PAR Brink POS vs. Toast Point of Sale

Brink just needs to continue to develop its technology for the every-changing industry.

Incentivized

For restaurants it's great, and that's the only scenario I'm really use to seeing it. However I do have to say that during Christmas time, our city has a craft bizarre where local artists are featured and sell their wares, and this Bizarre was using Toast POS. Therefore, I think it can really span across all avenues. It's great because of how it categorizes menus, and how you can run reports like a p-mix to see your top sellers, and bottom sellers, etc. The more I think of it, now, really any business that sells something and needs to track those sales, could use this POS. A tire store? Sure. A hat shop? Absolutely. The great thing about Toast is that it is just SO customizable! You can even make the buttons different colors, that's how customizable it is. Lastly, the ability to sell online has been a game-changer. I wish there was a little bit better formatting for online ordering, but really, you can add pictures, descriptions, modifiers, use discount codes, and accept gift cards all online. We didn't have to build out an online store, we just had to build out our menu buttons and we were all set.

Incentivized

• Brink has a simple interface for the team to use in their day to day.
• Brink is mostly simple to reconfigure to our needs in the field.

Incentivized

• The ability for guest to select a receipt type.
• Allowing to enter in different types of orders (current in-store orders, future orders, house account orders, and more).
• The convenience of touch screen use and strong calibration.
• Ability to swivel tablet from employee to guest.

Incentivized

• Brink could update its hardware to the sign of the times with guest interactive POS.
• Appears clunky at times with its processes and steps.
• Brink needs to be able to edit it reporting features to get the desired result for time clock compliance especially in CA with Meal Break Laws.
• Brink needs to integrate its time clock process in CA, for a team member to accept or decline time clock edits and to waive a mandatory break.
• Brink needs better integration with KDS systems to do exactly what we need it to do as our business model develops into the future.

Incentivized

• Though sales details are available in real time, the analytics take 2-3 days to post. So if you are looking for specific modifications you'll have to wait.
• Though you can edit the menus directly from the devices and move them around like you do on a smartphone, it doesn't give you a sorting option. If you're OCD like me, you have to alphabetize my hand.

Incentivized

There are many features I wish Toast had that it currently does not, but we are likely to renew this year because given Toast's recent increase in funding and expanding of their staff, we are hopeful some of these issues will finally be resolved in 2019. Plus, though I've never done it, I'd imagine that switching to another POS system would take a ton of time, money, and resources---things most businesses don't have a lot of. So we'll sit tight with Toast for now and see what they come up with this year in terms of fixing our biggest pain-points.

Incentivized

Toast POS is a great basic POS tool, having some features I didn't think would be possible at this price point, such as:

• processing CC payments in "offline mode" in case there is an internet outage
• kitchen display screens
• collecting payment from customers using a handheld right at their table
• pre-approving card payments to assure the customer has enough money to pay for their order, etc

That being said, I still feel that Toast misses the mark on some things that I truly would consider 'common-sense' features, such as:

• providing hardware that connects the Register Screen (Elo) to the Cash drawer so it doesn't fall off the table when flipped over for customer signature
• accepting physical and e-gift cards as payment on their own online ordering platform (ToastOO)
• a Rewards Program that allows for online enrollment, rather than holding up quick-serve lines to sign up
• a Promo code feature that allows you to add basic restrictions such as Limit 1 per customer, or date/time limitations
• increasing in-store operations efficiency by creating more straight-forward ways to manage restaurant/ToastOO hours, and Delivery/Takeout quote estimates

Facing these issues after 3+ years has been a frustration. We hope Toast has some solutions in mind that they will be implementing in 2019.

Incentivized

I believe Brink has been very responsive to our needs and requests

Incentivized

I inherited Brink and it works for us for now. But as we grow in CA and other markets, Brink maybe becomes a challenge with time record compliance and the ability to perform up to expectations with KDS systems.

Incentivized

Toast is so much easier to use than Breadcrumb. The display is so much easier to navigate. The card readers are more quality with Toast. Chownow was hard because it had its own printer, different than our kitchen printer, for to go orders, but now with Toast's all in one ordering we get the to go orders sent to the kitchen with the same ease as if they were getting fired from the main floor.

Incentivized

• Positive impact on its simplicity with our growth and ability to teach and transform our business.
• Negative impact on the business with time clock compliance in CA. We need more functionality for the Team Member experience in time clock management.

Incentivized

• I wish there are a way to permanently delete items from the database instead of just archiving
• I wish there was a way to remove old locations that are no longer in use for my company completely from view.
• The system overall is easy to navigate and make changes to.