Toast, Inc.
Acquisitions
3
Major Deals Covered
This page covers 3 major deals from 2021 to 2023, each with its price where disclosed and the reason behind it.
| Company | Year | Price | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| xtraCHEF | 2021 | Undisclosed | Acquired the automated restaurant inventory management and food cost tracking platform. |
| Sling | 2021 | Undisclosed | Acquired the leading employee scheduling and labor communication platform. |
| Delphi Display Systems | 2023 | Undisclosed | Acquired the leading provider of digital drive-thru display systems and order confirmation technology. |
2023
Acquired the leading provider of digital drive-thru display systems and order confirmation technology.
Accelerated Toast's expansion into quick-service drive-thru restaurant chains.
Integrated into Toast Drive-Thru.
2021
Acquired the automated restaurant inventory management and food cost tracking platform.
Allowed Toast restaurants to track real-time ingredient costs, automate accounts payable, and manage supplier invoices.
Integrated directly into Toast's back-office software suite.
2021
Acquired the leading employee scheduling and labor communication platform.
Provided restaurant operators with shift scheduling, labor budget tracking, and real-time team messaging.
Integrated as Toast Scheduling.
Toast's growth strategy has four parts: keep adding small and mid-sized US restaurants through local field sales; win enterprise chains; expand into adjacent food and beverage verticals and international markets (Canada, the UK and Ireland); and raise revenue per location by attaching more software modules, including AI-driven marketing and analytics under the Toast IQ brand.
Toast sells restaurants a bundled platform and monetizes it in three ways. Financial technology solutions, mainly card processing on the gross payment volume that runs through Toast terminals and online ordering, make up the large majority of revenue (roughly four-fifths in recent filings), though payments carry thinner margins than software. Subscription services, charged per location or per module for POS software, kitchen display, online ordering, payroll, scheduling, inventory and marketing tools, form a smaller but high-margin share. Hardware and professional services (terminals, Toast Go handhelds, installation) are sold near or below cost to win accounts. Toast also offers Toast Capital working-capital loans through a partner bank. Management tracks 'recurring gross profit' from subscriptions and fintech, which grew 33% in 2025 and 28% in Q2 2026.
In July 2019, Toast acquired Chicago-based HR and payroll software company StratEx, directly integrating automated tip-pooling, restaurant payroll, and compliance filing to create Toast Payroll and Team Management.
In June 2021, Toast acquired xtraCHEF, an automated restaurant invoice management and food cost analytics platform, giving chefs real-time visibility into supplier price changes, inventory waste, and menu profitability.
In June 2022, Toast acquired Sling, an employee scheduling and team communication platform used by thousands of hospitality businesses, allowing managers to schedule shifts and control labor overtime directly within Toast POS.
In February 2023, Toast acquired Delphi Display Systems, a premier provider of outdoor digital drive-thru menu boards and drive-thru timing systems, accelerating Toast's expansion into fast-food and quick-service restaurant (QSR) chains.
Toast seeks bolt-on software platforms that solve specific restaurant operational pain points (labor, inventory, drive-thru), feature high customer satisfaction, can be natively integrated into Toast's cloud stack, and expand average revenue per location.
Rather than acquiring every hospitality tool, Toast operates Partner Connect, an open API marketplace connecting over 200 certified third-party apps (e.g., DoorDash, 7shifts, BentoBox, MarginEdge), allowing restaurants to customize their tech stack.
Toast avoided buying high-burn third-party delivery marketplaces (like Grubhub), preferring to develop its proprietary Toast TakeOut mobile app organically to keep takeout commissions near zero for restaurants.
Toast integrates acquired product teams directly into its core R&D organization, unifying codebases onto its cloud platform and standardizing user interfaces to prevent fragmented customer experiences.
Toast Payroll became one of the fastest-growing subscription modules in the company's history, cross-selling to over 30% of active POS customers who wanted an integrated tip-calculation and payroll system.
Backed by over $1.5 billion in cash reserves and positive free cash flow, Toast finances its strategic tuck-in acquisitions through balance-sheet cash and modest common stock grants without incurring debt.
Acquiring high-margin software tools (xtraCHEF, Sling) enabled Toast to expand recurring software subscription fees per restaurant, lifting gross profit per location and accelerating GAAP net income.
Toast targets technology bolt-ons in AI kitchen automation, automated marketing personalization, international multi-currency payment gateways, and retail food-and-beverage inventory systems.
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