Toast Deploys AI Tools for Labor Management and Marketing to Help Restaurateurs Cut Costs

Toast Unveils AI-Driven Labor Management Tools for Restaurant Operations

Toast introduced Toast IQ Team, an AI-powered labor management solution designed to help restaurateurs optimize staffing and scheduling while controlling costs1

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. The new platform combines sales forecasting, automated scheduling, and gamification features with payroll integration and tip management to address the persistent challenge of labor costs in the restaurant industry. This launch represents Toast's continued push into agentic AI solutions that deliver measurable business outcomes for operators.

The AI tools within Toast IQ Team include a sales forecasting feature that analyzes historical POS data to help operators plan staffing around anticipated demand, bringing more predictability to labor costs2

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. The Scheduling Agent, currently in beta, builds complete schedules in seconds based on employee availability, expected sales, and overtime risk1

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. This automation tackles a time-consuming task that typically requires managers to manually balance multiple variables.

Gamification and Employee Performance Features Drive Team Productivity

Toast IQ Team introduces a Team Performance tool that enables operators to launch in-platform contests to motivate staff around high-margin specials, with live leaderboards displayed in MyToast, Toast's mobile app for restaurant and retail employees2

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. This gamification approach helps boost sales on featured items while improving employee performance and engagement. The newly enhanced MyToast employee app gives staff one place on their phones to view schedules, swap shifts, check earnings, and track contest leaderboards2

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The restaurant management platform also includes a Tips Manager that automates tip pool calculations and provides digital receipts employees can review, eliminating manual calculations and potential errors1

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. Payroll integration enables operators to offer health insurance and 401(k) plans integrated directly with payroll, while Timekeeping in Toast POS syncs schedules directly with the point-of-sale system so operators can monitor early clock-ins and shift end times2

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. Toast also introduced Payroll Success Partners, offering dedicated human payroll support that operators know by name for ongoing guidance2

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Toast IQ Grow Expands with SEO Agent and Reviews Agent for Marketing Automation

Alongside Toast IQ Team, Toast significantly expanded Toast IQ Grow, the complete marketing solution introduced earlier in 20262

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. The expansion includes new AI agents for SEO, reputation management, and offers that are grounded in each business's own Toast data. The SEO Agent, currently in beta, continuously reviews a business's online presence and Toast data to identify what may be limiting its discoverability across traditional and AI-powered search, then provides actionable recommendations such as highlighting trending menu items on their website2

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The Reviews Agent helps maintain online reputation by automatically prompting guests for reviews at moments they're already engaging with the business, such as online order confirmations, and gives unhappy guests a direct channel to share feedback so operators can respond quickly2

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. The Offers Agent recommends promotions around goals operators set, such as welcoming new guests or winning back lapsed ones, built on each business's own guest and transaction data rather than generic discounts2

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. Toast IQ Grow also now includes Photography Services, offering two in-person photoshoots per year with professional photographers to enhance website and listing visuals2

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Additional AI Agents and Platform Updates in Fall Release

The Fall Release includes additional AI agents available through Toast's Test Kitchen for existing customers. The Menu Agent identifies and executes menu optimizations like improved descriptions, finds missing or weak digital menu content, and provides pricing recommendations2

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. The Answering Agent helps answer phones so operators capture more guest interactions with fewer interruptions2

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. Toast IQ Configurable Agents enable operators to set up AI agents from prebuilt templates with little technical expertise required to accomplish tasks like catching missed clock-outs before payroll closes or flagging unusual voids within the hour2

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Toast Chief Product Officer Mike Miller stated that "the enhancements to Toast IQ Grow are engineered to attract more guests to an operator's front door and keep them coming back, while Toast IQ Team is designed to start tackling back-office work that comes with that growth"1

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. The platform also added support for Spanish, Simplified Chinese, and Québec French languages across Toast Web, the Toast IQ AI assistant, and hardware devices, allowing multilingual teams to work in their preferred language2

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. Toast CEO Aman Narang noted in August that the company recorded 9,500 net location adds in the second quarter, 1,000 more than its previous high, as Toast continues reinventing its platform with AI agents and software working together to drive business outcomes1

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