TToast IQ

Toast says more than 125,000 US restaurant locations used Toast IQ in the first quarter of 2026, sending it millions of requests. That reach comes from where it lives: inside the Toast point-of-sale platform, already connected to each restaurant’s sales, labor, menu and guest data. Toast IQ answers questions from that data and takes actions such as 86ing a dish, adjusting stock or building a schedule, with paid agent bundles for marketing and labor.

It is best for restaurants already running on Toast that want an assistant with no setup and agents that turn data into action. Two points to weigh: it works only on Toast, and the Grow marketing bundle went from $499 a month at launch to a reported $699 about five months later. Paid agents start at $60 a month plus $9 per employee. We rate it 8.6/10 on our scale. We have not used Toast IQ; this review is based on Toast’s support documentation, press releases and trade coverage.

Formal Usage Data and Paid Agent Pilot Results

Toast publishes unusually detailed usage data for Toast IQ, along with pilot results for its paid agents. As a public company, its figures are company-reported but disclosed formally.

The adoption figure is the headline: 125,000 US users is the equivalent of about 73% of all Toast locations, reached within six months of launch. That reflects distribution more than a buying decision, since Toast IQ appears inside software restaurants already use, but it also means the assistant has been tested on a wide range of restaurant types. The topic breakdown shows what operators actually want from it: sales numbers first, then menu and inventory.

The pilot numbers need context. The 8% sales lift came from restaurants working with a human Marketing Success Manager, not from the AI alone, and the top quarter of performers pulled the average up. The 41% overtime cut is a beta result reported by Toast. Treat both as reasons to test, not guarantees.

A Free Assistant, Paid Agent Bundles and Early Access

Toast IQ has three layers: an assistant every eligible user can open, paid agent bundles for marketing and labor, and newer agents in early access.

The Assistant

The assistant sits in the top-left menu of Toast Web and the bottom bar of the Toast Now app. Operators ask in plain language, and the most common request is a short daily briefing. It answers questions on sales, labor and other business data, explains tip pooling and how tips were calculated, tracks Toast Delivery Services orders and drivers in the US, supports modifier-level reporting and helps set up catering. A For You feed surfaces trends and local-market insights without being asked.

Actions and Guardrails

• What it can change: mark menu items in or out of stock, adjust stock, edit auto clockouts, and update front-of-house settings and menu kitchen settings such as prep station, sort order, prep time and course.
• Confirmation: every change made through chat must be confirmed before it is published.
• Drafts only for campaigns: email and SMS campaigns created by the assistant stay as drafts until the operator sends or schedules them.
• Permissions: users need the Sales Reports or Labor Reports permission to open Toast IQ, and menu edits require menu editing rights.

Toast IQ Grow

Grow is the marketing bundle. Its Marketing Agent reviews past performance, spots openings such as a holiday promotion or a slow shift, and plans campaigns across email, SMS and organic social, which it creates and runs with the operator’s approval. A human Marketing Success Manager guides direction and messaging. In October 2026 Toast added an SEO Agent that monitors visibility in traditional and AI search, a Reviews Agent that asks guests for reviews and routes unhappy guests to a private feedback channel, and an Offers Agent that builds promotions for goals such as winning back lapsed guests. Grow also bundles email, SMS, loyalty, gift cards, websites, online ordering, guest CRM and advertising tools.

Toast IQ Team

Team is the labor bundle. Its Scheduling Agent builds a schedule in seconds from employee availability, expected sales and overtime risk. It also includes AI sales forecasts for staffing plans and Team Performance contests in the MyToast employee app, with a live leaderboard for upselling specific items.

Early Access Agents

Announced on October 6, 2026: a Menu Agent that rewrites weak descriptions and recommends prices, an Answering Agent that picks up the phone, and Configurable Agents built from templates, for example to catch missed clock-outs, flag unusual voids or forecast food prep.

Report Permissions and Where to Find Toast IQ

• Check permissions: an admin grants Sales Reports or Labor Reports access to the people who should use it.
• Open it: find Toast IQ in Toast Web or the Toast Now app; mid-market and enterprise accounts arrange access through their customer success manager.
• Set a language: ask it to reply in Spanish, Chinese, Korean or another language within the session.
• Add bundles: buy Grow or Team through Toast if you want the marketing or scheduling agents.

Spring Release Prices and the Reported Grow Increase

Prices below are from Toast’s May 2026 Spring Release announcement and Nation’s Restaurant News reporting in October 2026.

A 15-Person Cafe and a Larger Labor-Bundle User

These scenarios use the published Team price and the reported October 2026 Grow price. Headcounts are our own assumptions.

• A 15-person cafe using only the assistant: no add-on cost beyond its Toast subscription. Adding Team for scheduling costs $60 plus 15 times $9, or $195 a month.
• A 25-person full-service restaurant with Team and Grow: Team comes to $285 a month and Grow to $699, for $984 a month, or $11,808 a year. If Grow lifts sales by the 6% Toast cites as typical on $100,000 in monthly sales, that is $6,000 more revenue a month before food and labor costs.
• A 40-person restaurant on Team only: $60 plus 40 times $9 is $420 a month. If the agent trims overtime by even a few hours a week at time-and-a-half wages, it can cover that, but check your own overtime baseline first.

