Toast, the do-it-all technology platform, aspires to have an Adam Smith influence on restaurants. It provides the tech, it stays in the background, it guides with an invisible hand. With its new fall product release, which includes a branded-mobile app and text-message marketing, Toast is showing itself to be stealthier, and potentially more valuable, than ever.
Should a restaurant choose, it can procure a white-label app and adorn it with its own color scheme and imagery. The app is powered by Toast’s online ordering, POS and loyalty tech. It can make suggestions to consumers and put on the soft sell through notifications. And if all goes to plan, an increase in repeat orders — four times more than those that would come in through a restaurant’s website, according to the company — would result.
Toast is also launching short message service marketing to restaurants, which will enable them to text customers, with help from an AI assistant. The company has research indicating that 57 percent of guests are interested in hearing from their favorite establishments this way.
Providers like Toast and DoorDash are driving home their positioning as the ones to help small- and mid-size operators compete with the big boys on mobile applications.
“In today’s competitive restaurant environment, reaching new guests and enticing them back is easier if you meet them where they are — on their phones,” said Steve Fredette, president and co-founder of Toast, in a statement. “These new features allow restaurants to make direct, personal connections with their guests and are designed to drive traffic and grow brand loyalty.”
