Swah-Rey Desserterie Opens their Small Business Armed with Toast POS System

Husband and wife team Leslie Ann and Gregg Ciccone always wanted to open a dessert business. They opened Swah-Rey, a comfy, welcoming dessert shop in St. Petersburg, FL. They needed a POS system that would be easy to use and help them make smart decisions about their small business.

Asking for Referrals  

As new business owners, Leslie Ann and Gregg asked around to neighboring businesses to learn about different bakery POS system options. They found that not many people were happy with their systems, with one exception. 

"When I was down the street at Urban Brew and BBQ, they said that [their new restaurant] Urban Comfort were going with Toast when they opened," says Leslie Ann. "I checked online everything that I could see about them, and I was sold pretty quickly."

"After we reviewed everything, and we did demos, it just kind of led us to Toast," Gregg adds.

Data to Drive Small Business   

With Toast's easy-to-use reporting, Gregg, the head baker, can easily see which of his desserts are profitable and which are not. This visibility allows him and Leslie Ann to tailor the menu to best serve the business. 

"Although we're starting very small, as we grow and move forward we wanted to be able to look back and analyze the data. It's really easy for me to access," says Gregg. "If I tell my wife that I'm taking this cake off the menu because its not selling, I don't just go on my intuition. I can go into Toast and say, 'How many of these have sold?' Well, it's been steadily declining and in the last two weeks so maybe we just don't sell it right now."

Gregg also uses data from Toast to help his staff sell more. When his staff is asked about the bestselling menu items, they can confidently tell customers which desserts are most popular.  

Best-in-Class Customer Care 

As the front-of-house manager, technical support was one of Leslie Ann's top priorities in choosing technology for her new business.

"My major need was 24/7 support with a live person, and hopefully US-based. With Toast, I get both," she says.  

"The interactions that we've had [with Toast Customer Care], when we've had a few questions have been just super," Gregg adds.

Easy to Use System  

Above all, Leslie Ann and Gregg needed a system that was easy to use and learn. As small business owners, they're responsible for understanding the entire restaurant POS system capabilities -  as well as running the rest of their business operations. Because Toast is built for foodservice, it was easy for them and their staff to pick up quickly.   

"We felt that Toast was so intuitive to learn," says Gregg. "We felt that the learning curve for our staff would be minimal. It was easy to set up Toast in a way that made it easy for the staff. Toast is so intuitive that you can get into the back end and just look around in a few places and go, 'I bet this will work, if I just try this.'"

With a helpful Customer Care team and easy-to-use interface, Toast is enabling Swah-Rey to start small and grow smarter.