topic Re: What Ask Me Anything topics would you like to see? in Toast Community Hub

What Ask Me Anything topics would you like to see?

jenni — Tue, 04 Apr 2023 22:23:27 GMT

Hey everyone!

We’ve loved having the opportunity to hold exclusive Ask Me Anything (AMA) chats here in the community with Toast product experts and members of the leadership team! What conversations are you hoping to have? We’d love to hear! Drop your AMA topics / ideas below in the chat 👇🏽

Here’s a roundup of our AMA’s to date:

-Jenni

Re: What Ask Me Anything topics would you like to see?

rcmck — Tue, 04 Apr 2023 23:08:38 GMT

Guest Engagement: Marketing, loyalty, etc. Feels like not much has happened with these products in a while.

Re: What Ask Me Anything topics would you like to see?

jenni — Wed, 05 Apr 2023 14:19:11 GMT

Oh, great idea @rcmck!

Re: What Ask Me Anything topics would you like to see?

TOASTYQUESTIONS — Fri, 19 May 2023 12:21:47 GMT

Anyway to Alphabatize tabs

Re: What Ask Me Anything topics would you like to see?

rcmck — Fri, 19 May 2023 16:06:17 GMT

Advanced filter https://central.toasttab.com/s/article/Check-Status-and-Sorting-Checks

Re: What Ask Me Anything topics would you like to see?

Rob — Fri, 19 May 2023 18:07:21 GMT

Great ideas! Thanks for sharing, and keep them coming!

Re: What Ask Me Anything topics would you like to see?

bubbajonesjr — Tue, 06 Jun 2023 18:44:18 GMT

Remove the $0.99 per online order fee. Charging my customer a fee for your benefit is completely unacceptable. Without a viable solution I will be forced to at a minimum disable online ordering, and potentially switching pos systems all together

Re: What Ask Me Anything topics would you like to see?

Rob — Tue, 06 Jun 2023 21:33:56 GMT

Hey @bubbajonesjr. Thanks for reaching out with your feedback. We take all changes that might impact our customer community very seriously here at Toast.
Toast is continuously investing in new features and capabilities across our platform to help restaurants like yours remain competitive. Specifically with the digital ordering upgrades, we’ve invested significantly in new features to help restaurants retain the guest relationship and avoid costly commissions, such as a direct integrations with Order with Google. We've also added $3K in annual chargeback coverage (up to $250/month) on Toast Online Ordering Channels to help protect your bottom line. You can learn more about the results some of our customers have seen after being upgraded here.
Adding a small $0.99 Order Processing Fee paid by guests on orders $10 and over is a way for us to fund continued innovation for our community, avoid costly commissions charged to restaurants, and help keep costs low for guests compared to many other digital ordering platforms.

Re: What Ask Me Anything topics would you like to see?

dave — Fri, 09 Jun 2023 19:00:53 GMT

Echoing other users, discuss the last minute $.99 order processing fee.

"Adding a small $0.99 Order Processing Fee paid by guests on orders $10 and over is a way for us to fund continued innovation for our community, avoid costly commissions charged to restaurants, and help keep costs low for guests compared to many other digital ordering platforms."

This is not an acceptable answer. Our customers will be paying ~$50,000 in "service fees" with no added value to either us or them. I would bet a months fees (an already not-small number not counting CC fees) that on the next investor call Chris will be touting all of the additional revenue being generated.

What is Toast going to be doing for us to justify the loss in tips? An informal survey we've conducted shows customers conflating a service charge as a method to cover tips, regardless of the veracity of this opinion that is what the customers believe. General complaints (see Ticketmaster)? The overall bilking of customers for nothing beyond boosting quarterly revenues?

The hunt for new POS system is on, unless something in this AMA can convince us that this is a warranted that is hundreds of thousands of dollars in subscription and processing fees that we will be migrating away from Toast.

Re: What Ask Me Anything topics would you like to see?

bubbajonesjr — Sun, 11 Jun 2023 02:33:39 GMT

Hi Rob,

thanks for responding. completely unrelated to the $0.99 fee issue, what exactly is a community manager?

Toast should be continuously investing in new features with my monthly fees. That is why I pay them. How will charging my customer a fee retain guest relationship? Not one of my customer will be glad to be paying more for absolutely no benefit to them or me. The only bottom line trying to be protected here is that of Toast.

As my POS company, charging my customers even $0.01 is 100% unacceptable. It has nothing to do with the size of the fee. And just because you put it out for $0.99 today, what is to keep you from making it $10 tomorrow. You are not a third party charging a fee for their platform. You are, or at least were until this, my supposed partner. Placing a customer facing fee is not something I agree with. This fee will come across as coming from me. Not from some marketplace. This is a complete erosion of trust.

I am looking into new POS system. And based on feedback I've seen here and elsewhere I am not the only one.

Re: What Ask Me Anything topics would you like to see?

