tost-20221231
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UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM 10-K
(Mark One)
☒ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF
THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022
OR
☐TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d)
OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
For the transition period from to
Commission file number: 001-40819
TOAST, INC.
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
401 Park Drive, Suite 801
Boston, Massachusetts02215
(Address of Principal Executive Offices) (Zip Code)
(617) 297-1005
Registrant's telephone number, including area code
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:
Title of each class Trading Symbol(s) Name of each exchange on which registered
Securities registered pursuant to section 12(g) of the Act: None
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes☒ No ☐
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes ☐ No☒
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant: (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports); and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes☒ No ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files).
Yes☒ No ☐
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Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or a smaller reporting company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer” and “smaller reporting company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. (Check one):
Large accelerated filer ☒ Accelerated filer ☐
Non-accelerated filer ☐ Smaller reporting company ☐
Emerging growth company ☐
If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management's assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared to issue its audit report. ☒
If securities are registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act, indicate by check mark whether the financial statements of the registrant included in the filing reflect the correction of an error to previously issued financial statements. ☐
Indicate by check mark whether any of those error corrections are restatements that required a recovery analysis of incentive-based compensation received by any of the registrant’s executive officers during the relevant recovery period pursuant to §240.10D-1(b). ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act). Yes ☐ No ☒
The aggregate market value of voting stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant on June 30, 2022, the last day of its most recently completed second fiscal quarter, based on the closing price of $12.94 for shares of the Registrant’s Class A common stock as reported by the New York Stock Exchange, was approximately $5 billion.
The registrant had outstanding 357,008,583 shares of Class A common stock and 169,821,735 shares of Class B common stock as of February 21, 2022.
DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE
Portions of the registrant's Definitive Proxy Statement relating to the 2023 Annual Meeting of Stockholders are incorporated by reference into Part III of this Annual Report on Form 10-K where indicated. Such Definitive Proxy Statement will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission within 120 days after the end of the registrant's fiscal year ended December 31, 2022.
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Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements 4
Risk Factors Summary 6
PART I
Item 1. Business 8
Item 1A. Risk Factors 21
Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments 67
Item 2. Properties 67
Item 3. Legal Proceedings 67
Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures 68
PART II
Item 6. [Reserved] 69
Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk 87
Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data 88
Item 9A. Controls and Procedures 133
Item 9B. Other Information 135
Item 9C. Disclosure Regarding Foreign Jurisdiction that Prevent Inspections 135
PART III
Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance 135
Item 11. Executive Compensation 135
Item 14. Principal Accountant Fees and Services 135
PART IV
Item 15. Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules 136
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SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This Annual Report on Form 10-K contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 about us and our industry that involve substantial risks and uncertainties. All statements other than statements of historical facts contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including statements regarding our future results of operations, financial condition, business strategy, plans and objectives of management for future operations, our market opportunity and the potential growth of that market, our liquidity and capital needs and other similar matters, are forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements because they contain words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “contemplate,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “target,” “will,” or “would,” or the negative of these words or other similar terms or expressions. These forward-looking statements are based on management’s current expectations and assumptions about future events, which are inherently subject to uncertainties, risks, and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict. Forward-looking statements contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K include, but are not limited to, statements concerning the following:
•our future financial performance, including our revenue, costs of revenue or expenses, or other operating results;
•our ability to successfully execute our business and growth strategy;
•anticipated trends and growth rates in our business and in the markets in which we operate;
•our ability to effectively manage our growth and future expenses;
•our ability to maintain the security and availability of our platform;
•our ability to increase the number of customers using our platform;
•our ability to retain, and to sell additional products and services to, our existing customers;
•our ability to successfully expand in our existing markets and into new markets;
•our expectations concerning relationships with third parties;
•our estimated total addressable market;
•the sufficiency of our cash, cash equivalents and investments to meet our liquidity needs;
•our ability to maintain, protect and enhance our intellectual property;
•our ability to comply with modified or new laws and regulations applying to our business;
•the attraction and retention of qualified employees and key personnel;
•our anticipated investments in sales and marketing and research and development;
•our ability to successfully defend litigation brought against us;
•our ability to successfully remediate and prevent material weaknesses in internal controls over financial reporting;
•the increased expenses associated with being a public company;
•the impact of global financial, economic, political, and health events such as rising inflation, capital market disruptions, sanctions, economic slowdowns or recessions, or the COVID-19 pandemic on our business and the restaurant industry;
•our ability to compete effectively with existing competitors and new market entrants; and
•our ability to source, finance and integrate companies and assets that we have or may acquire.
