2026 Toast Community Awards Official Rules
No purchase necessary. A purchase will not increase your chances of winning.
1. Promoter
The Promoter of the 2026 Toast Community Awards (“Promotion”) is Toasttab UK Ltd. (Company Number: 13844275) with registered office at 2 North Park Road, Harrogate, North Yorkshire, United Kingdom, HG1 5PA (“Promoter” or “Toast”).
2. Promotion Description
The Promotion seeks to celebrate established Toast customers who are making an impact in the industry. The Promotion has three categories in which a customer may enter to win. Those categories and their respective descriptions are:
- The Spirit of Service Award: Celebrates a business going above and beyond to deliver exceptional hospitality.
- The Visionary Award: Celebrates a business growing in an innovative way.
- The Dream Team Award: Celebrates a team or colleague working within a restaurant who uplifts their colleagues around them.
This Promotion is being run simultaneously in multiple countries as set out below, and is open to eligible Toast customers in those jurisdictions in accordance with the applicable country‑specific rules. Eligible entrants in the United Kingdom will compete against eligible entrants from other participating jurisdictions for the same award categories and from a single overall prize pool. Eligibility requirements applicable in other jurisdictions may differ. UK entrants should review these UK Official Rules, which shall apply to their entry, together with any applicable country‑specific provisions to understand how eligibility and participation may vary by location. The official rules for the other participating jurisdictions can be found here:
3. Eligibility
Only existing Toast customers, located within the United Kingdom, who have used Toast Services (as defined in the Toast Merchant Agreement, available at https://pos.toasttab.com/merchant-agreement) for a period longer than six (6) months prior to May 15, 2026 may be eligible to win the Promotion. Any entries relating to non-Toast customers will be disqualified. Businesses owned by employees of the Promoter or their immediate family members (spouse, parents, siblings, and children) and household members of each such employee are not eligible to enter and/or win the Promotion. Incomplete, unreadable, unintelligible, automatically generated (or otherwise created by artificial intelligence) and fraudulent entries and any entries that violate these Official Rules will be disqualified.
4. Entry
To enter, visit https://form.jotform.com/260994116181156 and fill out the entry form.
Owners, operators, employees, and other staff of existing Toast customers, as well as clients of Toast customers, may submit a nomination on behalf of their own business or other Toast customer business, (each, an “Entrant”) by filling out the required fields contained on the Promotion landing page as set out above. Each nomination will be considered one “Entry.” There is a limit of one (1) Entry per Entrant, per award category; multiple Entries by one Entrant in a single category will not increase chances of the nominated customer winning. Toast reserves the right to validate any information in the Entries and disqualify any Entries that contain false or misleading information and/or any Entrants who submit multiple Entries in each award category.
Entries open at 10:00 AM ET on May 15, 2026 and must be received no later than 11:59:59 AM ET on June 12, 2026 (the “Entry Period”) to be eligible. Entrants must have internet access to enter the Promotion. Entrants are reminded to obtain their employer’s permission before using a computer, device and/or internet-access which is not owned or paid for by the Entrant to enter the Promotion. The Promoter will not be liable for any internet, or mobile connection, or other charges incurred in entering the Promotion. The Promoter will not accept:
- responsibility for Entries that are corrupted, not successfully completed or transmitted, lost, mislaid, damaged or delayed in transit, regardless of cause, including, for example, as a result of any equipment failure, technical malfunction, systems, satellite, network, server, website, computer hardware or software failure of any kind; or
- proof of transmission as proof of receipt of Entry to the Promotion.
5. Finalist Selection
Once the Entry Period has ended, a panel of Toast employees will select the top 3 Entries in each of the 3 categories based on the judging criteria described in section 6 below (the final 9 being the "Finalists"). Toast will use reasonable efforts to attempt to contact each finalist via the email and phone number shared by the Entrant in the Entry. Where a nomination is submitted on behalf of another Toast customer and the contact details included in the Entry relate to the Entrant rather than the nominated Toast customer, Toast will contact the Entrant and request the relevant business contact details of the nominated Finalist for the purposes of administering the Promotion. No personal contact details will be required unless and until the nominated Finalist agrees to participate further in the Promotion as set out below.
To progress to the next stage of the Promotion, Finalists will be asked to submit a short self-filmed video answering provided questions about why they should win the category in which they are nominated. Videos are due within 72 hours of the Finalists being contacted. Videos should not include any individuals who have not consented to the use of their image and/or participation being used for the purposes of publication as set out in this section.
