{"id":15084,"date":"2016-11-16T17:19:21","date_gmt":"2016-11-16T22:19:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/soon-traditional-restaurant-management-systems-will-be-toast\/"},"modified":"2016-11-16T17:19:21","modified_gmt":"2016-11-16T22:19:21","slug":"soon-traditional-restaurant-management-systems-will-be-toast","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/soon-traditional-restaurant-management-systems-will-be-toast\/","title":{"rendered":"Soon, Traditional Restaurant Management Systems Will Be Toast"},"content":{"rendered":"

State of the Stone-Age Restaurant Industry<\/strong>
\nIn 2011, the Financial Times wrote that \u201ccapturing the new value in the digital space over the next several years will depend on the ability of companies\u2026to develop strategies that bring them closer\u201d to customers.1 Five years later, the customer-service-heavy industry, restaurants, ranks last out of 15 sectors in industry digitization.2 Restaurants\u2019 variable nature, high degree of \u201chands-on\u201d interaction with customers, and generally lower usage of technology all contribute to the industry\u2019s technological lag. The big challenge with digitization of restaurants is that \u201ctools have to work in the context of restaurant work: rarely in front of a computer, multilingual, and time strapped.\u201d3 Restaurants\u2019 current solutions for supply, labor, and cost management are fragmented and rudimentary at best. Existing technology programs are not optimized for restaurant owners, staff, or customers, as they focus on only one area, do not integrate easily with other systems, and do not leverage cloud connectivity.<\/p>\n

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Toast\u2019s Solution<\/strong>
\nBorn out of this industry\u2019s vacuum, Toast attacks this issue and uses innovative technology to deliver a complete solution for the restaurant industry\u2019s needs: operations, orders, customers, and employees.4 Toast\u2019s founders realized that restaurants live and die by their point-of-sale (POS) system, most versions of which were built back in the 80s and 90s, \u201cnot cloud-based, not-mobile, and not enabled for customers who are used to tablets.\u201d5 The company took advantage of this opening in the industry and created a multifunctional POS software platform complimented by hardware accessories, with easy installation and updates, real-time statistics, and off-site access for a more modern way of selling. Toast\u2019s enterprise-grade infrastructure is easy to use and integrates into the restaurant\u2019s P&L for greater visibility into the business and increased data collection and analysis. Target customers are full (table) service, quick service, bars \/ nightclubs, online ordering, and franchise restaurants, all of which can customize the software based on specific needs.<\/p>\n

\"toast-assembly\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Key differentiators that are all part of Toast\u2019s operating software platform include:<\/p>\n