You should not rely upon forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. We have based the forward-looking statements contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K primarily on our current expectations and projections about future events and trends that we believe may affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. The outcome of the events described in these forward-looking statements is subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors described in the section titled “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Moreover, we operate in a very competitive and rapidly changing environment. New risks and uncertainties emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for us to predict all risks and uncertainties that could have an impact on the forward-looking statements contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. The results, events and circumstances reflected in the forward-looking statements may not be achieved or occur, and actual results, events, or circumstances could differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements.
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The forward-looking statements made in this Annual Report on Form 10-K relate only to events as of the date on which the statements are made. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements made in this Annual Report on Form 10-K to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K or to reflect new information or the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as required by law. We may not actually achieve the plans, intentions or expectations disclosed in our forward-looking statements and you should not place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements. Our forward-looking statements do not reflect the potential impact of any future acquisitions, mergers, dispositions, joint ventures, or investments we may make.
In addition, statements that “we believe” and similar statements reflect our beliefs and opinions on the relevant subject. These statements are based upon information available to us as of the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. And while we believe such information provides a reasonable basis for such statements, such information may be limited or incomplete. Our statements should not be read to indicate that we have conducted an exhaustive inquiry into, or review of, all potentially available relevant information. These statements are inherently uncertain and you are cautioned not to unduly rely upon these statements.
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RISK FACTORS SUMMARY
The following is a summary of the principal risks that could materially adversely affect our business, results of operations, and financial condition. Additional discussion of the risks included in this summary, and other risks that we face, can be found below and should be carefully considered, together with other information in this Annual Report on Form 10-K in its entirety before making investment decisions regarding our Class A common stock. This summary should not be relied upon as an exhaustive summary of the material risks facing our business.
•If we fail to manage our growth effectively and efficiently, we may be unable to execute our business plan, maintain high levels of service and customer satisfaction, or adequately address competitive challenges.
•If we do not attract new customers, retain existing customers, and increase our customers’ use of our platform, our business will suffer.
•We have a limited operating history in an evolving industry, which makes it difficult to evaluate our future prospects and may increase the risk that we will not be successful.
•We have a history of generating net losses, and if we are unable to achieve adequate revenue growth while our expenses increase, we may not achieve or maintain profitability in the future.
•Our operating results depend in significant part on our payment processing services, and the revenue and gross profit we derive from our payment processing activity in a particular period can vary due to a variety of factors.
•Unfavorable conditions in the restaurant industry or the global economy could limit our ability to grow our business and materially impact our financial performance.
•We depend upon third parties to manufacture our products and to supply key components to our products. If these manufacturers or suppliers become unwilling or unable to provide an adequate supply of components, we may not be able to find alternative sources in a timely manner and our business would be impacted.
•Our future revenue will depend in part on our ability to expand the financial technology services we offer to our customers and increase adoption of those services.
•We rely on third-party payment processors to facilitate payments made by guests, payments made to customers, and payments made on behalf of customers, and if we cannot manage risks related to our relationships with our current or future third-party payment processors, our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be adversely affected.
•The markets in which we participate are intensely competitive, and if we do not compete effectively, our operating results could be adversely affected.
•A majority of our customers are small- and medium-sized businesses, which can be more difficult and costly to retain than enterprise customers, and are subject to increased impacts of economic fluctuations, which may adversely affect our business and operations.
•We rely in part on revenue from subscription contracts, and because we recognize revenue from subscription contracts over the term of the relevant subscription period, downturns or upturns in sales are not immediately reflected in full in our results of operations.
•We are responsible for transmitting a high volume of sensitive and personal information through our platform and our success depends upon the security of this platform. Any actual or perceived breach of our system that would result in disclosure of such information could materially impact our business.
•Our success depends upon our ability to continually enhance the performance, reliability, and features of our platform.
•Interruptions or performance problems associated with our technology and infrastructure may adversely affect our business and operating results.
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•We are subject to additional risks relating to the financial products we make available to our customers, including relationships with partners, the ability of our customers to generate revenue to pay their obligations under these products, general macroeconomic conditions and the risk of fraud.
•If we fail to adequately protect our intellectual property rights, our competitive position could be impaired and we may lose valuable assets or revenue and become subject to costly litigation to protect our rights.
•Our business is subject to a variety of U.S. and international laws and regulations, many of which are unsettled and still developing, and our or our customers’ failure to comply with such laws and regulations could subject us to claims or otherwise adversely affect our business, financial condition, or results of operations.
•The trading price of our Class A common stock may be volatile, and you could lose all or part of your investment.
•The dual-class structure of our common stock as contained in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation has the effect of concentrating voting control with those stockholders who held our capital stock prior to our initial public offering, including our directors, executive officers and their respective affiliates. This ownership will limit or preclude your ability to influence corporate matters, including the election of directors, amendments of our organizational documents, and any merger, consolidation, sale of all or substantially all of our assets, or other major corporate transactions requiring stockholder approval, and that may adversely affect the trading price of our Class A common stock.
