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Toast, Inc.

Restaurant Management SoftwareFounded 2011
Reviewed by Swet Parvadiya
Company data updated: October 2026

Founders

Who Founded Toast?

Aman Narang, Steve Fredette, Jonathan Grimm · Founded 2011 · HQ today: Boston, Massachusetts, United States

Who founded Toast?

Toast was founded by Aman Narang, Steve Fredette, Jonathan Grimm in 2011. It is now led by Aman Narang.

Founders
Aman Narang, Steve Fredette, Jonathan Grimm
Founded
2011
Headquarters
Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Number of founders
3
Current CEO
Aman Narang (since 2024)
Where was Toast founded?
Toast was founded in Boston, Massachusetts, United States in 2011.
When was Toast founded?
Toast was founded in 2011.
Who started Toast?
Toast was founded by Aman Narang, Steve Fredette and Jonathan Grimm.
How old is Toast?
Toast is 15 years old as of 2026.

Founding Story

Toast was founded in 2011 in the Boston area by Aman Narang, Steve Fredette and Jonathan Grimm, who had worked together at Endeca, an enterprise search company Oracle agreed to buy in 2011 for about $1.1 billion. Their first product was a mobile app that let diners view and pay their checks by phone. Restaurant owners told them the real problem was the aging, server-based POS systems that the app would have to connect to. The founders changed course and built an Android-based cloud POS for restaurants, signing early customers in Boston and raising venture capital from investors including Bessemer Venture Partners. Building restaurant-specific features such as kitchen display routing, handheld ordering and offline mode helped Toast spread through local restaurant communities before expanding nationally.

Aman Narang

Background

Software engineer who previously worked at Endeca (acquired by Oracle).

Role at Toast, Inc.

Aman Narang co-founded Toast in 2011 alongside Steve Fredette and Jonathan Grimm. Originally attempting to build a mobile payment app for restaurants, the founders pivoted to building a complete Android-based point-of-sale system. As Co-President, Narang drove the aggressive go-to-market strategy that allowed Toast to rapidly displace legacy systems like Micros in independent restaurants. He took over as CEO in 2024. Aman Narang was born in 1982.

Steve Fredette

Background

Software engineer and early employee at Endeca.

Role at Toast, Inc.

Steve Fredette co-founded Toast in 2011. As President and long-time product visionary, he architected the company's shift from a simple POS hardware provider into a comprehensive software ecosystem handling payroll, inventory, and online ordering for restaurants. (Exact birth year remains publicly undisclosed).

Jonathan Grimm

Background

Software engineer who worked on core search infrastructure at Endeca.

Role at Toast, Inc.

Jonathan Grimm co-founded Toast and served as its Chief Technology Officer. He built the initial cloud-native backend that allowed restaurants to manage menus and view analytics from anywhere, a massive upgrade over the hard-wired, on-premise servers used by legacy competitors. (Exact birth year remains publicly undisclosed).

Toast, Inc.: CEO & Leadership History

Full timeline →

Aman Narang

Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer

2024 – Present

He successfully guided the company toward GAAP profitability while maintaining massive market share growth against rivals like Square and Clover.

Chris Comparato

Chief Executive Officer

2015 – 2023

As CEO from 2015 to 2023, he scaled the company from a small startup into the dominant cloud POS provider in the US restaurant industry, increasing locations served to over 100,000.

Compare Toast, Inc. Leadership With Competitors

Toast, Inc. vs Zerodha Leadership →Overview
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Toast, Inc. vs N26 Leadership →Overview

Keep researching Toast

Who Founded Toast? FAQ

Who are the three founders of Toast, Inc.?

Toast was founded in 2011 by three MIT-educated software engineers: Aman Narang, Steve Fredette, and Jonathan Grimm.

Where did the three founders meet and work together before Toast?

The founders worked together as senior software engineers and product leaders at Endeca, a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based enterprise eCommerce search company that was acquired by Oracle in 2011 for $1.1 billion.

What initial consumer problem were the founders trying to solve in 2011?

Frustrated by waiting 15 minutes for waitstaff to bring and process paper bill checks at busy Boston restaurants, the founders created a mobile payment app that let diners scan a barcode and pay directly from their phones.

Why did the founders abandon their consumer payment app to build a restaurant POS?

Early restaurant owners explained that their legacy server-based cash registers could not integrate with modern mobile apps. The founders realized that to fix the dining payment experience, they had to rebuild the entire restaurant POS operating system.

Why did the founders choose the Android operating system for Toast hardware?

While early tablet competitors built exclusively on expensive Apple iPads, the founders chose Android because it allowed them to build on open hardware, manufacture ruggedized devices with built-in card readers, and support commercial kitchen printers.

What were the earliest working conditions like for the founders in Boston?

In 2012, operating out of a cramped office in Cambridge, the three founders personally delivered hardware in their cars, ran cables through greasy restaurant ceilings, and wrote custom software code overnight to fix kitchen printing bugs.

How did Steve Fredette contribute to the early platform architecture?

Steve Fredette served as the principal systems architect, designing the real-time offline synchronization protocol that allows Toast terminals to continue taking orders even when internet cables are severed.

What was Jonathan Grimm's unique focus in the founding phase?

Jonathan Grimm focused on user interface design and customer empathy, spending hundreds of hours behind busy restaurant bars observing how bartenders navigate drink modifier screens during peak rush hours.

How did early venture capital investors discover the founders?

Impressed by the founders' Endeca engineering pedigree and explosive grassroots customer love in Boston restaurants, Bessemer Venture Partners led early funding rounds alongside prominent angel investors.

What happened to the founders' ownership after the 2021 NYSE IPO?

All three founders retained significant equity ownership and active corporate governance roles, with Aman Narang continuing to serve as CEO and Steve Fredette serving on the Board of Directors.

What advice do the Toast founders share with aspiring software entrepreneurs?

The founders emphasize listening directly to end-users rather than falling in love with your own original idea, highlighting that their willing pivot away from their initial consumer app made Toast a multi-billion dollar company.

What is the lasting legacy of Aman Narang, Steve Fredette, and Jonathan Grimm?

They successfully liberated the global restaurant industry from cumbersome legacy cash registers, creating an elegant, cloud-connected operating system that powers over 180,000 dining establishments worldwide.

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Content is for informational purposes only. Not financial advice. Data sourced from SEC filings, annual reports, and public records. See our full disclaimer and methodology.