Toast Launches ToastIQ to Superpower the Future of Restaurants

First ToastIQ capabilities elevate service and marketing, equipping restaurants to help drive more revenue, improve decisions, operate more efficiently, and provide a differentiated guest experience 

BOSTON, MA - May 1, 2025 - Toast (NYSE: TOST) today introduces ToastIQ, an intelligence engine delivering timely prompts, personalized recommendations, and automated workflows designed to transform daily restaurant operations. Built natively into Toast’s end-to-end platform, ToastIQ draws on insights from millions of transactions and interactions across 130,000+ locations and fuses Toast’s deep hospitality expertise and integrated platform with AI, historical patterns, and proprietary insights. As it evolves, ToastIQ will enable every role—from server to general manager to chef—to operate faster, smarter, and more efficiently.

The first ToastIQ features are designed to elevate every server’s performance and streamline marketing efforts through intelligent, automated workflows. Menu Upsells, Shift at a Glance, and Digital Chits enhance service while AI-Marketing Assistant and Advertising simplify the process of attracting new guests and help foster long-term loyalty.

“Restaurants have a wealth of data available to help them optimize their business, but often don't have the time or training to interpret and act on it,” said Steve Fredette, President and Co-Founder at Toast. “Our vision for ToastIQ is to transform every role in the restaurant ecosystem with intelligent features, greater personalization, prompts, and shortcuts across our connected products—all driving toward outsized business outcomes. 

“Building ToastIQ required foundational advances in data architecture, AI, and on-device intelligence—purpose-built for the fast, complex nature of restaurant operations. From using AI models to streamline marketing plans, to syncing guest insights from reservations to handhelds in real time, to powering ROI-driven ad performance, ToastIQ brings intelligence into the flow of hospitality, service, and growth. This marks the beginning of a new stage of innovation where software evolves beyond a tool restaurant professionals use, into a partner that helps them elevate their craft.”

Deliver exceptional hospitality and increase average check size with new ToastIQ service features

ToastIQ enhances service with upsells, personalization, and in-the-moment information:

• Menu Upsells* prompt staff to suggest recommended additions to a guest's order. For example, an order of burger and fries can trigger the Menu Upsells feature to suggest upgrading to truffle fries—increasing check size and helping guests discover new menu items. Integrated into order-taking on Toast Go® handhelds and Toast terminals, Menu Upsells help ensure servers recommend upsells consistently. During one of the first weekends of early usage, Atlanta, GA cocktail bar and restaurant Wylie and Rum saw approximately a 6% increase in average order value.1
  
  

“With upsells, we can turn $12 cocktails into $17 cocktails—just by showing the options for top shelf liquor. On weekends alone, that could mean $200 to $350 in extra revenue, without changing a single menu item,” said Marcus Merritt, General Manager at Wylie and Rum. “And for our servers, it’s a confidence booster. They don’t need to memorize every spirit or menu modification—the prompts do the heavy lifting. Tips go up, sales go up, and the whole team wins.”

• Digital Chits* pull guest details from Toast Tables reservations and Guestbook profiles—like special occasions, guest requests, and visit history—and display them on Toast Go® handhelds and POS terminals, helping staff personalize service with confidence, right from the first interaction. By replacing printed notes and verbal handoffs, Digital Chits highlight important guest details so they don’t fall through the cracks.
  
  

“Digital Chits help us to improve the customer experience by tailoring our service to every guest,” said Cory Ybarra, Owner of Cactus Jack’s in Mont Belvieu, TX. “By providing us with key details like special occasions and past visits, we can personalize every interaction. This level of service, which many restaurants simply can't offer, helps us build even better rapport with our customers.”

• Shift at a Glance* streamlines critical communication between managers and staff—delivering timely updates right to Toast Go® handhelds and terminals. Instead of relying on pre-shift meetings alone, managers can digitally share key details like specials, low stock items, or staffing changes right from the Toast Now manager app. Staff can access this information as they clock in and stay informed throughout their shift, even during the busiest service.
  
  

“Shift at a Glance keeps our team in the loop, helps everyone hit the ground running, and saved us from a lot of ‘wait, what are we doing today?’ moments,” said Alex Pikul, Owner of Kind Cafe in Fairhope, AL. “The best part? It’s become our daily dose of good vibes. We use it to give shoutouts, share kind words, and make sure everyone feels appreciated. It’s like a group chat with a purpose.”

Generate guest demand and engagement with ToastIQ tools designed to simplify digital advertising and marketing campaigns 

Increasing guest traffic is a top challenge for restaurants.2 ToastIQ marketing features utilize Toast’s unique, robust data and insights to create powerful ads and digital campaigns designed to attract and retain guests. Features include: 

• The enhanced AI-Marketing Assistant builds cross-channel marketing plans in a few clicks personalized to each restaurant. Synthesizing inputs such as restaurant data, daily sales reports, and menu and item performance from on-premise and Online Ordering, the AI-Marketing Assistant crafts detailed, personalized marketing plans for email, SMS, and social media. Outputs include pre-designed and pre-written campaigns for holidays and events, promotions like BOGO deals and happy hours, business and menu updates, and more. 
  
  

“Tuesdays through Thursdays had been super slow for us, and I wanted to find a way to boost sales. I noticed an AI-powered feature called “Slow Days Campaign.” It was like Toast had read my mind,” said Alex Koons, Owner of Hot Tongue Pizza in Los Angeles, CA. “That sparked an idea for a mid-week pizza party promotion. I let Toast generate the campaign, made a few tweaks, and sent it out. The open rates were the best I’ve ever seen and the mid-week sales were incredible, jumping 44%. I generated over $10K from this one campaign.”3

• Advertising* turns clicks into measurable revenue. Toast connects ad performance directly to transactions across online, in-person, and catering orders, giving operators visibility and transparency into how digital ads drive real dollars, as opposed to just clicks and impressions. On average, early beta users are earning $8 for every dollar spent with Advertising.4 Restaurant operators can easily create and manage digital ads on Google channels such as Search and Maps, and Meta channels such as Facebook and Instagram, directly from Toast. With Toast’s restaurant insights, AI-assisted setup, and pre-filled recommendations, ads are easy to launch and reach the right guests at the right time.
  
  

"Advertising has really simplified and streamlined digital advertising for us. The ads have helped us attract more customers, increase online orders, and drive real revenue growth,” said Christopher Touma, Director of Operations at Sahara Mediterranean Grill in Shelby Township, MI. “Seeing a return of over 14x proves just how effective the platform is."5

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*Indicates early release features. To try them, customers can go to the Toast Test Kitchen on Toast Shop.