•Our principal stockholders will continue to have significant influence over the election of our board of directors and approval of any significant corporate actions, including any sale of the company.
•We have identified a material weakness in our internal controls over financial reporting and may identify additional material weaknesses in the future or otherwise fail to maintain an effective system of internal controls, which may result in material misstatements of our consolidated financial statements or cause us to fail to meet our periodic reporting obligations.
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PART I
Item 1. Business
Our Mission
Our mission is to empower the restaurant community to delight their guests, do what they love, and thrive.
Overview
Toast is a cloud-based, all-in-one digital technology platform purpose-built for the entire restaurant community. Our platform provides a comprehensive suite of software as a service, or SaaS, products, financial technology solutions including integrated payment processing, restaurant-grade hardware, and a broad ecosystem of third-party partners. We serve as the restaurant operating system, connecting front of house and back of house operations across dine-in, takeout, and delivery channels. As of December 31, 2022, approximately 79,000 restaurant locations, processing over $92 billion of gross payment volume in the trailing 12 months, partnered with Toast to optimize operations, increase sales, engage guests, and maintain happy employees.
Our Market
The approximately 860,000 restaurant locations in the United States are highly diverse and complex. In general, restaurants operate with low margins, high employee turnover, highly perishable products, and complex regulations. At the same time, the restaurant industry is undergoing foundational changes driven by heightened food cost due to inflation, labor constraints, evolving guest preferences, and the imperative to utilize technology and data to innovate. What was once primarily an on-site experience with antiquated solutions is now becoming an omnichannel experience with restaurants employing technology to enable a range of additional service models, including curbside pick-up, delivery, wholesale, and catering.
Consumer preference towards omnichannel dining options has continued to accelerate following the COVID-19 pandemic. With restaurants operating in an increasingly dynamic environment, it is critical that we provide our customers with the tools they need to drive revenue and best serve their guests. As the diversity of how guests order, where guests eat, and the means guests use to pay continues to grow, restaurants must constantly adapt to support these trends. We have seen this pattern result in an increase in the number of service models restaurants offer, allowing guests to choose the type of service that best suits them.
We believe we are in the early stages of capturing our addressable market opportunity. As of December 31, 2022, the locations on our platform represented less than 10% of the approximately 860,000 restaurant locations in the United States. Similarly, our Annualized Recurring Run-Rate, or ARR, as of December 31, 2022 was only about 2% of our total U.S addressable market opportunity of approximately $55 billion. We see a significant opportunity to increase sales to both new and existing customers, expand the usage of our platform outside the United States, and address the diverse needs of new and existing restaurant industry stakeholders.
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Our Products and Platform
Toast’s all-in-one platform powers the entire restaurant community. Our portfolio spans several product categories: restaurant operations & point of sale, digital ordering & delivery, marketing & loyalty, team management, supply chain & accounting, financial technology solutions, and platform & insights. Alongside this platform, our commitment to customer success drives a differentiated customer experience, powers operational innovation, and enables our and our restaurants’ long-term growth and success.
As restaurants adopt more of our platform, our solutions work better together to drive even more success for them. For example, as restaurants adopt our digital ordering solutions such as Order & Pay and Online Ordering, they can collect guest data that was previously not available to them. This guest data can then fuel our marketing and loyalty solutions, increasing the likelihood of a return visit to the restaurant, thus helping increase sales or drive more guests to the restaurant’s online ordering channel with Toast, eliminating a third-party commission driving incremental margin for the restaurant.
Restaurant Operations & Point of Sale
•Software. Our Android-based software has been custom built for the restaurant industry and is the foundation that powers each of our vertically integrated solutions. Our proprietary software enables seamless connectivity across restaurant operations, guests, and employees, and drives a differentiated dining experience.
◦Toast POS: Our core software module integrates payment processing with point of sale functionality tailored for the needs of restaurants of all types and sizes. Our products help drive reduced wait times, optimize operations, and seamlessly handle payments. Toast POS is easy to use, leverages consumer technology, allows restaurant employees to quickly get up to speed on the software and seamlessly use it throughout their day. We provide color coded tables and kitchen tickets, mobile alerts, and guest text messaging to help keep restaurant staff on top of their service. For example, when a dish is ready, kitchen staff can alert the server right on their Toast Go or send a text message directly to a guest for a pick-up order.
◦Toast Invoicing: Our invoicing product allows restaurants to easily send invoices to customers and collect payment, streamlining operations and simplifying transactions for all types of orders and events.
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◦Toast Mobile Order & Pay: Our order and pay solutions allow guests to scan a QR code to browse the menu, order, and pay, all from their mobile device. This allows restaurants to have additional flexibility in staffing while providing a great restaurant experience, driving sales, capturing guest insights, and reducing table turn times.
