They order in your app.
Your app makes them regulars.
The delivery apps own your customers. Toast's app is a template with your logo on it. Neither one knows it's snowing or that SU tips off at seven. Yours does. We build your restaurant its own app — ordering, a real loyalty program, texts and alerts that know what's going on, memberships your regulars buy from you, and a list of names you actually own — then we run it. You okay the deals. We do the rest.
The loyalty program
Points for coming to you. Nothing for going to DoorDash.
Somebody signs up with their phone number. Order in your app, the points land on their phone, usually within a couple of minutes. Walk in for dinner, tap once, points. Order on DoorDash? Nothing. That's not a gap. That's the whole idea.
| How they order | What happens | Points |
|---|---|---|
| Order through your app using your Toast online ordering | Points hit their phone within a couple of minutes. Nobody lifts a finger. | Every dollar. You set the rate. |
| Dine in | Walk in, tap once. Or scan the card on the table. | Every visit |
| Order at the counter | Same tap. | Every visit |
| DoorDash, Uber Eats, Grubhub | Nothing. | Zero. On purpose. |
Status, not just points
Regular, VIP, Legend. VIPs get the secret menu and hear about specials first. Legends get their name on the wall and a seat on Friday night. You decide the perks. A coupon gets used once. A title gets defended.
Challenges and streaks
All twelve wing flavors. Four Tuesdays straight. Double points on your dead night. Something on their birthday. Bring a friend, you both eat better.
Rewards they redeem in seconds
A reward is a code. They show it, your server punches it into Toast. Ordering in the app? They type it at checkout. One use per phone number — Toast enforces it at the register and at online checkout. No new hardware. One code to punch in.
A pass on their lock screen
Their card sits in Apple Wallet or Google Wallet like a boarding pass. Points update on it. Get near your place and it can pop up on the lock screen. Your name on their phone, even with the app closed.
"We miss you, Sarah."
Three weeks without a visit and the app notices. If she's ordered in the app before, it knows what she gets — so the text has her usual in it and double points if she comes back this week. You didn't do a thing.
Getting it on their phones
Nobody downloads an app for no reason, so you give them one. At the counter: "Download the app, sign up, 10% off today." In every delivery bag: the card. On your website: the button. On your socials: the posts. We make the sign, the script, the card, the button, and the posts. Your crew says the line.
What it looks like
A regular's week.
Pays at the counter. Your server says it: "Download the app, sign up, 10% off today." She does it standing right there. Ten percent off, and 50 points. Welcome, Sarah.
Her phone buzzes: "Double points tonight." She opens the app, orders like always. $43. A couple of minutes later: "86 points. 364 to VIP."
Walks in. Opens the app: "Welcome back — check in for 25." Tap.
Game day. "SU tips off at 7. Wings half off at halftime." Went out on its own. You okayed the deal weeks ago.
Nothing. So: "We miss you, Sarah. The brisket's on double points this week."
"You're VIP. The secret menu's open." Three things that aren't on the menu. She orders them by name.
100 points and "Dessert's on us this week."
Everything else the app does
Alerts that know what's going on. Money you're not making yet. And the people behind the food.
Alerts with a reason EVERY PLAN
- Weather. Snowing: "Soup's on." First warm day: "Patio's open."
- Game day. SU, the Crunch, the Syracuse Mets, the Bills. Goes out before tip-off, on its own.
- Nearby. Two blocks from your door: "The fish tacos are back."
- We miss you. Haven't seen somebody in a while? They get a text with their name in it — and their usual too, if they've ordered in the app before.
- Tonight. Off-menu special, who's on the line, live music, patio's open. One tap, everybody knows.
- How was it? After they order in the app or check in, the app asks. Every answer comes to you first. Then everyone gets the same link to leave a Google review if they feel like it.
Money you're not making yet MEMBERS & GROUP
- Memberships. A coffee club, a wine club, a monthly pie. You set the price and what they pick up, and they get it handed to them at the counter. Money that shows up every month whether it's slow or not. Status is never for sale — VIP and the secret menu are earned with points, so nobody buys their way onto the wall.
- Sell it before you make it. "50 Thanksgiving pies. Reserve yours." They put money down, the counter ticks to zero, you know exactly how many to bake.
- Tickets. Wine dinner, trivia night, the cooking class. They buy the seat, they get a reminder, you know the headcount.
- Merch. The hat, the sauce, the cookbook.
- Private parties. They ask, they put a deposit down in the app.
Every dollar goes to your bank through your own Stripe account. We don't take a cut. Not a percent, not a per-order fee. Ever.
Who you are, not just what you sell EVERY PLAN
- Your story. The chef, the crew, the farm you buy from, how long you've been on that corner.
- A wall of regulars. Member since, favorite dish. Only if they want to be on it.
- Their loyalty card sits in Apple or Google Wallet — your name on their phone without opening anything.
- Guests can thank a server by name. The server sees it. That's how you keep the good ones.
- Ask the menu a question. "Something spicy, under fifteen bucks, for six people?" It answers like a server who knows it.
- One big Order button. Nobody ever wonders where to order.
What you own outright YOURS, NOT OURS
- The app. It's in the stores under your name, not ours.
- Your Stripe account and every dollar in it.
- Your list of regulars. Take it with you anytime, including the day you leave us.