Where a Finalist has been nominated by another Toast customer, Toast will first contact that nominated Finalist and provide these Official Rules, asking it to confirm whether it wishes to participate in the Promotion. If the nominated Finalist agrees to participate within 24 hours of being contacted, it will then be invited to submit a video as described above.
If a nominated Finalist fails to submit a video within the 72 hours timeframe or declines to participate, or (where nominated by another Toast customer as set out above) does not respond within 24 hours of being contacted, the Promoter reserves the right to select and contact the next most eligible Finalist for that category and follow the same process set out above. Toast will then publish the videos which have been submitted by the Finalists on the Community Awards website, and ask the general public to vote for which Finalist they think should win in each category.
Each video submission:
- must be suitable for display and publication online and should not be obscene or indecent (including but not limited to nudity, pornography or profanity);
- must not contain defamatory statements or words or symbols that are offensive either generally or to individuals of a certain race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation or socioeconomic group;
- must not include threats to any person, place, business or group;
- must not invade the privacy or other rights of any person, firm or entity; and
- must not in any way violate applicable laws and regulations or social media platform guidelines.
The Promoter reserves all rights to disqualify any Finalist if its video submission is or could reasonably be construed as being unlawful or contrary to these Official Rules, or their conduct is contrary to the spirit or intention of the Promotion.
6. Judging Criteria for Finalists
Selection of the Finalists will be determined based on the written explanations of each category provided in the Entries as set forth above.
Criteria for Written Entries
- Quality of written submission (i.e. easy to read, thoroughly explained, well-supported, free of typos and spelling errors)
- How successfully does the submission, and the content in the submission, embody or symbolize the category?
- Engaging – Does the submission grab your attention and excite/inspire/interest the reader?
- Does the submission in other ways support Toast's mission to help businesses delight their guests, do what they love, and thrive?
7. Voting
Anyone may vote for a Finalist during the Voting Period (as defined below) to determine the Winner (as defined in section 8) for each award category.
Voting for the Finalists will open to the general public, including without limitation the Finalists themselves, at 10:00 AM ET on July 13, 2026, and all votes must be received by 11:59:59 AM ET on August 18, 2026 (the "Voting Period") to be eligible.
Voters will be asked to evaluate the Finalists’ video entries based on the following criteria:
Criteria for Video Entries
- Quality of video submission (i.e. easy to understand, thoroughly explained, well-supported)
- How successfully does the submission, and the content in the submission, embody or symbolize the category?
- Engaging – Does the video grab your attention and excite/inspire/interest the viewer?
- Does the submission in other ways to support the mission of Toast.
8. Winner Selection
There will be a total of three (3) winners (one winner in each category) (each a "Winner" and together "Winners"). The votes for each Finalist will be tallied and the Finalist with the most public votes in each category will be declared the Winner of each category.
Each Winner will be notified via email to the Winner’s email address used to submit the video submission within 3 days of the end of the Voting Period to claim their prize and may be asked to provide proof of identity. Any Winner who does not respond within 7 days will be emailed again and given a further 7 days to respond. If contact cannot be made, or the Prize (as defined in section 9) is not claimed, or valid proof of identity is not provided, within 14 days of the original notification email, the Promoter reserves the right to withdraw the relevant Prize and to reallocate it to the Finalist who received the next highest amount of votes at its sole discretion.
9. Prizes
The Winner of each category will receive prizes (each a “Prize” and together “the Prizes”) as follows:
- The Spirit of Service Award: Celebrates a business going above and beyond to deliver exceptional hospitality.
- Award: $10K or local equivalent+ Toast Menu refresh (approximately a $1,000-$2,000 value)*
- Round-trip travel to Boston and two-night hotel stay for the winner to attend the Toast Community Awards ceremony (10/20/2026–10/22/2026), plus a fixed allowance for additional expenses***
- Dinner with Toast Leadership
- The Visionary Award: Celebrates a business growing their business in a super innovative way.
- Award: $10K or local equivalent + $1,000 software credit**
- Round-trip travel to Boston and two-night hotel stay for the winner to attend the Toast Community Awards ceremony (10/20/2026–10/22/2026), plus a fixed allowance for additional expenses***
- Dinner with Toast Leadership
- The Dream Team Award: Celebrates a team or colleague working within a restaurant with a superhuman ability to uplift their colleagues around them.
