Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
Cloud-based point-of-sale system provider Toast Inc. has issued updates for its Toast Order & Pay services designed to smooth the ordering and payment aspects. Announced Tuesday, the updates include the ability to gain a pre-authorization against a credit or debit card using the diner’s own device.
Boston-based Toast also made Apple Pay available in its Toast Online Ordering and Toast TakeOut products. Other updates include group-ordering improvements, estimated sales reports for the Toast Marketing e-mail service, and customizable bonus points in the Toast Loyalty program.
“Guest behaviors are changing faster than ever in direct response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Ordering and paying for food via smart phone might have felt foreign to some a few years ago. Today, many people expect this convenience in an effort to reduce contact with others and increase efficiency,” Aman Narang, Toast president and cofounder, said in a statement.
The updates make it easier for consumers to order and pay using their own mobile device and can enable them to feel as if they have in hand a “remote control” to the restaurant itself, Toast says. Some 17 states now allow dining in without restrictions, according to online reservation service OpenTable.
Toast also offers contactless payment hardware for restaurants. The Toast Tap is attached via a cable to the Toast POS system and can be placed for customer convenience. Another version is fixed to the side of the display.