◦Kitchen Display System: Our proprietary Kitchen Display System software seamlessly connects the front of the house with the kitchen staff. Our software fully integrates all ordering stations with the kitchen, automates firing by prep time, and instantaneously notifies servers when orders are ready.
◦Multi-Location Management: Our Multi-Location Management tool allows our customers to manage and standardize their operations and easily configure menus across multiple locations and channels, including online ordering and delivery. Customers can set location-specific items and prices or keep them consistent across the brand, and centralize data across all locations for a single, clear view of business performance.
•Hardware. Our restaurant-grade hardware is custom built to withstand the rigors of a restaurant, combining durability needed for the restaurant environment, with aesthetically pleasing designs and in-store branding, serving as the tool that helps deliver our end-to-end solutions.
◦Toast Flex: Our proprietary hardware can be used for on-counter order and pay, but can also be used as a server station, guest kiosk, kitchen display system, or order fulfillment station, allowing the restaurant to “flex” our hardware to fit their specific needs. Toast Flex comes in different formats optimized for specific use cases and built to stand the real-world environment in a restaurant.
◦Toast Go: Our fully-integrated, handheld POS device enhances the guest experience and improves table turn times through tableside ordering and payment acceptance. Toast Go enables real-time menu updates, accelerated service, easy and accurate ordering, and contactless payments.
◦Toast Tap: Our proprietary card reader supports the acceptance of EMV-contactless payments for payment methods using Near Field Communication, or NFC, technology, EMV-dip payments for payment cards with an integrated chip, and magnetic stripe payments, creating a frictionless experience for our guests.
◦Kiosk: Our proprietary self ordering Kiosk puts guests in control of their dining experience, while freeing up staff to handle other duties.
Digital Ordering & Delivery
•Toast Online Ordering & Toast TakeOut: Our commission-free online ordering and consumer Toast TakeOut application simplifies the digital ordering experience for guests, increases order accuracy, and allows restaurants to reduce reliance on third parties for driving online orders. By providing restaurants with a software-based platform to take off-premise orders directly, we reduce phone orders, minimize double entry and other costly errors, and optimize the balance between dine-in and takeout.
•First-Party Delivery, Toast Delivery Services: Toast enables restaurants to offer delivery services in a variety of ways that can be tailored to their needs and operations. With first-party delivery, restaurants can manage their own fleet of drivers and customize delivery hours, zones, fees, and minimum ticket sizes. Toast Delivery Services enables restaurants to utilize a partner network of delivery drivers so restaurants can offer delivery to guests without needing their own fleet.
•Third-Party Delivery Integrations and Orders Hub: Through Toast Delivery Partners, we provide POS integrations for restaurants using third-party delivery services to streamline order intake, eliminate the need for extra third-party tablets, and sync menus in real-time.
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Marketing and Loyalty
•Loyalty: Toast has designed a suite of guest-focused products to enhance a restaurant’s cash flow by driving further engagement with their guests. Our credit-card linked loyalty program automatically accrues points each time the guest swipes their card and offers can be customized by the restaurant to drive repeat visits and increased spend over time.
•Email Marketing: Our data driven insights allow restaurants to easily create and send email campaigns based on POS data such as visit frequency and spending patterns that are automatically built through daily guest interactions across our product suite.
•Toast Gift Cards: Toast allows customers to sell gift cards on their website or online ordering site and through physical branded cards.
Team Management
•Payroll & Team Management: Employee performance and satisfaction are important elements of a restaurant’s success. We have created a centralized hub that streamlines the entire employee onboarding, management, and payroll process. Integrated POS and payroll create a single employee record across systems, allowing for hours, tips, and employee data to synchronize seamlessly and helping managers get valuable time back.
•Sling for Toast: Employee management tools, such as Sling for Toast, provide streamlined scheduling and team communication. Through in-app messaging and multi-location team management, Sling for Toast helps restaurants staff more efficiently, better manage labor costs, and increase employee job satisfaction.
•Toast Pay Card & PayOut: Toast Pay Card & PayOut allows customers to offer eligible workers instant access to a portion of their tips and wages as soon as their shift ends, or in some cases, the next day.1
•Tips Manager: Our Tips Manager product automates the tip-pooling process, allowing customers to manage tips in one place, with credit card and cash tips automatically pulled through to Toast Payroll & Team Management.
•Partner-Enabled Products (Insurance & Benefits): Toast offers workers compensation, business owner policy, or BOP, insurance, automated 401k, as well as restaurant-specific add-ons, such as liquor liability insurance, through our partners therefore simplifying the procurement process for restaurants and providing much-requested benefits to their teams.
Supply Chain & Accounting
•xtraCHEF by Toast: xtraCHEF provides a suite of back-office tools for restaurants, including accounts payable automation, inventory management, ingredient price tracker, and recipe costing. xtraCHEF arms operators to take control of rising inventory costs, automate accounts payable, and streamline back-office tasks to help increase overall profitability.