- Award: $10K or local equivalent + $2,500 gift card to be used for a team event
- Round-trip travel to Boston and two-night hotel stay for one individual attending the Toast Community Awards ceremony (10/20/2026–10/22/2026), plus a fixed allowance for additional expenses***
- Dinner with Toast Leadership
*Must be redeemed by 12/31/26.
**Free software will be provided as a credit (up to $1,000) of whatever Toast software the Visionary Winner is already using. Use of software is subject to all applicable Terms of Use.
***Round-trip travel to Boston and two-night hotel stay for awards ceremony in October, plus expenses of up to $3,000. Attendance/admission of any additional individuals at Toast’s company event is in Toast’s sole discretion and Toast reserves the right to remove any such additional individuals from the company event at any time and for any reason.
All cash Prizes will be paid either (i) via cheque in UK Sterling to a UK address and in the winning business’ name or (ii) via bank transfer to a UK Sterling bank account in the business name only. Payment cannot be made into a personal bank account. The Winner will need to provide a valid UK bank account number and sort code. Payment cannot be made into a Non-Bank Financial Institution (NBFI) or Electronic Money Institution (EMI).
Prize payment will be made to each Winner within 14 working days of receipt of valid payment details. If a Winner is unable to provide valid bank details as stipulated above, the Promoter reserves the right to withdraw Prize entitlement and reallocate the Prize to a new Winner in accordance with section 8.
10. Prize Conditions
Each Winner is solely responsible for paying any taxes and any other costs and expenses arising in connection with the award, receipt, or use of a Prize that are not expressly covered by Promoter in these Official Rules.
A Prize may not be assigned or transferred and must be accepted as awarded. The Winners may not request cash or request a substitute prize.
Prizes are awarded “as is” with no warranty or guarantee, either express or implied by Promoter or prize providers. Each Winner acknowledges that the Promoter, Prize providers, and all other businesses affiliated with this Promotion and their agents do not make, nor are in any manner responsible for any warranty, representations, expressed or implied, in fact or in law, relative to the quality, conditions, fitness or merchantability of any aspect of the Prize being offered.
11. Release and Limitations of Liability
Insofar as is permitted by law, the Promoter, its parents, subsidiaries, affiliates, and each of their respective officers, directors, employees, and agents will not in any circumstances be responsible or liable to compensate the Winners or accept any liability for any loss, damage, personal injury or death occurring as a result of taking up the prizes except where it is caused by the negligence of the Promoter, its agents or distributors or that of their employees. Your statutory rights are not affected.
12. Disputes
If any clause or provision of these Official Rules is declared by a court to be illegal, invalid or unenforceable, this declaration shall not affect the validity and enforceability of any other clause or provision within. These Official Rules shall be governed by the laws of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales shall have exclusive jurisdiction in relation to any dispute concerning them.
13. Contact and Results
Promoter shall publicly announce the Winners of the Promotion through its social media channels after the Promotion. To be notified of the Winners, email requests can also be submitted to ToastCommunityAwards@toasttab.com with the subject line “2026 Toast Community Awards Winner List.” Requests must be received within 30 days of the closing date specified in Section 4.
14. Ownership of Promotion Entries and Intellectual Property Rights
The Promoter’s right to use Entries or video submissions for publicity purposes shall be subject to a separate release that each Entrant, Finalist and/or Winner (as applicable) shall be asked to sign as set out further in Section 15.
15. Data Protection
Any personal information that Entrants, Finalists and/or Winners share with the Promoter will be kept secure and only used in line with these Official Rules and such information shall be processed in accordance with Toast's Privacy Policy which can be found at https://pos.toasttab.com/toast/privacy. The Promoter may request that Entrants, Finalists and/or Winners participate in promotional activity (such as publicity and photography) surrounding the Prize, free of charge, and that the Promoter is permitted to use their name and images in promotional material. Entrants, Finalists and/or Winners may be asked to sign a publicity waiver relating to their participation in such activity.
16. General
The Promoter reserves the right to hold void, suspend, cancel, or amend the Promotion where it becomes necessary to do so.
Promoter reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to disqualify and seek damages from any individual who tampers with the operation of the Promotion, violates these Official Rules, or acts in a disruptive or unsportsmanlike manner. Promoter’s failure to enforce any term of these Official Rules shall not constitute a waiver of that provision. Proof of sending any communication to Promoter by mail shall not be deemed proof of receipt of that communication by Promoter.
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