Company officials have repeated that introducing the disputed order processing fee was a mistake on their side, less than a month after restaurant point-of-sale (POS) vendor Toast reversed its decision to charge consumers $0.99 for order processing on online transactions of $10 or more.
Toast CEO Chris Comparato said during the company’s second quarter 2023 earnings call to investors on Tuesday (Aug. 8) that the company failed in how it attempted to monetize the value of its digital ordering suite while having the best of intentions to keep prices low for customers.
We run our business with the guiding principle that we listen to our clients, and we relentlessly pursue our goal of being the trusted partner of the restaurant industry. We removed the $0.99 consumer facing cost from Toast’s digital ordering channels based on this reasoning and following lengthy, fruitful talks with our consumers, Comparato told investors on the call.
He continued by saying that going ahead, the business will be “more thoughtful” about how price is altered because it understands “the importance of considering the impact to all stakeholders as we do that.”
Just one month after it was announced, the tax was eliminated in response to a strong backlash from eateries, who are already under a lot of strain due to the macroeconomic climate.
