Toast Cooks Up New AI Capabilities for Retailers

Hospitality platform Toast is introducing “retail specific” capabilities for its Toast IQ artificial intelligence (AI) assistant.

It’s part of a wider range of updates the company plans to showcase next week at the National Retail Federation show in New York City, Toast said in a Thursday (Jan 8) news release.

“Retailers need new ways to unlock greater efficiency and growth—without adding time spent or operational complexity,” said Omri Traub, chief operating officer for retail at Toast.

“With Toast IQ, operators have an AI-powered ‘right hand’ partner that understands the flow of inventory and pricing as naturally as a store manager does, surfacing helpful, actionable insights at the right time.”

According to the release, Toast IQ allows retailers to ask complex questions and take action. For example, the tool can be prompted to identify when items are running low, are out of stock or inactive for more than 30 days, letting businesses readjust their supply strategies.

It can also offer pricing intelligence with prompts such as “Suggest margin and pricing changes that would allow me to increase sales by $1,000 next month” or “What prices should I set for my items to maintain a 30% margin?” according to the release.

Toast cites an in-house survey which found that more than 83% of food and beverage retail operators plan to increase their use of artificial intelligence tools this year.

That’s in keeping with PYMNTS Intelligence research from last year, which found that 74.5% restaurants found AI to be “very or extremely effective” in accomplishing business tasks. The three main reasons these businesses cited for using AI were cost reduction, task automation, and to adopt standards and accreditation.

The use of artificial intelligence in the hospitality world goes beyond restaurants into travel. As covered here last month, travel commerce is moving “from discovery to decision-making” as AI agents begin to handle itineraries and transactions.

This transition is upheld by a critical pivot in consumer trust. PYMNTS Intelligence research shows that nearly 25% of consumers would be comfortable letting an AI agent plan their trips.

“That matters because travel is a high-stakes, multi-transaction category involving flights, hotels, ground transport and activities, often with limited flexibility and high costs,” PYMNTS wrote.

“As that comfort level rises, travel platforms are responding by deploying agents that plan itineraries, execute bookings and manage trips across suppliers in real time. As a result, travel commerce is shifting away from search-led workflows toward agent-led execution.”