Modern Self-Order Kiosk Hardware & Software Improvements

BarryAlan — Fri, 22 May 2026 13:53:31 GMT

Hi Toast Team,

First off, thank you for continuing to invest in the Toast ecosystem. We’ve been heavily focused on self-ordering and kiosk experiences in our operations, and I wanted to share some honest feedback and feature requests that I believe many operators in quick service and healthcare dining environments would strongly support.

We’ve recently compared Toast kiosk setups against competitors like Grubbrr, and while Toast has the advantage of being an all-in-one POS ecosystem, the kiosk hardware and software experience currently feels behind what operators are beginning to expect as the industry standard.

Hardware & Mounting Experience

One of the biggest differences is the physical kiosk presentation and usability.

Competitors like Grubbrr offer:

Clean countertop kiosk stands
Built-in card readers
Integrated receipt printers
Built-in barcode scanners
Concealed wiring and mounts
Modern, customer-facing hardware designs

By comparison, Toast kiosk setups often require:

External peripherals mounted separately
Visible cables and wiring
Countertop clutter
Exposed mounts and hardware
Less polished customer-facing presentation

This may seem cosmetic at first, but in practice it significantly impacts:

Customer perception
Ease of cleaning and maintenance
Counter organization
Hardware reliability
Overall self-service experience

As self-ordering becomes the norm in quick service restaurants, hospitals, cafeterias, and fast casual concepts, having sleek, integrated kiosk hardware is becoming increasingly important.

Request for Future Toast Hardware

I would love to see Toast begin developing:

Dedicated countertop kiosk stands
Fully integrated self-order kiosks
Built-in payment terminals
Built-in receipt printers
Integrated barcode/QR scanners
Cleaner cable management solutions
Modern freestanding and countertop kiosk options

Essentially, an all-in-one Toast-native kiosk solution similar in appearance and usability to competitors like Grubbrr — but fully integrated within the Toast ecosystem.

Software & Kiosk Application Improvements

Beyond the hardware, the kiosk ordering software itself could also use significant enhancements.

Some areas that would greatly improve the operator and guest experience:

Faster and smoother kiosk UI performance
More customizable ordering flows
Better upsell and modifier experiences
Improved accessibility and guest guidance
More modern UI/UX design
Better loyalty and rewards integration
Improved barcode scanning workflows
More flexibility for healthcare and institutional dining
Better support for high-volume self-checkout environments

Why This Matters

Many operators choose Toast because we want one unified platform for:

POS
Online ordering
Payments
Loyalty
Kitchen operations
Self-order kiosks

Right now, many businesses are forced to use third-party kiosk providers because Toast’s kiosk ecosystem still feels limited in comparison. Unfortunately, third-party solutions can introduce:

Higher costs
Operational complexity
Integration issues
Support challenges
Reliability concerns

We truly want Toast to become the best all-in-one solution for self-ordering and checkout.

I hope Toast is already investing heavily in kiosks and self-service because this area is rapidly becoming a major expectation across the restaurant industry.

Would love to hear if others in the community are asking for similar improvements.

Thanks!

@Rob @jenni

Re: Modern Self-Order Kiosk Hardware & Software Improvements

www — Sat, 23 May 2026 01:22:22 GMT

Software & Kiosk Application Improvements
Beyond the hardware, the kiosk ordering software itself could also use significant enhancements.
Some areas that would greatly improve the operator and guest experience:
Faster and smoother kiosk UI performance
More customizable ordering flows
Better upsell and modifier experiences
Improved accessibility and guest guidance
More modern UI/UX design
Better loyalty and rewards integration
Improved barcode scanning workflows
More flexibility for healthcare and institutional dining
Better support for high-volume self-checkout environments

Great post! I agree with everything.

Let me add some specific items:

I would like to be able to create announcements on Kiosks. Please also take into consideration MLM users. Right now, adding announcements for Online Ordering is a pain as we have to go to every single location. Let us target announcements to specific Location Groups.

As a "hack" we currently create a $0 menu item to "announce" products, but we still get customers trying to order it.