Bria F.

Content Writer, Employee Experience

While working at her parents' store as a child, Ritika Butani learned the importance of customer service, organization, and connecting with the industry. 

This, combined with her upbringing as the daughter of small business owners and immigrants from Liberia, influenced her decision to join Toast. 

Now, she's excited to help Toast grow, innovate, and keep ahead of the competition.

“I have a deep appreciation for small business owners, the struggles they go through, and the level of effort they put into their business,” she said. “As I progressed in my career, I knew I wanted to join an organization that strived to help small and medium-sized businesses and sole business owners succeed.”

Ritika has worked in mergers and acquisitions, business strategy and operations, strategic partnerships and global revenue operations, and corporate development.

Most recently, she led corporate development at another tech company.

After 10 years in corporate development, she wanted to use her experience to benefit a company at a different stage of its growth journey.

Ritika joined Toast in January 2022 as Vice President of Corporate Development.

“Toast is a company that I had admired from afar given its mission-driven culture and customer focus,” she said. “I’m very much looking forward to helping drive future growth within the restaurant ecosystem and helping to power the future success of restaurants of all sizes.”

Ritika works within the finance organization. She runs the cross collaborative team that is focused on executing and integrating inorganic strategies that will deliver results and further develop Toast as a company.

What type of work do you do day-to-day?

Corporate Development is responsible for carrying out transactions such as mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, investments, and more.

Our team standards include making sure deals are done right - meeting our world-class standards - and being the eyes and ears of Toast on new trends and opportunities. We want to become trusted partners to the business units and the preferred partners of venture capitalists, start-ups, advisors, vendors in the restaurant industry. 

A key focus at the moment is setting up the processes for mergers and acquisitions and investments, and ensuring we have a solid pulse of what’s happening internally and externally. 

What is something your team has worked on in the last 90 days that you’re extremely proud of?

The Corporate Development team closed the acquisition of Sling, a leading employee scheduling and communications solution, in July. The addition of Sling adds to our growing suite of Team Management products. We can now empower restaurants to simplify scheduling and communication across their team, control their labor costs, and pay employees faster through one integrated platform.

This was a heavy cross collaborative deal that required a lot of coordination, but was seamlessly done by the team. 

What excites you about the work that you do?

First, the strategic work. A large part of my work involves understanding our strategy, how it can be impacted by our competitors or other external parties, and ways the organization can continue to grow and accelerate.  

Second, meeting startups and entrepreneurs. My role revolves around knowing everyone in our industry and ecosystem, big or small. Meeting startups and founders who are passionate about what they are building keeps me excited and energetic about the possibility of what is to come. 

What are some of the experiences you’ve seen leading corporate development elsewhere that you feel you’ve been able to bring here to Toast?

I have been working in mergers and acquisitions for over 17 years, 10 of which have been in corporate development across Yahoo, Verizon, Square, and now Toast. 

Through this experience, I have been able to see how highly functional corporate development teams have been able to create value for the organization whether through bringing in new talent and leaders, expanding into new markets or segments, providing insights to help drive product led decisions, or acquiring a transformational asset.

Who does your team closely collaborate with and what does that look like?

The Corporate Development team is highly cross collaborative. We work closely with the business unit general managers on strategy, pipelining, and assessing potential targets. Once we have a deal in sight, we work across several cross functional groups (legal, finance, accounting, HR,  tax, systems, communications) to due diligence the deal and negotiate the ultimate purchase agreement. After we close the deal, we spend significant time working on integration within Toast.

What do you like to do outside of work?

I live in the Bay Area with my husband, Robin, and two daughters, Kiara (nine) and Krisha (six). In my spare time (the little that I have), I enjoy traveling, watching cooking shows, and finding new local merchants and restaurants to visit. 

More  recently I have been spending more time involved in organizations that help women leaders grow and excel via mentorship. I also spend time meeting founders and startups who are seeking advice on their next fundraise or growing their business. I’m passionate about entrepreneurship and the possibilities of creating new and innovative technologies.