Costa Vida Partners with Restaurant Technology Platform Toast

LEHI, Utah — Costa Vida Fresh Mexican Grill, a national fast-casual franchise focusing on redefining traditional Mexican cuisine, has partnered with Toast—a leading all-in-one restaurant technology platform—to replace its traditional Point-Of-Sale (POS) system with a cloud-based program at its 75-plus units nationwide.

Given Costa Vida’s current presence and plans for expansion, the ability to access reporting and make changes from anywhere, at any time, is key to the company’s success. Utilizing the Toast All-In-One POS cloud-based system provides increased data visibility, remote access and support, regular software updates and troubleshooting.

“At Costa Vida, our top priority is to provide customers with a first-class experience through the duration of their visit. While it commonly goes unnoticed by guests, the POS system plays a vital role in the efficiency of our operations and making their experience elite,” stated Costa Vida Director of IT Grant Sumsion. “We were immediately impressed by the Toast All-In-One POS system, as well as the Toast team’s commitment to work with us to achieve this goal. Integrating their platform into our locations has already shown a great impact on performance.”

Chief Operating Officer Jeff Jacobson added, “We were looking for a cloud-based, simple POS system – simple as in easy to use. We liked the features that Toast had to offer. We really liked the Toast team and their willingness to work with us to customize the product for Costa Vida.”

Costa Vida piloted the Toast All-In-One POS System at the company’s new Chicago location, situated downtown in a fast-paced, commercial area. At the street-level restaurant, the lunch rush often produces a line expanding to 100 people in a matter of minutes. With the Toast platform, Costa Vida has been able to serve larger crowds faster and more efficiently.

Sumsion said, “Adding the POS system to our Chicago site allowed us to significantly increase the number of transactions in the store per hour – we’re now averaging 17 seconds per transaction with a 55 percent increase in transactions per hour. This has considerably helped our Chicago team cater to their high-traffic environment.”

The company’s enterprise restaraunt POS system also provides access to detailed insights across the entire business, allowing for master menu management, customer relationship management and enterprise reporting, among other capabilities.

Jacobson said, “The Toast system is very intuitive to what we need. It was able to reduce the number of inputs that a cashier had to put in, adding up to a quicker dining experience within the restaurant. It was also very fast for training. Because it’s simpler and quicker, our employees were able to pick it up in less time than they were for our previous system. There are just so many things that make sense about Toast.”

Toast Co-Founder Aman Narang expressed his enthusiasm about the Costa Vida and Toast partnership: “Here is a company that needs a robust solution built for a restaurant enterprise. Rather than worrying about their technology, their technology can work for them. With the software’s ability to centrally see sales and labor reporting in real-time, Costa Vida can make more data-driven decisions about the direction of their business. With Toast’s Android-based system, Costa Vida can customize their hardware setup to perfectly complement their fast-casual layout.”

About Costa Vida 

Costa Vida is a fast-casual restaurant inspired by the fresh tasting foods and vibrant lifestyle from the coast of Mexico. Costa Vida’s food is created every day from scratch using quality ingredients. The menu offers a variety of custom, made-to-order items such as burritos, tacos, enchiladas, quesadillas, salads and nachos. Protein choices include sweet pork, grilled chicken, shredded beef, raspberry chipotle chicken, grilled steak, Mahi Mahi fish and shrimp. As a growing and successful brand, Costa Vida offers exciting and vibrant franchise business opportunities. For more information, visit www.costavida.net.

About Toast

Toast is an all-in-one restaurant technology platform. Built specifically for restaurants, Toast brings together many solutions from integrated online ordering to gift card and loyalty programs to labor and sales reporting all on a mobile, cloud-based POS system. Since launching Toast in 2013, the company has grown to over 140 employees and 1,200 customers nationwide, ranging from restaurants and cafes to nightclubs and enterprise franchises. Learn more about Toast at www.toasttab.com.