Variable costs: the Team fee scales with every employee you add, the Grow price has already moved once, SMS sends may carry their own costs, and the underlying Toast POS, payments and hardware are separate.

Toast IQ Compared With Popmenu AI Answering, Yelp Host and Loman AI

Toast IQ is an AI layer on a POS; its rivals are mostly standalone tools a restaurant adds on top. The comparison is useful for operators deciding whether to buy marketing and phone AI from their POS vendor or from a specialist.

For a Toast restaurant, Toast IQ is the default for data questions and scheduling, since nothing else sees the same data without exports. Phone answering is where specialists still lead: Toast’s own Answering Agent is in early access, while Yelp Host and Loman already take orders into Toast. For marketing, Grow competes with Popmenu, which bundles a website, marketing and AI phone answering for restaurants on any POS. Browse more on our restaurant agents and marketing agents pages.

Every Restaurant Already on Toast

• Every restaurant already on Toast: the assistant is already there for users with report permissions, so a daily briefing or a sales breakdown costs nothing extra to try.
• Managers who spend hours on schedules: the Scheduling Agent builds them from availability, forecast sales and overtime risk, and Toast reported 41% less overtime per employee in beta.
• Owners without a marketing hire: Grow’s Marketing Agent plus a human Marketing Success Manager covers campaign planning across email, SMS and social.
• Fine dining operators: Toast’s data shows fine dining locations used Toast IQ 29% more than fast-casual restaurants.
• Multi-location groups on Toast: Spring Release added multi-location analysis, and enterprise accounts get access through their success manager.

Other POS Users and Anyone Needing Phone AI Now

• Restaurants on another POS: Toast IQ only works with Toast data and is not sold separately.
• Operators who need phone automation now: Toast’s Answering Agent is still in early access; Yelp Host or Loman AI handle calls today.
• Very small teams on tight budgets: a $699 Grow bundle is a large monthly cost for a counter-service spot doing modest sales.
• Restaurants outside the US that rely on SMS: SMS campaigns are US-only, and several data features are US-only too.

Grow Moved From $499 to $699 in Five Months

• Price movement: Grow launched at $499 a month in May 2026 and was reported at $699 in October. Get your rate and renewal terms in writing.
• Accuracy checks: Toast says Toast IQ can make mistakes and that important information should be verified, so double-check figures before acting on them.
• Account-wide setting: Toast IQ cannot yet be fully disabled or hidden account-wide; control access through permissions instead.
• Vendor-run results: the 8% Grow lift and 41% overtime cut come from Toast pilots and betas, and the Grow lift included a human marketer.
• Support feedback: G2 reviewers of the Toast platform most often mention customer support and confusing costs, which matters when an agent changes live menu settings.
• Platform commitment: the more of your marketing, scheduling and menu work runs through Toast IQ, the more a later move away from Toast would involve.

New Scheduling, SEO and Review Agents in October

• October 2026: Toast unveiled new agents on October 6, including the Scheduling Agent, SEO, Reviews and Offers agents, and early access to Menu, Answering and Configurable Agents. Nation’s Restaurant News reported Grow at $699 a month and Team at $60 plus $9 per employee.
• June 2026: Toast published usage data showing more than 125,000 US locations used Toast IQ in Q1 2026.
• May 2026: Toast launched Toast IQ Grow at $499 a month in its Spring Release, with more than 20 updates including AI invoice scanning and menu upsells.

Free to Try for Toast Restaurants With No Setup

For restaurants on Toast, yes. The assistant costs nothing extra to try for users with the right permissions, needs no setup and acts on data you already have, with sensible guardrails: confirmation before changes, drafts for campaigns and permission-based access. The paid agents are where the value case needs proof. The Scheduling Agent’s 41% beta overtime cut and the Grow pilot’s 8% sales lift are promising, but both are Toast’s own numbers.

It scores 8.6/10 on our scale: high on setup and governance, solid on autonomy and integrations within Toast, with the Toast-only design, a Grow price that rose within months and support feedback about Toast itself weighing on the score. Start with the assistant, add Team if scheduling eats your managers’ time, and trial Grow against a clear sales baseline before committing.

Restaurant Operators’ Toast IQ Questions

Is Toast IQ Free for Toast Customers?

The Toast IQ assistant appears in Toast Web and the Toast Now app for users with Sales Reports or Labor Reports permissions. The agent bundles cost extra: Toast IQ Team starts at $60 a month plus $9 per employee, and Toast IQ Grow was reported at $699 a month in October 2026.

What Actions Can Toast IQ Take?

It can mark items in or out of stock, adjust stock, edit auto clockouts and update front-of-house and kitchen settings, among others. Each change must be confirmed before it is published, and campaigns it drafts are not sent until you send or schedule them.

Does Toast IQ Use My Data to Train AI?

Toast says requested data is sent to a third-party language model through a dedicated, enterprise-only instance, and the provider does not use it for general training or mix it with other customers’ data. Chat sessions are stored so you can review them.

Can Toast IQ Answer the Restaurant Phone?

Toast announced an Answering Agent in October 2026, but it is in early access. Restaurants that need phone automation now can use a dedicated agent such as Yelp Host or Loman AI, both of which send orders into Toast.

Can I Turn Off Toast IQ?

Toast says Toast IQ cannot be fully disabled or hidden account-wide. You can limit who uses it through Toast Web permissions, since access requires Sales Reports or Labor Reports rights.