The positioning statement describes the impression we want to make in our customers’ minds. The boilerplate answers “What is Toast?” to the media.
When you run your restaurant on Toast, you’re not just getting reliable, easy-to-use restaurant technology. You’re plugging into a platform that sets you up to grow your business, provide off-premise dining, manage your team, and fund your vision for the future. We help you bridge the divide between point of sale, payment processing, marketing, labor management, online ordering, and more — functions that are usually disconnected in restaurant operations. With Toast, your tools work together to grow your business.
Toast [NYSE: TOST] is the all-in-one platform built for restaurants of all sizes. Toast provides a single platform of software as a service (SaaS) products and financial technology solutions that give restaurants everything they need to run their business across point of sale, operations, digital ordering and delivery, marketing and loyalty, and team management. By serving as the restaurant operating system across dine-in, takeout, and delivery channels, Toast helps restaurants streamline operations, increase revenue and deliver amazing guest experiences. For more information, visit www.toasttab.com
The restaurant industry is the most demographically diverse in the country. Its diversity doesn’t stop there; our audience includes immense geographical and cultural diversity, as well as an extensive range of business models (and even languages) that underpin the service industry.
The Toast audience sometimes hold contrasting — and, even, opposing — interests. Consider, for example, the Mom and Pop taco shop up against a fast-casual chain that opens down the street. Toast must speak to universal issues with a strong point of view without prioritizing or alienating the challenges of one group over another. If Toast can embrace the complexities of its audience from the beginning with an engaging, inclusive voice, it will set an important precedent in an industry that has traditionally elevated the voice of the white, male, high-end chef.
Our audience is a blend of these roles:
Owner/operators
Managers/GMs
Chefs
Servers
Vendors
Consultants
These readers come from all types of restaurants, including:
Casual full-service restaurants, like Suviche
Fast-casual SMB and franchise restaurants, like Cava
Fine-dining restaurants, like Union Square Cafe
Small-scale mom and pop restaurants, like Mei Mei
Cafes/bakeries, like Tartine
Consider, too, that the intended audience could live at the top of the funnel (think prospective customers or even guests), at the bottom of the funnel (think current customers), or outside of the restaurant community itself (think investors and Toast employees). Consider your tone (at the bottom of this page!) when communicating with this wide range of potential audiences.
Toast’s voice is the persona behind everything we say, write, and do. It’s an essential tool to help us connect with our audience. Resonating with the diverse, hard-working restaurant community relies on our ability to sound warm, bold, and helpful – just like them.
What is the Toast voice? What do we sound like?
We are warm. Also: welcoming, friendly, conversational, inclusive, human, humble
We are bold. Also: confident, innovative, in-the-know, strong, gutsy
We are helpful. Also: consistent, solutions-oriented, positive, compassionate
We put the heart in hospitality.
We’re welcoming and friendly – but never too bubbly.
We’re conversational – but we don’t use text speak.
We’re empathetic and understanding. We assume everyone’s doing their best.
We champion inclusivity, and believe we’re better, together.
A humble, approachable voice is the bridge that allows us to join the restaurant world – despite being tech-world outsiders. Bold and helpful without ‘warm’ is just self-righteous.
Write the way you speak. Use contractions to make your copy sound more human.
Don't: It is easy to get up and running when you sign up for Toast.
Do: It’s easy to get up and running with Toast.
Use inclusive language and the singular they. Avoid sweeping, generalized statements.
Don't: When you imagine a hostess, you probably think of a young woman who smiles and walks you to your table.
Do: The host, often an entry-level role, plays a significant part in a restaurant’s operations.
We talk about our customers – not ourselves.
Don't: We’re excited to announce Toast’s new online ordering tools.
Do: Your new online ordering tools just got way more powerful.
Use second-person “you” language to emphasize what the reader can do.
Don't: Restaurant owners often wonder how to structure their teams, look for candidates, and identify the best fit.
Do: When you’re hiring a new employee, turn to your existing team for help with the process.
