Toast is doing reservations now

...because why not?

Photo by Carlos Lindner on Unsplash

Today, restaurant software provider Toast introduced Toast Tables, reservations and waitlists built into its point of sale system. Restaurants who use Toast — and there are a lot of them — can easily set it up to accept reservations directly and manage the meal from ordering to payment.

Access to an unlimited waitlist costs $50 per month and includes 25 reservations “to use as needed,” according to a company rep. Access to unlimited advance reservations and the waitlist costs restaurants $199 monthly with no per-cover fees.

Maybe most importantly, the tech is already integrated with Google, which means it connects to that big blue “Reserve” button that pops up when you search for a restaurant. It’s a bet on bookings that we’ve seen before, positioning direct reservations as an alternative to networks like OpenTable and Resy that market on behalf of restaurants via marketplaces, events, and more.

According to Toast’s own survey data, guests use Google Maps to search for restaurants more than any other digital method — it’s second only to recommendations from a friend. Third-party networks represent just 3 percent of discovery, according to data from the company (that, it must be said, clearly benefits from this narrative).

It’s an interesting hit at third-party networks, which own restaurant discovery in some circumstances. Remember when Resy won?