Here are 1-3 brief analogies for Toast:

• Toast is like Square (Block) for restaurants, offering an all-in-one platform for point-of-sale, payments, and business management specifically for the food service industry.
• Think of it as the Shopify for restaurants, providing a comprehensive operating system that handles everything from online ordering and kitchen management to payroll and loyalty programs.

• Point-of-Sale (POS) System: A cloud-based hardware and software solution designed specifically for restaurant operations, handling orders, payments, and table management.
• Payment Processing: Integrated solutions for secure credit card, debit card, and digital payment transactions.
• Online Ordering & Delivery: Tools enabling restaurants to accept online orders directly and manage their delivery logistics.
• Kitchen Display Systems (KDS): Digital screens for kitchens to streamline order management, preparation, and communication.
• Team Management: Software for employee scheduling, time tracking, and payroll integration.
• Inventory Management: Tools to track food costs, manage stock levels, and reduce waste.
• Reporting & Analytics: Comprehensive data insights into sales, labor, and operational performance.
• Loyalty & Marketing: Programs designed to engage customers, build loyalty, and execute marketing campaigns.
• Toast Capital: Offers working capital loans specifically for restaurant businesses.

Toast (TOST) primarily sells its cloud-based point-of-sale and restaurant management platform to other companies, specifically restaurants.

Toast serves a highly fragmented customer base, encompassing tens of thousands of restaurant locations across the United States. As a result, the company does not have a few specific "major customers" (i.e., named companies) that are publicly disclosed or represent a significant portion of its revenue, as might be the case for a supplier to a few large enterprise clients.

Instead, Toast's customers represent a wide spectrum of the restaurant industry. While specific company names are not disclosed, their customer base can be broadly categorized as:

• Independent Restaurants: This forms a significant portion of Toast's customer base, including single-location cafes, diners, bars, bakeries, and fine-dining establishments. These are typically privately owned businesses.
• Multi-Location Restaurant Groups & Small to Medium Chains: These are restaurant businesses that operate several locations under the same ownership or brand, often regional chains that are not publicly traded.
• Larger Enterprise Chains: While less frequently discussed with specific names, Toast's filings indicate they also serve "large enterprise chains," suggesting their platform scales to accommodate bigger restaurant organizations, though individual names are not public.

Major Suppliers for Toast (TOST):

• Amazon.com, Inc. (Symbol: AMZN) - Provides cloud infrastructure services through Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Aman Narang, Chief Executive Officer, Co-founder & Director

Aman Narang is the Chief Executive Officer, Co-founder, and a Director of Toast. He took on the role of CEO in January 2024, having previously served as Co-President and Chief Operating Officer. Prior to co-founding Toast, Narang worked at Endeca (now Oracle), where he led their mobile business unit and spearheaded the development of their business intelligence platform.

Elena Gomez, President & Chief Financial Officer

Elena Gomez is the President and Chief Financial Officer at Toast, overseeing global finance, investor relations, corporate development, and business operations. Under her leadership, Toast launched its initial public offering in 2021. Before joining Toast, Elena was the CFO of Zendesk, where she contributed to growing its market capitalization to over $15 billion. She has also held finance leadership roles at Fortune 500 companies including Salesforce, Visa, and Charles Schwab. Elena serves on the board of directors for PagerDuty and Smartsheet.

Steve Fredette, President, Co-founder & Director

Steve Fredette is the President, Co-founder, and a Director of Toast, where he leads product and innovation initiatives. Before co-founding Toast, Fredette worked on mobile app development, creating the first Flickr and Shoebuy.com apps. At Endeca (now Oracle), he co-founded their mobile commerce business, building the product team and driving sales, marketing, and services to over $10 million in revenue in two years.

Jonathan Grimm, Chief Technology Officer & Co-founder

Jonathan Grimm is the Chief Technology Officer and Co-founder of Toast. He leads the company's software and technology efforts, focusing on scalable infrastructure and technology architecture. Prior to founding Toast, he held solution engineering and application development leadership roles at Endeca/Oracle, interacting with customers and developing new frameworks for the development team.

Chris Comparato, Former Chief Executive Officer

Chris Comparato served as the Chief Executive Officer of Toast from February 2015 until January 2024, leading the company through a significant period of growth, including its initial public offering in 2021. He previously held senior leadership roles focused on customer success at high-growth technology companies like Acquia and Endeca (acquired by Oracle in 2011).

The key risks to Toast's (TOST) business are primarily rooted in its reliance on the restaurant industry, intense market competition, and challenges in achieving consistent profitability amid high operating expenses.

• Dependence on the Restaurant Industry and Macroeconomic Conditions: Toast's business model is heavily reliant on the restaurant industry, which is characterized by its volatility, low margins, high employee turnover, and susceptibility to economic downturns. Fluctuations in the broader economic environment, such as uncertain conditions affecting restaurant spending or labor challenges within the industry, can directly impact demand for Toast's services and its gross payment volume, thus affecting its financial performance.