Financial Technology Solutions
•Payment Processing: Toast provides a fully-integrated platform that enables our customers to securely accept and process payments, while also providing valuable data-driven insights and driving our guest engagement programs. We maintain competitive and clear pricing, our systems are in compliance with PCI Security Council standards, and our hardware supports EMV and NFC payment technology.
1 Toast Pay Cards are issued by Sutton Bank, Member FDIC, pursuant to license by Mastercard®.
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•Toast Capital: Toast Capital offers restaurants access to fast and flexible funding via loans advanced by our bank partner that are repaid along with fees through a daily holdback of credit card receipts. We are uniquely positioned to provide our restaurants with access to capital using patented systems for loan origination that incorporate data science models, historical point of sale data, and payment processing volume, and have created a straightforward process that can deliver urgently needed funds as soon as the next business day.
•Purchase Financing: We also offer a number of ways for customers to finance the upfront cost of Toast products, often one of the largest barriers to switching to or purchasing a new POS system. Our programs include access to 0% interest financing and Toast Easy Pay for investments made in Toast products. Toast Easy Pay allows customers to pay for hardware, onboarding and implementation, shipping and handling, and taxes as a percentage of sales with a 180-day lease. The flexibility we offer has had a measurable impact on our rapid location growth.
Platform and Insights
•Reporting and Analytics: Our differentiated software and financial technology ecosystem underpins our data collection and analytics capabilities, providing insights and reporting on real-time sales, menu, and labor data, and allowing our customers to analyze their results and improve performance over time. Our cloud-based reporting enables access to performance data regardless of physical location, and our automatic nightly email sends key business metrics directly to our customers, sharing the critical daily insights they need to successfully operate their business. We estimate that on any given day, approximately two-thirds of Toast locations engage with reporting in their restaurant dashboard.
•Toast Partner Connect and APIs: Toast’s partner ecosystem allows our customers to customize their technology stack to meet their business needs, choosing from a curated portfolio of over 200 partners that deliver a broad spectrum of specialized solutions. Toast Partner Connect is a portal within Toast that allows customers to discover, select, and seamlessly connect their restaurant to our partners. Our suite of bi-directional application programming interfaces, or APIs, connects our partners to our workflows and data, and also allows our customers to connect custom applications and software to our ecosystem.
Our Technology
We empower our customers to take control of their operations by utilizing our proprietary technology that spans across our products. Each of our products is built on Toast’s shared platform infrastructure and services. This platform layer provides common capabilities and reusable components, allowing a streamlined, integrated customer experience to be built efficiently by our independent teams.
Our digital technology platform includes:
Software, cloud-based services, and partner ecosystem
•Reliable cloud services. Our highly scalable, services-based, multi-tenant architecture runs on Amazon Web Services.
•Offline POS capabilities. In the event of an internet or network disruption, Toast’s offline POS capabilities provide essential continuity of operations. This capability allows customers to continue to place orders, print tickets and receipts, and take credit card payments. In this offline mode, all credit card information is securely encrypted and stored on the Toast device until it regains connection.
•Partner APIs. Toast has curated a portfolio of over 200 restaurant technology partners that utilize Toast APIs to deliver a broad range of specialized solutions.
Payments
Toast provides fast and secure, integrated payment processing through its POS devices, standalone contactless reader, or Toast Tap, and online ordering applications.
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•Security and compliance. Toast is a PCI-DSS Level 1 service provider and PA-DSS validated payments application. All card processing systems adhere to strict PCI security policies and procedures.
•Reliability. We leverage our extensive on-the-ground experience to provide a reliable payments experience that is resilient to issues with restaurants’ networks or internet service providers as well as Toast’s own cloud platform.
•Flexible omni-channel capabilities. Toast provides in-store, digital, and partner payment capabilities. In-store payments through the Toast integrated card reader and Toast Tap support card dipping, tapping, and swiping as well as Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay, with fraud detection capabilities to minimize transaction risks. Using Toast-provided payments across channels simplifies our customers’ experience, providing them with a single daily deposit of funds and consolidated reporting for easier accounting.
Hardware
•User-friendly, durable, and designed to last. Our custom-designed hardware is pre-configured to enable self-installation with limited support and is created to be spill- and drop-proof with a long battery life to withstand the rigors of the restaurant environment.
•Device management. Our hardware utilizes the open-source Android mobile operating system which enables us to freely distribute the operating system to the Toast terminal and handheld devices. Proprietary management tools allow Toast to safely and efficiently upgrade POS software and device firmware as well as to monitor the health of devices across the fleet.
Our Growth Strategy
Our strategy is to continue to invest in areas that align with our customers’ needs. We expect that both we and our customers will continue to realize the value of our platform as we scale, make enhancements to our technology, offer more products and services, and help restaurants increase revenue while saving time and money. Toast both drives and benefits from the success of our customers—when restaurants grow, Toast grows through higher payments volume and increased adoption of our full platform.
