Share your tips for a chance to win a $1,000 gift card!*

[jenni]

Hi everyone!

It's officially the first day of ☀️Summer☀️, and we have some great news! As a new community member, from June 21 - July 31, share tips on how you are navigating the busy season, and you will be entered for the chance to win a $1000 Visa gift card.* Terms Apply

We'd love to get to know you and hear how you and your restaurant team have prepared for the busy season. Tell us more about you below in the comments ⬇️ 

• Your name
• Restaurant name & location
• How long have you been a Toast customer?
• What are your best practices for navigating the busy season?

*Terms and conditions apply. See Official Rules for details

[LindaQ]

• Linda Quintanilha
• Waterhouse, Peterborough, NH
• 4 years
• Communication is key.  We have quick stand up meetings at every shift change with standard agenda items, 86'd, specials, updates on staffing coverage needs, VIPs coming in and one or two "New Rules"...they are super fast and very efficient when you have a standard agenda.  I use my smart watch/phone to keep a notebook of "stand up items" so when I think of something I can add it to the list without a notebook / scrap paper etc.  Being as paperless as possible has been amazing.  That's why I LOVE Extrachef.  Such a great tool once you get in and start using it.  Takes a little bit in the beginning and I know I haven't used it to it's full potential, but I can't wait until slow season so I can really upload my recipes and inventory.  Also, Toast Tables is saving me a ton of money and Toast hasn't stopped developing the tool  It is going to be amazing!  They are updating as they get requests from customers, they use canny for this which is a fabulous tool for them to understand what is important to us.   Embrace the technology....That's how I'm surviving the busy season!  

[Socohosp]

• Hi my name is Terra Velasquez! I own a bar called “Swallow’s Nest Bar & Lounge” in downtown Houston, Texas! I’ve been a Toast customer for over 6 years and am never looking back. I practice being overly proactive and being extremely sustainable in every aspect possible during busy season, because you just never know what the day will throw at you!

[scratchboardAH]

Hi all!

My name is Danielle and I own a restaurant called Scratchboard Kitchen in the Chicago suburbs. We have been a toast customer since we opened our doors in April 2020 (yes, during the pandemic - it was a wild ride!)

When it comes to navigating the busy season, we certainly have some tips! In response to the pandemic, the city shuts down the street in front of our restaurant during the summer, so our seating nearly doubles. It's a blessing, but our kitchen size doesn't double 🙂 so we do the following things:

1. We pace seating, only seating up to 16 guests per 15 minutes

2. We use Toast to pace and cap online ordering . We take no more than 3 orders per 15 minutes and use the snooze function in Toast when it gets too busy (this has been a game changer - thank you Toast for these functions!!) When the weather doesn't cooperate and the patio is closed, we open up online ordering to more orders.

3. We use Toast email marketing to encourage making reservations ahead of time. This is also a game changer! We have about a 50% email open rate through Toast!!

4. We staff up prior to the start of the season as much as possible.

5. We use Toast handhelds on our patio so our staff can send orders quickly and directly to the bar and kitchen team without having to go back inside the restaurant. (Our staff calls the handhelds "toasties")

Looking forward to reading through everyone else's tips & tricks! We're always learning!

[Ejones]

Hello and I am Ebony Jones, I am the catering manager at Logan Farms Honey Glazed Hams-Market Café in Jackson, MS. I came over in January of this year. We specialize in gourmet meats, lunch catering, and lunch service. We have recently switched to Toast in March. I was the catering manager at a restaurant for five years that  used Toast. When I arrived here, we were using a different system, I requested we get Toast and it has been phenomenal!

Summer is not as busy for us. We are not a common tourist destination. Many of our guests and ourselves vacation to surrounding areas before school starts back. So we have to be creative to get people in the doors. The most common places people head to near us is: Orange Beach or the Gulf Coast. To help us build sales, we promote our grab and go cooler and freezer. We have numerous dips, sliced ham, sliced turkey, sides, entrees, and desserts that guests can come and grab on the way to the beach. Creating items that have minimal to no prep, allow our guests to focus on the vacation and family. Not spending valuable time in the kitchen, when it comes to feeding large family groups. We plan on expanding our grab and go menu, to have more offerings that are sensitive to dietary restrictions and requests. We enjoy being available enthusiastically now in the guests' busy season; So that we may come to mind when my favorite time of the year rolls around, the Thanksgiving &  Christmas season.  Which is our busiest season with the sale of our delicious hams and turkeys!

[papaspizzahawai]

• Len Gambla
• Hilo, Hawaii Pizza Food Truck
• 4 months
• Have a Plan B at all times for staff. It's no secret that there is a fair amount of turnover with staff for a variety of reasons. I would rather have a larger staff who are fine working part time than a large full time staff. That way, if/when someone leaves, I can ramp up hours for folks while we look to get another talent onboarded.