• Intense Competition: Toast operates in a highly competitive market for restaurant technology solutions, facing numerous rivals including established players like Square (Block) and Lightspeed, as well as new entrants. This competitive landscape necessitates continuous innovation and product improvement to maintain market share and can impact pricing strategies and customer acquisition.

• Profitability and High Operating Expenses: Despite experiencing robust revenue growth, Toast faces challenges related to increasing operating expenses, particularly in sales and marketing, and research and development. These significant investments, while crucial for long-term growth and maintaining a competitive edge, can strain profit margins and impact short-term profitability. The company has shown mixed earnings performance, sometimes missing earnings per share estimates despite strong revenue, indicating ongoing hurdles in translating revenue growth into consistent profitability.

Toast (symbol: TOST) primarily serves the restaurant industry with a comprehensive suite of products and services, including cloud-based restaurant management software, hardware solutions, and financial technology solutions. Their addressable markets can be sized as follows:

• Restaurant Management Platform (Software and Hardware):
  • In the U.S., the total addressable market for restaurants is estimated to be approximately 875,000 locations. However, some estimates suggest this number could be closer to 650,000 locations. Toast currently serves about 15% of the U.S. restaurant market.
  • Globally, excluding China, the total addressable market for restaurants is estimated at approximately 22 million locations.
• Financial Technology Solutions (including Payment Processing and Toast Capital): These solutions address the payment processing needs and financing opportunities within the aforementioned restaurant markets. Toast estimates its payments addressable market by considering non-cash restaurant sales. The Toast Capital market opportunity in the U.S. is estimated by considering outstanding U.S. public bank restaurant loans, which were approximately $29.5 billion as of March 31, 2020.

Toast is also expanding its total addressable market into new verticals, such as food and beverage retail, and into new international geographies beyond its current presence in the U.S., Canada, Ireland, and the United Kingdom.

Expected Drivers of Future Revenue Growth for Toast (TOST)

• Growth in Customer Locations: Toast continues to expand its customer base by adding a significant number of new restaurant locations. The company reported approximately 7,500 net new locations in Q3 2025, reaching 156,000 total locations, and anticipates sustaining this growth trajectory with more net additions in 2025 compared to 2024 and consistent market share gains in 2026.
• Increased Platform Adoption and ARPU Expansion: Toast expects to drive revenue growth through deeper platform adoption and an increase in Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) across its SaaS offerings. The company's management highlighted confidence in driving "take rate up over time" through strategic pricing improvements, ongoing optimization efforts, small targeted pricing adjustments, and new products like surcharging, which contributed to an increase in fintech net take rate.
• Expansion into New Market Segments: Toast is actively expanding beyond its core market by accelerating investments in international markets, such as Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom, and into new verticals including enterprise restaurants and broader food and beverage retail. These segments are projected to contribute a higher share of new location growth in 2026.
• Launch and Adoption of New AI-driven Products and Services: The company is investing in product innovation, particularly AI-driven tools like Toast IQ and Toast Advertising. These new offerings are designed to enhance customer engagement, create upsell opportunities, improve operational efficiency for restaurants, and ultimately boost revenue.
• Strategic Partnerships: Toast is leveraging strategic partnerships to expand its reach and service offerings. An expanded partnership with Uber, for instance, aims to help restaurants drive guest demand and better manage off-premise sales, while collaboration with American Express further strengthens its payments ecosystem.

Share Repurchases

• Toast authorized a share repurchase program of up to $250 million worth of its Class A common stock on February 15, 2024.
• The company repurchased $298.88 million of stock for the trailing twelve months (TTM) ended September 2025.
• The repurchase program aims to return capital to stockholders and mitigate dilution from employee equity grants.

Share Issuance

• Toast completed its Initial Public Offering (IPO) on September 22, 2021, issuing 25,000,000 shares of Class A common stock at $40.00 per share, which generated $1 billion in gross proceeds before expenses.
• Prior to its IPO, Toast raised $400 million in a Series F funding round in February 2020.
• Shares outstanding increased from 0.46 billion in 2020 to 609 million for the quarter ending September 30, 2025, with a notable 76.55% increase from 2021 to 2022, coinciding with its IPO.

Inbound Investments

• In February 2020, Toast received $400 million in Series F funding from investors including Bessemer Venture Partners and TPG.
• The company's Initial Public Offering (IPO) in September 2021 resulted in gross proceeds of $1 billion, marking a significant inflow of capital from public markets.

Outbound Investments

• In February 2023, Toast acquired Delphi Display Systems, a provider of digital display and drive-thru technology for quick-service restaurants.
• Toast's annual net acquisitions/divestitures were -$46 million in 2022 and -$9 million in 2023.
• Toast has also acquired StratEx.

Capital Expenditures

• Capital expenditures for the trailing twelve months (TTM) ended September 2025 amounted to $284.44 million.
• Annual capital expenditures were -$329.45 million in 2024, -$205.79 million in 2023, and -$173.10 million in 2022.
• The company's capital-intensive business model indicates a primary focus of expenditures on stocking inventories and building new facilities.