•Fuel efficient location growth with both new and existing customers. Despite our rapid growth and scale, we estimate that our current locations account for less than 10% of restaurant locations in the United States. We expect the restaurant industry to continue to shift toward innovative, digital, cloud-based solutions as restaurants seek to leverage technology to drive more growth and operate more efficiently. We therefore believe there is a substantial opportunity to grow our location footprint. To that end, we intend to invest in our field-based go-to-market engine, customer success through a combination of tailored onboarding services, customer support, and intuitive product design, as well as research and development of new products to serve the evolving needs of restaurants and provide solutions that cater to all segments of the restaurant industry. We also expect to see continued location growth among our existing customers, both as they open new locations and as we continue to roll out the Toast platform to more of our customers’ existing locations.
•Increase adoption of our full suite of products. We believe that we are well-positioned to sell additional products to our existing customers through a combination of sales and marketing efforts and product-led growth. We believe our all-in-one, integrated platform approach is well-suited to a customer base that has historically struggled to adopt technology at the same pace as other industries due to a lack of dedicated information technology resources.
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•Invest in and expand our product platform. We intend to further invest in research and development to expand the functionality of our current platform and to broaden the subscription services and financial technology solutions we offer. We believe our proven track record and continued strategy to build products that directly address key pain points for our stakeholders will differentiate us and help grow our addressable market. We also believe we have an opportunity to expand the ways in which we leverage the data on our platform to help our customers succeed.
•Further develop our partner ecosystem. Toast’s integrated platform currently connects customers to over 200 partners, providing our customers with the tools and features they need to run their business. Today, we have partnerships in place across a spectrum of solutions that include employee management, reservations, inventory, accounting, security, analytics, marketing and customer relationship management, loyalty, mobile pay, gift cards, online ordering, and digital signage. We intend to continue expanding our technology and channel partnerships to deliver even more value to our customers and increase the strategic nature of our platform.
•Selectively pursue inorganic growth. We intend to selectively explore inorganic product and technology growth opportunities to build out our portfolio and strengthen our ecosystem advantage. We believe that the scale of our partner ecosystem provides additional visibility into what products would be most valuable to our customers. For example, in July 2022, we announced the acquisition of Sling Inc., or Sling, to empower our customers to simplify scheduling and communication across their team, control their labor costs, and help increase employee satisfaction.
•Expand internationally. We believe there is a significant opportunity to expand usage of our platform outside of the United States. This growth strategy is in the early stages and is a long-term initiative. We are in the process of building an international sales team and investing in targeted research and development efforts to address this market opportunity.
Customer Success
Our customer success team supports our customers through their entire lifecycle beginning with onboarding and extending to ongoing customer care, including product enablement and education around industry best practices. We invest in scalable and efficient onboarding solutions that offer a differentiated customer experience. We currently offer on-site, remote, and self-guided implementation options to our customers. To better serve the growing sophistication of our customers and improve the upfront cost burden, we launched a remote onboarding offering in 2019.
We offer multi-channel customer support 24 hours per day, 7 days a week, 365 days per year via chat, phone, or web. We built our entire platform to be cloud-based, so our customer success team can provide seamless support remotely. Due to the all-in-one nature of our platform, we offer restaurants a single point of contact for any issues across their entire technology stack. We invest significantly in customer support and consider these investments to be a key competitive differentiator.
Sales and Marketing
The restaurant industry is a local industry. Restaurant operators purchase everything from food and alcohol to equipment and table linens from individuals that they know and trust. Our sales and marketing motion is designed from the ground up to integrate into this dynamic by combining a high-volume marketing engine with a localized and consultative sales force.
We start with in-market sales teams that are deeply familiar with, and trusted by, the local community. This deep knowledge of the local food and beverage scene provides us with a competitive advantage. Our sales team is organized by three main functional areas: an acquisition team that is focused on new location growth and organized by restaurant size (i.e., number of locations per customer), an upsell team that focuses on expansion into the install base, and a growth team focused on sales enablement and operations.
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To generate and capture demand we invest heavily in the primary discovery channels for restaurant operators. We combine our demand generation efforts with pricing and packaging that is designed to increase platform adoption and simplify the buying process for restaurants. This approach provides multiple entry points into the Toast platform ranging from a single terminal point of sale to a multi-product setup for a complex restaurant.
As Toast continues to grow, so does the importance of brand recognition and our investments into strengthening it. This brand recognition will help continue to drive growth in the restaurant community and increase referrals.
Research and Development
Our product development strategy is based on typical inputs such as market and user research, strategy planning, and iterative financial analysis, but it is first and foremost based around our customer obsession and mission of empowering the restaurant community to delight guests, do what they love, and thrive. We believe strongly that this customer obsession and innovation on their behalf is the best long-term product strategy to help our customers outperform, and this strategy drives both the products we build and the partnerships we create within the restaurant ecosystem.
