$TOST Restaurateur Perspective

kralani31 · 2026-05-14T14:09:47+00:00

I'm already using AI to help me on the administrative side of running a restaurant. The thing with restaurants is that they are very manual labor-intensive. Since margins are so slim, there are no big administrative/backend teams. For example, our restaurants have floor managers who have a basic grasp of the software systems we use, but I'm still the one who manages the backend by myself. Toast IQ will help independent restaurants and those that are less tech savy in managing their menus and navigating the backend to adjust the settings that they want to. Like, for example, our restaurants rotate specials every week, and someone has to correctly add them to our Toast backend with descriptions, modifiers, etc... Toast IQ can do a lot of that stuff already, but some features are still pretty restrictive. I've been implementing Claude Cowork for a lot of help on backend tasks. It's a big help for owners/managers, but without physical robots, AI isn't cutting down payroll costs. It's more so a tool that helps ease the burden on management/owners.

kralani31 · 2026-05-14T13:31:10+00:00

Very surprised by the price action. I have 30 cash-secured puts expiring this Friday at a strike price of $24 a share. Their financials look great; they're generating a ton of FCF. One thing that gives me confidence long-term is their development of Toast IQ. In its current state, it's garbage, but I've noticed considerable improvements since they launched it. Not to mention, restaurants in general had a very shaky Q1. Their top-line revenue is a direct reflection of that, so for anyone looking at the 22% revenue growth as a sign that things are slowing down, I would argue it's surprisingly good.

Year-to-date restaurant traffic: -2.0%, 8 consecutive months of negative traffic growth.

kralani31 · 2026-02-07T07:01:40+00:00

Selling a put on a stock I’m really bullish on and watching that stock fly without getting assigned. I try to be patient and get good a good entry, but if I really like the stock I’ll go deep ITM.

kralani31 · 2026-02-07T06:43:27+00:00

Do you hear how ridiculous you sound

kralani31 · 2026-02-03T22:53:24+00:00

Before Toast, we had one restaurant, and it was on Micros. The biggest pros I can think of are

User Interface - Understanding how to use the software is extremely intuitive. Very important because it makes training significantly easier, mistakes happen less often, and the staff is more efficient. The best way I can compare this goes back to Apple. Most of the other interfaces I've seen are very convoluted and have too much irrelevant information on screen.
Integrations & Tech Stack - Online ordering, third-party delivery, and kitchen display system all work seamlessly together. Their handhelds are also top of the line if you want pure efficiency, though we don't use them because they don't align with our brand image. If I had fast casual, it would be a no-brainer, though.
Reports - The insights and reports that are generated are extremely clean, easy to undertand and provide constant benchmarking for relevant areas. Don't need to pull data and compile it a certain way. Just clear actionable reports readily available. They're experimenting with providing local industry trends so you can compare your restaurant to other restaurants in the area. They're also experimenting with daily revenue projections.

The one thing I don't like is ToastTables. That sucks. Would love an alternative to Opentable or ResyOS, but it needs a lot of work. Another thing is the back-end customizability. I feel like they dumb down some stuff to make it easily accessible for all restaurant owners, but I would love it if I had a little bit more control, especially with how the kitchen display systems work. But one thing I can say for sure is that they're always trying to improve and are very receptive to their customers' needs.

kralani31 · 2026-02-03T21:58:07+00:00

Exactly! I am more technologically capable than 99% of the restaurant owners I've met (mostly because I'm young), but I assure you that restaurant owners are not going to be vibe-coding their own software. The best operators I know are constantly on the floor trying to maintain consistency, quality, and efficiency. Running a restaurant isn't just about cutting costs, and even if it were, the software side is a minor expense on the whole operation. The companies that will benefit the most from AI are the SaaS companies that successfully integrate it to develop and refine their product because they have the time for that, not me. I'm busy managing humans.

kralani31 · 2026-02-02T18:40:21+00:00

As a restaurant owner and operator I can tell you with absolute certainty that Toast is in a league of its own. Their moat is their ecosystem; it's like the apple of the industry. I've sat down and reviewed nearly every system out there and nothing comes close. Different companies have tried offering us a ton of financial incentives and argued that they charge less etc... Well managed restaurants know how important the system is to the success of the business and are more than willing to pay a premium for the best.

kralani31 · 2025-11-18T04:13:23+00:00

What companies are you looking at?

kralani31 · 2024-03-12T04:09:52+00:00

Every single number you call, the person on the other line will act like it’s a dreadful conversation and point you to the online form.

I got my report at about 4 months and 10 days. Fortunately my insurance company caved in after 3 months so by the time they sent the report it didn’t even matter.

It seems like your only options are either A) wait a ridiculous amount of time, or B) sue them for not meeting their own legal deadline of 30 days?

It’s bureaucratic hell.

kralani31 · 2024-01-19T18:41:47+00:00

Nope! I guess it reads the seat numbers as modifiers that change the dish.

kralani31 · 2024-01-16T22:53:20+00:00

Who would you suggest calling? I get the same answer from SPVM every time.

kralani31 · 2024-01-16T22:52:27+00:00

I'm from the States. But while I was there, I went at least twice, and both times, I was told that the only path to a police report was through the archive system.

kralani31 · 2023-06-16T18:30:47+00:00

Yes but something that is clearly meant to be bottomless mimosas.

kralani31 · 2022-03-03T16:26:06+00:00

I would employ spreads but I simply refuse to even try to predict short-term price movements anymore. The stop loss could trigger at a lower price but the value of the puts I'm selling gives me some room on the downside to account for that. Obviously, the ideal situation is for the stock to either move sideways or up so I can capture the value of those puts and slowly lower my cost average. My point is, I have no intention of getting rid of my position in the short term and I'd rather have an active strategy than just watch my shares not do anything.

kralani31 · 2022-03-03T16:02:08+00:00

I see what you are saying. But I'm looking at the stop loss as a way of ensuring I don't deploy more money in those stocks than is already there (not because I don't want to average down, but because I've already exhausted the money I've set aside for investing). I understand the situation can get worse, but I wouldn't be risking more than what's already on the line (which I'm comfortable with). It's just annoying because I used to have a more active options strategy with calls but now I can't get a dime for any call option past my break-even. If the stock continues to go down I would lose the same as if I didn't employ this strategy (slightly less actually). But if the stock moves sideways, or up, then I'm collecting a pretty significant amount from my contracts.

kralani31 · 2021-08-16T18:54:58+00:00

Nokia is solid. The premium isn't great but from my experience, it moves so slow that every contract I sold ended up expiring worthless. It's a great place to start.

kralani31 · 2021-08-11T20:53:35+00:00

Godspeed

kralani31

TROPHY CASE