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Chefs at Big Queer Food Fest | Credit: Geoff C. Bassett
Jun 18, 2025
This spring, Toast participated in the first-ever Big Queer Food Fest (BQFF) in Boston, a landmark event that celebrated the vibrant LGBTQIA+ culinary community. The week-long celebration included 14 standalone events at 12 different venues, as well as “social hours” at seven restaurants throughout the city. Over 5,000 people came to enjoy the Fest, which featured over 50 LGBTQIA+ chefs, including 32 headliners from 10 different states.
This represented a 1000% year-over-year growth in attendance and engagement, and a 400% rise in participating chefs compared to BQFF's previous largest event in April 2024 which saw 450 attendees. Numbers aside, the experience of coming together with LGBTQIA+ chefs proved meaningful in a number of ways for the chefs, restaurateurs, and more who participated.
"At Toast, our mission is to empower restaurants of all sizes and types. This extends beyond different styles of cuisine; it's about supporting businesses run by people of every background, reflecting the rich diversity within our own Toaster community,” said Mike Gutner, Chief People Officer at Toast. “We were delighted to work with the Big Queer Food Fest to help provide a vital platform for LGBTQIA+ chefs and businesses, celebrating how their unique contributions not only enrich the culinary world but also foster deeper connections within the industry."
"Having the support of corporations like Toast is absolutely crucial for organizations like Big Queer Food Fest," said said David Lewis, Co-Founder of Big Queer Food Fest. "Their partnership not only provides the funding that allows us to create our event, but also signals to the wider business and culinary community that LGBTQIA+ talent is valuable and deserves to be celebrated. It's truly a testament to their commitment to diversity and inclusion within the industry."
As The Big Queer Food Fest set a new benchmark for LGBTQIA+ culinary events, fostering community, opportunity, and unparalleled visibility, with chef testimonials highlighting the importance of the community it fosters. BQFF is keen to continue building on its deepening relationship with Toast, envisioning several avenues to explore that could build on the missions of both organizations and existing avenues for media, content, and consumer-facing goals. Toast is honored to have been a part of this event and remains committed to championing diverse voices within the culinary world.
“Being part of events like the Big Queer Food Fest is incredibly meaningful for us at Toast. We believe food is a powerful tool to connect and bring people together, and BQFF celebrates the creativity, resilience and brilliance of this culinary community, " said Taylor Barnes, Senior Manager, Strategic Partnerships & Customer Engagement at Toast. "Sponsoring events like this is one way for us to live out our values, creating space for joy, visibility and belonging for all across the restaurant space. It shows we're truly dedicated to fostering an inclusive environment where everyone feels seen and celebrated, and that's something I for one am proud to see us lead on."
About Toast
Toast [NYSE: TOST] is a cloud-based, all-in-one digital technology platform purpose-built for the entire restaurant community. Toast provides a comprehensive platform of software as a service (SaaS) products and financial technology solutions that give restaurants everything they need to run their business across point of sale, payments, operations, digital ordering and delivery, marketing and loyalty, and team management. We serve as the restaurant operating system, connecting front of house and back of house operations across service models including dine-in, takeout, delivery, catering, and retail. Toast helps restaurants streamline operations, increase revenue, and deliver amazing guest experiences. For more information, visit www.toasttab.com.
Contactmedia@toasttab.com
Corporate News
Jul 08, 2025