Serving Innovation Hot: Toast’s Meteoric Rise to $25 Billion Under Aman Narang

Aman Narang founded Toast, and he built a restaurant tech behemoth worth $25 billion today. Toast's success is evident in revenues of $5 billion in 2024, a mere 30% up from last year. The company has 134,000 restaurant customers in the US, UK, Canada, and Ireland, with hospitality giants like Hilton and Marriott among them.

 

Key Highlights:

 

Market Leadership: Toast handles around $160 billion of the projected $800 billion to $1 trillion of US restaurant transactions each year.

 

Rapid Expansion: Founded in 2012 by Aman Narang, Steve Fredette, and Jonathan Grimm, Toast evolved from a startup that piloted QR code menus to a worldwide SaaS behemoth in 13 years.

 

Depth of Platform: Toast offers a range of products such as point-of-sale (POS) products, kitchen display software, digital ordering, marketing, and team management. Revenues are mainly generated through SaaS subscription and payment processing with hardware and professional services to drive customer engagement.

 

Diversification internationally and by sector: Narang intends to launch a major push beyond the US and into emerging verticals such as grocery, convenience, liquor, and gas stores—segments still reliant on legacy technology.

 

Innovation Orientation: Toast's technology offers real-time reporting, greater transparency in table turns, and independent online experiences, reducing reliance on third-party delivery platforms.

 

Founders' Experience: The founders' experience at Endeca (Oracle acquisition) and the common values contributed significantly to Toast's survival against early setbacks and eventual success.

 

Narang's vision is to leverage Toast's mature platform to transform retail and hospitality technology globally, while capitalizing on the company's history of innovation and hyper-growth.

 

Source: Times of India