- That read-only look at your Toast. You can take it back anytime.
- Your menu, your photos, your brand, your perks.
The delivery apps own your customers. Handing you an app and keeping the list would just make us one more app that owns your customers. So we don't.
Toast sells an app too
Theirs is a template. Ours is yours.
Toast's app is a decent order screen with your logo on it. Both use your Toast online ordering at checkout. That's where the similarity ends.
| Toast's branded app | Your app, by AInovations | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A template. Their screens, your logo and colors. | Your app. Your pages, your features, your look. |
| Monthly | Part of their Digital Storefront suite, with text marketing priced on top — check your Toast Shop | From $399 — with a person running it |
| Loyalty | Points per dollar | VIP tiers, a secret menu, streaks, a card in their Wallet |
| Alerts | Emails and texts | Weather, game day, nearby, we-miss-you — on their own |
| Memberships, tickets, merch | No | Yes, on Members and Group. Your Stripe, every dollar yours. |
| Your regulars' names | In Toast | In your app, yours to keep |
| Ordering | Your Toast ordering, in their template | Your Toast ordering, in your app |
| Somebody running it | No | Yes. That's the job. |
How it works
Three parts. You handle one of them.
We build your app
Your name, your photos, your perks. A real iPhone and Android app, in the stores under your business's name. We walk you through the Apple and Google paperwork — Apple wants your LLC or corporation on it, and we handle the rest. Nothing goes live until you say so.
Toast stays Toast
You give us a read-only look at your Toast — a few minutes in Toast Web, no permission slip from Toast. Orders in the app run through your Toast online ordering, so the money, the tickets, and the delivery work exactly like they do right now.
We run it
The loyalty program. The promo codes — we write them, you punch them into Toast. Every text and alert. The counter sign, the bag cards, the website button, the social posts. You say yes to the campaigns, add the codes, and put the paper where it goes.
You need two things from Toast — Online Ordering, and the Restaurant Management Suite at Essentials or higher — and the restaurant has to be an LLC or corporation
They're two separate subscriptions and you'll see both on your Toast Subscriptions page. Restaurant Management is what lets us see your orders; Online Ordering is what runs the Order button. If you've got both, you're set. The app goes in the stores under your business, so the business has to be an LLC or corporation with a D-U-N-S number — Apple and Google won't publish under a sole proprietor's name for you. On something other than Toast? Tell us anyway — we'll let you know when we get there.
Plans
Three plans. The build is included. No cut of anything you sell.
Regulars
One restaurant that wants its regulars to feel like members.
$1,000 setup — waived on a 3-year agreement
- Your iPhone and Android app, Order button and all
- Loyalty with VIP tiers, a secret menu, streaks, and rewards
- A card in their Apple or Google Wallet
- Alerts for weather, game day, nearby, and we-miss-you
- Asks after they order in the app or check in — you hear it first, then everyone gets the same Google link
- A list of regulars that's yours to keep
- Your story, a wall of regulars, today's special front and center, a menu that answers questions
- Counter sign, bag cards, website button, and social posts to get the app on phones — you print the paper
- One report a month
- 1 location
- 1,000 texts a month
- One campaign a month, written and sent for you
- 2 hours of our time a month for whatever you want changed
Members
Everything in Regulars, plus the part that makes money: things your regulars buy from you.
$1,500 setup — waived on a 3-year agreement
- Everything in Regulars
- Memberships — monthly money through your own Stripe, for things you hand over at the counter
- Tickets, pre-orders, merch, party deposits
- We take nothing from any of it
- Up to 2 locations
- 2,000 texts a month
- A campaign every two weeks
- 2 hours of our time a month
Group
A group running up to five locations, with loyalty that works across all of them.
$2,500 setup — waived on a 3-year agreement
- Everything in Members
- One app, every location, with the right hours and perks for each
- Different deals and loyalty rules per location if you want them
- Your two hours go to the front of the line
- Up to 5 locations
- 5,000 texts a month
- A campaign every week
- 2 hours of our time a month
One-year or three-year agreements. Go three years and we waive the setup fee. Renews for the same length unless you tell us in writing 60 days before it ends. The two hours don't carry over. More than five locations? Call us. Texts are a hard cap and don't carry over either — over 160 characters counts as two, and a single emoji drops that limit to 70 — and if you go over it's 2¢ a text, and we'll warn you first. Texts only go to people who said yes, from a local number registered to your business, with your name in every message; the carriers register your business once — EIN, legal name, and website — which takes a week or three before texts can go out, and we do that with you. Apple charges $99 a year and Google $25 once, on your accounts, like every app we build. Whatever you sell in the app goes through Stripe at Stripe's normal rates, straight to you — and on memberships that bill every month, Stripe adds its own 0.7% billing fee. We still take nothing.
Questions
The things owners actually ask.
Can my customers order in the app?
How does the loyalty program know when someone orders?
Why would a customer order in my app instead of on DoorDash?
How is this different from Toast's own app?
Do I need Toast?
Do you take a cut of memberships, tickets, or merch?
Who owns the app?
Is there a contract?
How many texts do I get?
What happens if I cancel?
What's the card in the bag?
How long until it's live?
What do I actually have to do?
Let's build yours.
Tell us about the place and what you'd want your regulars to be able to do. You'll get a plan and a mockup of your app — usually within a day, and it won't be a template.