Toast Drops 99-Cent Fee
Toast is abandoning its new 99-cent online order fee that it rolled out nationwide July 10, amid pushback from many of the restaurants that use its POS software.
The Boston-based company drew complaints from its customers about the mandatory charge. In a letter posted on its website, Toast CEO Chris Comparato explains why the POS software company is reversing its decision.
"After extensive discussions with many of you, we have made the decision to remove the 99-cent order processing fee from the new version of our digital ordering suite by the end of this week.
"While we had the best of intentions — to keep costs low for our customers — that is not how the change was perceived by some of you. We made the wrong decision and following a careful review, including the additional feedback we received, the fee will be removed from our Toast digital ordering channels."
Fee Stirred Debate
Last month Toast began adding a new 99-cent “order processing fee” to online orders of more than $10 at a portion of its restaurant client locations. Toast, which processes POS orders at 85,000 restaurant locations, launched the fee nationwide on July 10.
The industry sounded off on what was classified by many as overreach. "I'd gladly pay for the best seat in the house and /or for some type of VIP treatment / special menu item or service, but don't charge me for the table stakes tech that runs your business,” said Angela Diffly, co-founder of the Restaurant Technology Network. in HT's June 28 article.
Alfonso de la Nuez, author of The Digital Experience Company: Winning In The Digital Economy With Experience Insights, agrees that customers are willing to pay for a better experience. “...The key for brands is to clearly demonstrate superior perceived value through that experience. If not, additional fees can actually turn customers off,” he said in this HT exclusive.