The Toast iPhone app
allows you to start a tab at a restaurant, linked to your credit card.
You can see what’s on your tab and divide it exactly as you’d like among
several diners. (Maybe you want to split it down the middle, or pay
only for what you ordered — especially on those occasions when your
companion downs a few cocktails and you’re sipping cola.) You can set an
amount for the tip, and settle up whenever you’re ready. Toast
eliminates all that back-and-forth with the check, your credit card, and
multiple copies of the receipt.
On
the restaurant’s end, Toast provides an iPad that is plugged in to the
cash register. (Toast currently works only with POSitouch point-of-sale
systems.) That enables wait staff to enter orders the way they usually
do, and have them magically appear on the app that diners are using.
Servers can also get background on customers by clicking on their
profiles on the tablet: who comes in frequently, tips well, or often
brings in big groups. “One problem that most restaurants have,” Fredette
says, “is that as they hire new staff, their regulars aren’t
recognized.”
Eventually, Fredette plans for Toast to do more. He sees it as an establishment’s “connection with their customers,” a way for them to ask you for feedback, or to share your experience on social media. There will also be a way for restaurants to send you special offers (of course.)
When we tried it last Thursday, a few things went awry, as is often the case with demos of technology that’s still in development. Our server, apparently new, had never heard of Toast. Fredette mentioned the name of another server who had used the system. A tab got started with Toast, but it only included Fredette, not me. So we asked again, and finally we were both included on it. (Servers see pictures of diners using Toast pop up on the tablet next to the cash register, and click them to add them to a tab.) Then, I could see the items we ordered on the screen of my iPhone, and Fredette and I could choose which ones we wanted to pay for. We also noticed that someone had added a mango iced tea to our order that we’d discussed with the server, but hadn’t ordered (or received.) We asked for that to be removed, the old-fashioned way, and it was. Despite the snafus, it was nice to have a way to split the bill in a very granular fashion (I paid just for my fish sandwich and side of polenta, which were $2 more expensive than what Fredette ordered), and also to pay and leave exactly when we were ready to do so. With large groups, Fredette pointed out, Toast deals fairly with that scoundrel who always dashes out fifteen minutes before everyone else, plunks down a $20, and then forces everyone else cover his overage.
Right now, Toast is only deployed at Firebrand Saints. “We wanted to get it right at one place first, and then it becomes an easier sell to other restaurants,” Fredette says. “And we hope people will tell their friends about it.” He says that eventually, the company hopes to charge restaurants a fee in exchange for helping them cultivate a larger, more loyal customer base.
On
the restaurant’s end, Toast provides an iPad that is plugged in to the
cash register. (Toast currently works only with POSitouch point-of-sale
systems.) That enables wait staff to enter orders the way they usually
do, and have them magically appear on the app that diners are using.
Servers can also get background on customers by clicking on their
profiles on the tablet: who comes in frequently, tips well, or often
brings in big groups. “One problem that most restaurants have,” Fredette
says, “is that as they hire new staff, their regulars aren’t
recognized.”Eventually, Fredette plans for Toast to do more. He sees it as an establishment’s “connection with their customers,” a way for them to ask you for feedback, or to share your experience on social media. There will also be a way for restaurants to send you special offers (of course.)
When we tried it last Thursday, a few things went awry, as is often the case with demos of technology that’s still in development. Our server, apparently new, had never heard of Toast. Fredette mentioned the name of another server who had used the system. A tab got started with Toast, but it only included Fredette, not me. So we asked again, and finally we were both included on it. (Servers see pictures of diners using Toast pop up on the tablet next to the cash register, and click them to add them to a tab.) Then, I could see the items we ordered on the screen of my iPhone, and Fredette and I could choose which ones we wanted to pay for. We also noticed that someone had added a mango iced tea to our order that we’d discussed with the server, but hadn’t ordered (or received.) We asked for that to be removed, the old-fashioned way, and it was. Despite the snafus, it was nice to have a way to split the bill in a very granular fashion (I paid just for my fish sandwich and side of polenta, which were $2 more expensive than what Fredette ordered), and also to pay and leave exactly when we were ready to do so. With large groups, Fredette pointed out, Toast deals fairly with that scoundrel who always dashes out fifteen minutes before everyone else, plunks down a $20, and then forces everyone else cover his overage.
Right now, Toast is only deployed at Firebrand Saints. “We wanted to get it right at one place first, and then it becomes an easier sell to other restaurants,” Fredette says. “And we hope people will tell their friends about it.” He says that eventually, the company hopes to charge restaurants a fee in exchange for helping them cultivate a larger, more loyal customer base.
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