Rob — Fri, 16 Jun 2023 13:25:38 GMT

Thank you for reaching out to our team with your concerns. We take changes to our pricing model very seriously here at Toast. We are always investing in new features and capabilities across our platform to help restaurants remain competitive in a highly dynamic market and strengthen the relationship with their guests. With this digital ordering upgrade, restaurants like yours will benefit from a number of new features designed to help increase sales with access to millions of guests through new channels like Order with Google and search engine optimized menus to help increase website traffic. We’ve also added up to $3K in annual chargeback coverage ($250/month) on Toast Online Ordering Channels to help protect your bottom line.

Results from customers upgraded have been promising. Toast customers who were upgraded to the next generation of Toast Online Ordering earlier this year with the new Order Processing Fee saw a 13% average increase in the percentage of guests placing orders via Toast Online Ordering.*

*Based on conversion rates for approx. 450 US-based Toast customers of orders placed using Toast Online Ordering during four 21-day periods from August through November 2022 to the same cohort’s orders placed using the upgraded Toast Online Ordering during a 21 day period in March, 2023 (does not account for variables such as seasonality or unknown influences).

Re: What Ask Me Anything topics would you like to see?

Rob — Fri, 16 Jun 2023 13:32:29 GMT

Community managers assist with forum management and moderating discussions; we convey feedback, concerns, and community suggestions. We also create and analyze the content here on community and much more, but this is a brief overview of what we do.

Re: What Ask Me Anything topics would you like to see?

dave — Fri, 16 Jun 2023 13:52:14 GMT

Rob,

Replying here because I can't locate the other response. The value adds you listed are "order with google", SEO through Online Ordering Pro, & Chargeback protection. Let me respond to these points individually.

Order with Google: This system is completely broken for us. One of our concepts is a frozen cocktail chain who does significant revenue through online ordering. If we flag an item as "contains alcohol" within toast (as required for integrations with Doordash and other legalities) that item is automatically hidden from Google. So if we follow proper legal protocols, 95% of our menu is hidden from Google. Zero value.
SEO through OOP - I volunteered our concepts as beta testers for the early launch of OOP. I have been using it for months. I was promised features we have never seen. Order & Pay (QR) integration was promised in Q2, now they say "likely not this calendar year". We also signed up with the promise of a 50% discount on the monthly rate of $50 for the module. So why are we paying for a module you say will be funded by this service fee? Where is the roadmap? As far as SEO goes, we have seen ZERO change in our analytics. All we have gotten is a mild coat of paint with little additional flexibility (can we PLEASE get access to some custom CSS? 2 font choices and a couple colors isn't worth all of this) and no continuity across all of our digital experiences (Online & QR).
Chargeback Protection - Chargebacks are part of the game. We fight them, we lose them. VERY minor cost. Where is the option to forfeit this unwanted "insurance" to reduce costs to our customers? We don't need this. At all.

@Rob wrote:
Results from customers upgraded have been promising. Toast customers who were upgraded to the next generation of Toast Online Ordering earlier this year with the new Order Processing Fee saw a 13% average increase in the percentage of guests placing orders via Toast Online Ordering.*

I would like to see more data on this. We have been using OOP since earlier this year and our growth has been on a very linear trajectory for 12 months... AND we didn't have the service fee. Certainly not a 13% boost in online sales. I can guarantee tacking $.99 will only move the needle in the other direction.

I still have yet to see any compelling information other than Toast needs to juice their financials and this is where they think they can milk some additional revenue.

Re: What Ask Me Anything topics would you like to see?

Anonymous — Tue, 05 Mar 2024 00:16:14 GMT

I’d LOVE to see Toast Payroll/Toast Tax ACTUALLY resolve my ongoing Tax issue with the GDOL. It’s been over 6 + months and I’m still dealing with the same issue and I’ve explained said issue to 6876545 different Toast “employees” who’ve done absolutely nothing to help resolve the case and continue to pass off the issue to someone else who 1) was inadequately trained 2) doesn’t care 3) can’t do anything about the issue.

Re: What Ask Me Anything topics would you like to see?

PolitePig — Wed, 20 Mar 2024 11:36:02 GMT

I'm looking for ways to get more robust reporting. And some ways to navigate the reports easier. For example in the product mix, clicking an Item would take you to all checks that contain the item. In sales, clicking on payments would take you to all payments of that type. Things like that.

Re: What Ask Me Anything topics would you like to see?

LUIS_621_VILLA — Fri, 22 Mar 2024 18:06:32 GMT

U/X and U/I
- Why the interface is more like a bunch of hidden links
- Sidebar is not my friend
Payroll > POS
- Not sync so why even try
Hardware quality
- Product is not sturdy as advertised
Business model
- More like Apple and less than Android

Re: What Ask Me Anything topics would you like to see?

EV_SEA — Thu, 25 Jul 2024 02:23:10 GMT

SAME!