The Best Self-Ordering Kiosk That Works With Toast POS

If you run a busy counter-service restaurant on Toast and your line backs up at peak, a self-ordering kiosk is one of the fastest ways to add capacity without adding staff. The question most operators hit next is a practical one: what actually works with Toast POS, and do you have to buy Toast's own hardware to get there?

The short answer is that you have options. Toast sells a native kiosk, but it runs on Toast's hardware inside Toast's ecosystem. If you want more flexibility on price, hardware, and the guest experience, you can also add a kiosk that layers on top of the Toast setup you already run. This guide walks both paths so a small QSR can pick the one that fits the budget.

What "works with Toast POS" really means

Two very different things get sold under the same phrase, and the difference decides how much you spend and how locked in you get.

• Replace your POS. Some kiosk vendors want you to move your whole register onto their system. That means re-training staff, rebuilding your menu, and giving up the Toast workflow your team already knows.
• Layer on top of Toast. The kiosk handles ordering while Toast stays your system of record for the menu, payments, and reporting. Nothing gets ripped out.

For a small QSR, layering is almost always the right call. You keep the POS you've already invested in and simply add a new ordering channel beside it.

The catch with Toast's own kiosk

Toast Kiosk is a legitimate, tightly integrated product — if you're all-in on Toast, it's the path of least resistance. The trade-off is lock-in. It runs on Toast's kiosk hardware, on Toast's software, on Toast's upgrade cycle.

Hardware plus a recurring per-screen software fee adds up, and pricing varies by market and contract. If you're happy inside that ecosystem, fine. If you'd rather shop hardware, match your brand, or bundle the kiosk with other guest-facing tools, a single-vendor kiosk can feel narrow.

What to look for in a kiosk for Toast POS

Whichever route you choose, judge any kiosk against the same checklist:

• It keeps Toast as the register. Your system of record shouldn't change just because you added a screen.
• Hardware flexibility. Standard tablets and stands beat one locked-in SKU — it keeps replacement and expansion cheap.
• Menu and pricing stay consistent. What a guest taps on the kiosk should match what's on your counter menu.
• Built-in upsells and modifiers. The kiosk should prompt add-ons on every order — that's where the revenue lift comes from.
• On-brand design. The screen is a storefront; it should look like you, not like a generic vendor.
• Sensible per-location cost. The math should work at one or two kiosks, not just at fifty.

How INFI kiosks fit a Toast restaurant

INFI is built around one idea: your POS runs the register, INFI runs your growth. It's a restaurant growth platform that layers on top of the POS you already run — Toast included — rather than replacing it. INFI doesn't sell a POS, so it has no reason to pull you off Toast.

That means you keep Toast for the register and add INFI self-ordering kiosks as a new ordering channel on top of it. Because the whole thing is designed to sit on your existing stack — see how the platform layers on — the kiosk isn't a standalone gadget. It's one surface among several.

The same platform also runs commission-free online ordering, a branded app, and loyalty, so guests get the same menu and earn the same points whether they order at the kiosk or on their phone. That's the difference between adding a kiosk and adding a growth channel.

What a kiosk actually does to your numbers

The reason kiosks earn their keep isn't just shorter lines — it's bigger tickets. Kiosks typically lift average order value by around 15–30%, because a screen upsells the same way every time and guests add the extra side or size when there's no one waiting behind them.

INFI's own proof points land in and above that range:

• PJ's Coffee saw a 45% lift in average order value.
• Juice Press added 15% per order.
• Oak View Group venues doubled basket size.

With 1,800+ restaurants on INFI, the case is straightforward: a well-designed kiosk can pay for itself on ticket size alone, before you count the labor it frees up.

Toast Kiosk vs. a kiosk that layers on Toast

Both keep Toast as your register, and neither asks you to swap out your POS — Toast Kiosk is part of Toast, and INFI doesn't sell one. The differences show up in flexibility:

• Hardware. Toast Kiosk runs on Toast's own kiosk hardware; INFI is built to layer on the Toast setup you already run.
• Other growth tools. Toast leans on Toast add-ons; INFI brings online ordering, a branded app, loyalty, and displays together on one platform.
• Best fit. Toast Kiosk suits operators all-in on Toast; INFI suits operators who want flexibility on top of Toast.

Is it worth it for a small QSR?

Run the math on your own numbers. If your average ticket is $12 and a kiosk lifts it even 15%, that's roughly $1.80 more per order — at a few hundred orders a week, a kiosk pays for itself quickly and keeps paying.

The quieter win is labor. A kiosk absorbs the ordering rush so your team can expedite, run food, and actually talk to guests instead of standing at a register. Easing that peak-hour strain is the whole point — it's how you grow revenue without growing your payroll.

See it on your own menu

INFI was founded by Lucas Liu, Ph.D., a former restaurant operator, on a simple mission: reduce labor strain, elevate the guest experience, and preserve what makes each brand unique. The kiosk is one way it does that — on top of the Toast POS you already trust, not instead of it. Want to see it running on your menu? Book a demo, or reach us at 888-857-9831 or support@infi.us.