We organize our team with a full-stack development model, integrating product management, engineering, analytics, data science, and design. Our research and development teams are located in the United States, Europe, and India. Each location has a combination of product management, user experience design, software engineering, and quality assurance personnel.
Competition
The market is competitive and evolving rapidly. Our platform combines functionality from numerous product categories, and we therefore compete with a range of providers, including cloud-based point of sale platforms, legacy point of sale platform payments solutions, and point technology providers with products addressing specific front of house or back of house operations. We compete on the basis of a number of factors including:
•the ability to provide an all-in-one software and financial technology platform specifically designed to meet the existing and future technology needs of prospective customers, including comprehensive partner ecosystem integrations;
•product performance, flexibility, durability, ease of use, security, scalability, and reliability;
•brand recognition, reputation, and customer satisfaction;
•the availability and quality of support and other professional services, including the ability to onboard prospective customers in a timely and cost-efficient manner;
•the ability to operate and support all geographic markets specified by the prospective customer; and
•the ability to integrate systems seamlessly and at low costs to provide important data insights.
We believe that we compete favorably with respect to these factors. Furthermore, we expect that our industry will continue to attract new market entrants, including smaller emerging companies, which could introduce new offerings. We may also expand into new markets and encounter additional competitors in such markets.
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Seasonality
We experience seasonality in our financial technology solutions revenue, which is largely driven by the level of gross payment volume, or GPV, processed through our platform. For example, customers typically have greater sales during the warmer months, though this effect varies regionally. As a result, our financial technology solutions revenue per location has historically been stronger in the second and third quarters. We believe that financial technology solutions revenue from both existing and potential future products will continue to represent a significant proportion of our overall revenue mix, and seasonality will continue to impact our results of operations.
Human Capital Resources
As of December 31, 2022, we had approximately 4,500 employees worldwide. We also engage consultants as needed to support our business and operations from time to time.
Core to our success is our passionate and diverse team of Toasters, led by a skilled and experienced leadership team with a proven track record of scaling leading platforms and organizations. With approximately two-thirds of our employees having previous work experience in the restaurant industry, we are truly driven by a love for amazing food, a love for delightful experiences and a love for the diverse community that restaurants represent. Our Toast values guide our culture, and support a sense of belonging among Toasters. We have not experienced any work stoppages and consider our employee relations to be strong.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
At Toast, we power successful restaurants of all sizes. The restaurant industry is one of the most diverse industries and we embrace that diversity by encouraging it within our company. We believe that the success of our business comes only with the success of all our employees.
We bake inclusive principles into our design, build cultural competence and equity in our practices, and ensure opportunities for growth and rewards by investing in developing our managers and employees through a number of live, in-person and self-directed programs.
We offer a number of specialized Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, or DEI, programs and initiatives to equip Toasters with the tools necessary to develop and promote an environment of inclusion and respect that leads to better engagement, productivity, and innovation. These include individual and peer DEI coaching focused on targeted conversations and specific development; DEI programs that build awareness and mitigate bias offered live and as e-learning modules; and specific development for our managers and leaders designed to enable them to build more meaningful and authentic relationships with their teams and create a more inclusive workplace environment.
Our Toasters are directly involved in maintaining an inclusive and equitable culture through our Toast Communities and our Council of Advocates for Equity, which leverage their combined perspectives to advocate for an equitable experience for all, across our business strategy and company culture.
Social Commitment
At Toast, we are committed to supporting causes that solve critical food issues and enrich the food experience for all. Driven by our commitment to local communities, in 2019 we launched a philanthropic branch, Toast.org, dedicated to solving critical food issues that impact communities across the United States. In furtherance of Toast’s values and these goals, we have joined the Pledge 1% movement. As a part of this initiative, in each of 2021 and 2022, we transferred 546,889 shares of Class A common stock, which represent our first two annual installments of the total 5,468,890 shares reserved by our Board of Directors as bona fide gifts to a charitable organization to fund our social impact initiatives through Toast.org.
We are also committed to minimizing our environmental footprint in an effort to mitigate climate change and began our efforts by conducting and disclosing our first greenhouse gas inventory in 2022.
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Compensation, Well-being and Safety
Toast is committed to supporting employee safety and well-being. We offer competitive compensation and benefits that support our employees’ overall well-being, including healthcare, mental health support programs, and parental and family leave, as well as retirement savings and company match.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, we implemented changes to our operations and business practices to prioritize the safety of our Toasters and their families and to continue to deliver on our mission to help the restaurant industry thrive, including hybrid and remote working schedule accommodations, enhanced safety measures, and other tools and resources.
