Toast (NYSE:TOST) released its latest Restaurant Trends Report, providing insight into the state of the U.S. restaurant industry through an analysis of aggregated data from selected cohorts¹ of restaurants on the Toast platform, which serves approximately 171,000 locations as of March 31, 2026. Read the full Restaurant Trends Report on Data by Toast.

There's been a recent sea change in how much of the public interacts with AI technology, thanks to the rapid rise of large language models (LLMs) and other AI technologies. Mundane tasks like summarizing and analyzing sales reports, which may have taken hours before, can often be completed in seconds with a simple prompt.

Toast launched Toast IQ, its AI assistant for restaurants and food-and-beverage retailers, in October 2025 to help operators run their businesses faster and smarter. Because Toast IQ is connected to Toast's restaurant platform, operators can ask questions and receive insights grounded in their own sales, labor, menu, guest, and operational data — not generic AI outputs. Today, Toast IQ can also take immediate action from users, from 86ing menu items to adjusting stock and editing auto clockouts.

In just 90 days, operators used Toast IQ to ask questions about their sales, labor, menus, guests, and growth opportunities. The signal suggests that restaurant AI is moving beyond experimentation and into everyday operations — helping operators understand what changed, what matters, and what to do next.

To understand how customers are engaging with Toast IQ on a daily basis, Toast analyzed anonymized and aggregated inputs in Toast IQ from over 125,000 restaurant locations on the Toast platform in the U.S. that used Toast IQ Assistant between Jan. 1, 2026, and March 31, 2026.¹

Let's dive in.

Key Takeaways from Q1 2026:

Fine dining is all in on AI: Fine dining locations used Toast IQ 29% more than fast-casual restaurants.
Top categories: Operators most frequently initiated conversations about sales and revenue (47% of restaurants using the product), menu and inventory (34%), and guest and marketing (32%).
Opportunities: 26% of restaurants initiated conversations about menu optimization.
Pain points: 13% of restaurants initiated conversations about labor costs and efficiencies.
Top prompt: "Create a short, easy-to-read daily briefing for my restaurant."

Restaurants are moving from AI curiosity to AI-powered operations with millions of threads from Toast IQ in Q1 2026. And hospitality pros were remarkably polite with their AI assistant. We saw 33,000 instances of "please" and "thank you" and just 196 F-bombs.

Restaurants are using AI to manage core business decisions

Sales and revenue, menu and inventory, and guest marketing were among the most common conversation areas.

Toast IQ integrates with each restaurant's operations, serving as a right hand for operators. There's a personalized "For you" feed that offers timely recommendations, but we also wanted to know what topics operators were inputting on their own in Q1 2026. Here's what we saw:

47% of restaurants asked about sales and revenue
34% of restaurants asked about menu and inventory
32% of restaurants asked about guests and marketing
29% of restaurants asked about operations and reporting

Restaurant operators have a lot on their plates, in every sense. It's clear operators are asking Toast IQ — an AI assistant that's built into your business — to help manage and take action on manual processes like sales and inventory data. But not far behind are tasks like getting guests in the door through marketing and ensuring they have the right staff to make the experience the best it can be.

Operator prompts:

Orders and Payments: "Tips today."
Sales and revenue: "Break down today's gross sales by payment type and call out which methods drove the most revenue."
Menu and inventory: "Refresh my menu items." "I want to mark multiple items in or out of stock."
Forecasting and planning: "When precipitation is forecasted in the next hour, let me know and tell me anything important I need to know about it."

Stay tuned on Data by Toast for more insights into Toast's AI assistant, Toast IQ, and how operators are utilizing the technology to run their businesses better. For more insights into AI and Toast IQ, read the full Restaurant Trends Report on Data by Toast.

¹Methodology: The selected cohorts in this report are based on an anonymous aggregated view of 125,000 U.S.-based restaurant locations that adopted the use of Toast IQ between Jan 1, 2026, and March 31, 2026. Some functions and features in Toast IQ may not have been available during the entire time period or to all customers.

About the Restaurant Trends Report:

The Restaurant Trends Report, powered by Toast, uncovers key trends across the restaurant industry through aggregated sales data from a selection of cohorts of restaurants on the Toast platform, which has approximately 171,000 locations as of March 31, 2026. This information is provided for general informational purposes only, and publication does not constitute an endorsement. Toast does not warrant the accuracy or completeness of any information, text, graphics, links, or other items contained within this content. Individual results may vary. Toast does not guarantee you will achieve any specific results if you follow any advice herein. It may be advisable for you to consult with a professional such as a lawyer, accountant, or business advisor for advice specific to your situation. The Restaurant Trends Report is not indicative of the operational performance of Toast or its reported financial metrics.

About Toast

Toast (NYSE:TOST) is a global technology platform built for restaurant and retail businesses. From the busiest local restaurants and shops to large hospitality brands, Toast helps owners and operators manage their businesses more efficiently, drive guest demand, and build lasting success.

Toast integrates software, agentic AI, payments, financial technology solutions, and hardware with a broad partner ecosystem. Powering billions of purchases throughout local commerce, Toast delivers the precision and innovation required for modern restaurant and retail environments. For more information, visit www.toasttab.com.

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