment contract with DoorDash, Toast and DoorDash will set up the Toast Delivery Services integration in your POS. (Source: Toast)

Lastly, you can choose to integrate directly with popular third-party ordering and delivery platforms like DoorDash, Grubhub, and UberEats. All of these platforms come with their own contracts and fees that vary based on your desired services. Toast does not charge an additional fee to integrate with these platforms. Users can receive orders from additional third-party platforms via integrations with Chowly and ItsaCheckmate. These middlemen aggregating apps come with their own monthly fees; you’ll need to contact each platform directly for current pricing.

Toast’s reporting module straddles the line between ease of use and customization. You can drill down for detailed information or stick to reading a simplified dashboard.

Reporting functions include:

• Flash reporting: Pull up real-time data to make informed decisions during service.
• Single reporting tier: All Toast subscriptions—even Starter subscriptions—include Toast’s comprehensive reports.
• Mobile availability: Accessible via any web-enabled device.
• Automated nightly reports: Auto-email nightly summary to all managers and owners.
• Taggable logs: The manager log can tag specific managers or check numbers referred to in the report.

Toast supports real-time flash reporting for labor and cost of goods sold (COGS), so you can adjust staff levels and sales strategies when they will make a difference to your bottom line. The Nightly Summary feature allows you to customize your nightly reports along with your manager log. Then you can automatically email the whole package to your management team at a set time. Even better? You can use “@” and “#” symbols to tag specific managers or check numbers where they are relevant so everyone stays on the same page.

You can tag managers and link to check numbers in Toast’s Manager Log. (Source: Toast)

Toast reports cover everything from staff productivity to menu management. Adding optional modules like Toast Loyalty and the KDS unlock even more reporting functions, allowing you to track customer rewards and kitchen ticket times, for example.

Toast’s restaurant loyalty program offers a seamless and personalized way of building guest loyalty. Guests can sign up at the point of checkout, and points can be directly linked to their credit card so there’s no need to carry a loyalty card or sign in every time they visit. You can easily customize sign-up bonuses and set accrual and redemption rates, dollar-to-points exchange, and birthday rewards. This feature is available in Toast’s Custom subscription plan or as an add-on at $50 per month if you opt for a Starter Kit with a standard paid plan.

Toast’s built-in marketing tool includes customizable email templates to create tailored campaigns. (Source: Toast)

The Toast loyalty and marketing tools offer:

• Cardless loyalty: Credit card-linked rewards—no loyalty cards needed.
• Rewards lookup: Includes a rewards lookup tool so your guests can check their points at any time.
• Customizable templates: Design and automate email campaigns.
• Personalized messages: Create tailored messages based on your customer’s purchase history.
• Metrics: Track your email campaign performance with clear reporting and analytics.

You can leverage your customer data by adding the Toast Email Marketing module. Email Marketing is a built-in feature that directly integrates with your Toast POS system. This means you get to build your email list, run your marketing campaign and measure its performance, straight out of your POS platform. Toast Email Marketing is included in the Custom subscription plan, can be added onto a Starter plan for $75 per month, or can be added by increasing your processing fees by 0.40%.