Toast's Long-Term Prospects Remain Savory Despite Macroeconomic Pressures

We take a positive view of Toast's strategy, which seeks to capitalize on two major tailwinds in the restaurant industry: the adoption of cloud-deployed point-of-sale systems and the uptake of technology-enabled solutions, with operators looking to improve operating efficiency as industry margins remain tighter than ever. One epiphenomenon of pandemic-induced lockdown restrictions, in our view, is a structural increase in consumer acceptance of digital channels, with restaurants increasingly needing to offer some combination of delivery integration, online ordering, and rewards programs to meet the evolving needs of today’s restaurant consumer.