As the first stop for our customers in their transition to utilizing Toast, the Customer Onboarding team guides and empowers our customers to build the foundation for success. This team aims to make the experience simple and easy, and they help our customers get acquainted with the tools and resources they need to navigate and thrive on our platform.

We caught up with John, our VP of Customer Onboarding, to learn more about his journey to Toast and how we’re looking to raise the bar to set our customers up for success from day one:

What drew you to Toast and the restaurant tech industry? 

I was drawn to Toast because of four things: 

1. First and foremost, the amazing culture. I’ve never experienced a culture like this, and to be honest, when I was starting the interview process and saw the Life at Toast Instagram page, I doubted that people were really as happy as they looked. I thought it was probably just really good marketing. But then once I actually started talking to people during the interview process, it became clear that this culture was real. I have worked in different companies and industries, and I have never seen a culture like Toast. Toast cares about people, both Toasters and customers, and leads with that in every aspect of their operations.
2. The opportunity to have an impact on a product that my friends, family, and I use often in everyday life. It makes doing this job more personal when I walk into a restaurant or bar and see that they’re  on Toast. I love the fact that my friends and family text or call me when they are at a Toast restaurant. Sometimes that text is just something like “I’m getting Toasty,” accompanied by a picture they took of the “Powered by Toast” receipt they received after their meal or a screenshot of them downloading the Toast app for the first time. Sometimes it’s feedback on the experience they had,  both good and bad, on Toast. My kids have already grown annoyed with the fact that the first thing I do whenever we walk into any restaurant is look to see if they are on Toast, and if they are, my kids know that I’m going to ask the staff how they like Toast!
3. The growth trajectory for Toast in the hospitality industry. The fact that Toast can now be found in not just restaurants, but also hotels, karaoke bars, and cigar bars speaks to how much opportunity for growth there is in this industry. That growth opportunity is not just for Toast, but for the customers we serve. The hospitality industry is traditionally a low margin industry that was hit hard by COVID and is still rebounding in many places. The fact that Toast can help enable that rebound, and even help drive growth for our customers is something that I am very proud of.
4. Last but not least, Toast and the restaurant tech industry are fast-paced environments that are ever-changing and require a high level of adaptability and creativity, similar to what I experienced during my time in the Marine Corps. The lessons I learned during my service have helped me grow and thrive. 

What do you think makes Toast’s onboarding of customers special?

Most of the Toasters on our Customer Onboarding team have worked in restaurants or hospitality. They understand the nuances and challenges that are unique to that industry because they have lived it themselves. That makes it easy for us to put ourselves in our customer’s shoes when we are guiding them through the onboarding journey. We understand the multiple hats that a restaurant general manager or owner has to wear every day. We understand how little time they have to focus on things like converting their POS, payroll, guest, or inventory processes and products. We understand that they aren’t sitting in front of a computer all day like other industries where they may have more bandwidth or people to invest a lot of time into a technology conversion. We are continually driving to reduce the amount of time our customers have to spend on the phone or exchanging emails with us during their onboarding journey. We still have work to do there as we continue to improve, but the fact that we have been in the customer’s shoes helps us to determine what changes to our process would be most beneficial to our customers.
 

How are you constantly evolving the cross-functional relationship between Sales, Customer Onboarding, and overall Customer Success?

We are continually striving to create a “seamless” customer journey from their first interaction with sales, through the onboarding journey, and into their post-live experience with Customer Success. Our goal is for our customers to feel like they are partnering with one coordinated team of Toasters, with different responsibilities during the different phases of their Toast  journey, that knows who they are, what their expectations are for a successful relationship with Toast, and are working together to deliver on the promises Toast made that led them to choose us as their partner.  

I like to say that Sales are the promise makers and Onboarding/Customer Success are the promise keepers. It’s vital that everyone is aligned so that we are only making promises that we can keep.
 

John is now a member of the Toast alumni community. We greatly appreciate their many contributions and lasting impact on Toast!