Toast Lab seeks operator to build Boston restaurant
Toast Lab, a new incubator from POS firm Toast, will fund and equip a Boston restaurant built with its product teams. Applications close July 14. Read more.
Prajakta Sanjay Warwadkar 
BOSTON, June 20, 2026 — Toast, the restaurant point-of-sale and payments company, has launched Toast Lab, an incubator that will fund and equip a new restaurant in the Greater Boston area built alongside its product teams. The company announced the program on June 16 and is accepting applications through July 14.
The initiative marks a first for Toast and an unusual tie-up between a technology vendor and a restaurant. It gives the company a real-world site to test products while offering one operator capital, mentorship and early access to its tools.
How Toast Lab works
Toast Lab is open to established operators who run at least one high-volume, full-service concept and have used Toast for at least six months, according to the company. Entrants can propose a brand-new concept or a new branch of an existing Boston-area restaurant.
Toast says it will provide funding and a full technology stack, with financial details co-designed once an operator is chosen. The winner also receives mentorship from Toast executives, real-time support and a seat on the company's Customer Advisory Board.
Applications close on July 14, with finalists contacted by September 1 and the operator selected by the end of the year, Toast says. Reports indicate the restaurant is targeted to open in 2027.
"Toast Lab is a formal return to that instinct."
Kelly Esten, chief marketing officer and COO of enterprise, Toast
A return to Toast's early roots
Toast linked the program to its origins, citing its 2013 work with Barismo, a Boston-area coffee shop that became an early customer. Esten said the company's earliest customers helped shape its technology through their feedback.
Other technology firms have run similar experiments. DoorDash has invested in restaurant operations, and Square has opened proof-of-concept locations to showcase its products. Such projects give vendors a live testing ground and, if the restaurant succeeds, long-term promotion.
What applicants should note
Toast's published program terms grant the company a broad, royalty-free license to use, reproduce and modify materials submitted with an application, and state that Toast may independently develop similar concepts. The terms advise applicants not to include trade-secret or proprietary information unless they accept those conditions.
Toast says ownership and decision-making arrangements for the restaurant will be defined and disclosed to the selected operator at a later stage. Full program details are on the Toast Lab website.
Sources: Hospitalitycareerprofile.com
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