Note: There are some exceptions to this rule. For example, press releases and some technical docs where we need to identify the user of a product.
We write confidently and with perspective.
Our copy always has energy.
We weave in wit and dry humor when it works.
We’re in-the-know, not know-it-alls.
We write about the restaurant world the way restaurant people talk about food: confidently, passionately, and full of clear details.
Write decisively. Bland is the enemy.
Don't: You never really know what you need until you open your doors.
Do: It takes courage to open a restaurant.
Think: Succinct, clear, specific.
Don't: The time has finally arrived, and we simply could not be more excited to set up your Toast account with you.
Do: It’s time! Let’s set up your Toast account.
Note: Specificity requires bravery, but data makes it easy. If there’s a data point to support a bold claim, use it!
Use the active voice. Strong verbs are your friend.
Don't: Fast service mode can be used to speed up service.
Do: Speed up service with fast service mode.
Short, strong sentences have a huge impact. Sprinkle them in.
Don't: Working in restaurants can help you foster a resilient mindset, and that characteristic can serve you as you grow in your career in the industry.
Do: Stay scrappy.
We roll up our sleeves – with a smile.
We opt for clarity over cuteness.
We take consistency seriously.
We’re as positive as possible – and never fake.
Finding solutions? It’s kind of our thing.
To put it mildly: our customers are busy. We respect their time by focusing on solutions, getting to the point, and showing up in the same way, time after time after time.
Use the same terms the same way. Align with other teams on usage. This also applies to grammar.
Don't: Use acronyms.
Do: Use product names and terminology consistently.
Do: Use the serial comma to create clarity.
Simple and succinct. Hint: Read it out loud. Is it confusing? Do you stumble through it?
Don't: Select a name to enable your account and get started with setting up Toast.
Do: Choose a name to get started.
Nix the corporate jargon and technical terms.
Don't: Our new pooled tips report can be utilized to determine an itemized view of non-cash tips recorded divided by tipped hours worked per tipped employee.
Do: Here’s your new pooled tips report. Use it to see your employees’ average hourly tips.
The exception: Is it a technical term that might build trust with our customers? Think to yourself, "Would our customer understand?" If so, give it a try.
The mantra: As positive as possible. Empower the reader to feel ownership and agency.
Don't: You can’t get a donut if you don’t stand in line.
Do: To get a donut, stand in line.
Toast’s brand voice is always warm, bold, and helpful. That voice is who we are, 100% of the time.
Our tone, on the other hand, is the way we sound depending on the situation. Shifting our tone depending on the audience, the channel, and the content itself allows our brand voice to adapt for the wide range of content we create.
For example, say you’re looking at different pieces of Toast content.
The Instagram story will turn the dial up on warmth and conversationality, and might read a little younger. (It’s a channel best practice.)
Instructional copy written for a new feature will sound clear and straightforward. It’ll still sound warm – it’s us, after all! – but it will opt for clarity over personality.
The TV spot will turn up the dial on boldness. We want to be as memorable as possible.
An onboarding email will turn up the dial on helpfulness. Our goal is to make the content as accessible and action-oriented as possible.
Would you say it out loud? Copy should be clear and conversational.
Tips & Tactics:
Does it have energy? Does it have a POV?
Tips & Tactics:
Could it be easier to understand?
Tips & Tactics:
Is it about Toast or the customer? Is the focus on solutions over problems?
Tips & Tactics:
We use AP Style and the Merriam-Webster dictionary as the foundation for a lot of our decisions.
Our customers are delightfully diverse. They come from different cultural backgrounds, education levels, regions, and they speak different languages. They’re also short on time. To communicate in an inclusive and accessible way, we write for a grade level of six to seven. Use a readability score tool to test your words.
For more guidance on voice and tone and how to use style and grammar in your writing, see the full Toast voice, tone, and style guide on the wiki.
Visit the Toast writing wiki for even more tips, tricks, and tools.