Intellectual Property
We rely on a combination of patent, trade secret, copyright, and trademark laws, a variety of contractual arrangements, such as license agreements, assignment agreements, confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements, and confidentiality procedures and technical measures to gain rights to and protect the intellectual property used in our business.
We have also developed a patent program and a strategy to identify, apply for, and secure patents for innovative aspects of our platform and technology. As of December 31, 2022, we have 50 U.S. patent applications allowed/granted, and in addition we have 17 U.S. patent applications pending. Our issued patents are estimated to expire between 2036 and 2039. Such expiration dates may vary based on a variety of factors, including benefit claims, term adjustments, and/or extensions as well as the timely payment of maintenance fees. We intend to pursue additional patent protection to the extent we believe it would be beneficial and cost effective.
We have an ongoing trademark and service mark registration program pursuant to which we register our brand names and product names, taglines, and logos in the United States and other countries to the extent we determine appropriate and cost effective. We also have common law rights in some trademarks and numerous pending trademark applications in U.S. jurisdictions. In addition, we have registered domain names for websites that we use in our business, such as www.toasttab.com and other variations.
We intend to pursue additional intellectual property protection to the extent we believe it would be beneficial and cost effective. Despite our efforts to protect our intellectual property rights, they may not be respected in the future or may be invalidated, circumvented, or challenged. See the sections titled “Risk Factors,” including the section(s) titled “Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property” for a description of the risks related to our intellectual property.
Government Regulation
Various aspects of our business and service areas are subject to U.S. federal, state, and local regulation, as well as regulation outside the United States. As more fully described below, certain of our services also are, or may be in the future, subject to the laws, rules, and regulations that are related to acceptance of credit cards and debit cards, payments services (such as payment processing and settlement services), including laws concerning consumer financial protection, anti-money laundering and escheatment. From time to time, we may launch pilot programs or early-stage products, which may subject us to additional state or federal laws or regulations. We also are, or may be in the future, subject to rules promulgated and enforced by multiple authorities and governing bodies in the United States, including federal, state and local agencies, payment card networks and other authorities, and internationally. These descriptions are not exhaustive, and these laws, regulations, and rules frequently change and are increasing in number.
BSA and FinCEN Regulation
Certain of our payment technology solutions are or may become subject to anti-money laundering laws and regulations under the Bank Secrecy Act of 1970, as amended by the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001, or the BSA. The BSA requires certain financial institutions, including banks and money services business, or MSBs (such as money transmitters), to register with the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, as MSBs and to develop and implement risk-based anti-money laundering programs, report large cash transactions and suspicious activity, and maintain transaction records, among other things.
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Our subsidiary, Toast Processing Services LLC, or TPS, is registered as an MSB with FinCEN in its capacity as a money transmitter. As an MSB, we are required to maintain a written anti-money laundering program, or AML Program, that meets the standards set forth in the FinCEN regulations implementing the BSA. In addition, our AML Program is designed to address and comply with the Money Laundering Control Act and other U.S. laws and regulations regarding anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism, which we refer to as AML/CFT, and to control for the AML/CFT risks inherent to our business. The AML Program is also designed to prevent our platform from being used to facilitate business with certain individuals, entities, countries, and territories that are targets of economic or trade sanctions, including those imposed by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.
State Licensing Requirements
Certain of our payment technology solutions are or may become subject to state money transmitter or payroll processor laws and regulations. TPS is licensed as a money transmitter in most states and is seeking licenses to operate as a money transmitter in connection with its payroll processing activities in certain other states. Federal and state money transmitter laws and regulations impose a variety of requirements and restrictions on us, including anti-money laundering program requirements; record-keeping requirements; disclosure requirements; examination requirements; annual or biennial activity reporting and license renewal requirements; notification and approval requirements for changes in our officers, directors, stock ownership or corporate control; permissible investment requirements; capital or minimum net worth requirements; bonding; restrictions on marketing and advertising; qualified individual requirements; anti-money laundering and compliance program requirements; data security and privacy requirements; and review requirements for customer-facing documents.
Additionally, states impose a variety of licensing requirements on entities engaged in certain insurance related activities. Our subsidiary, Toast Insurance Services, Inc., has obtained certain insurance related licenses from a majority of the 50 states plus Washington, D.C. As a result, we are currently subject to a variety of, and may in the future become subject to additional or newly enacted, state insurance laws and regulations in various jurisdictions.
Card Network and NACHA Rules
We rely on our relationships with financial institutions and third-party payment processors to access the payment card networks, such as Visa and Mastercard, which enable our acceptance of credit cards and debit cards, and our ability to explore and offer certain other products. We pay fees to such financial institutions and third-party payment processors for such services. We are required by these third-party payment processors to register with Visa, Mastercard, and other card networks and to comply with the rules and the requirements of these card networks’ self-regulatory organizations. The payment networks and their member financial institutions routinely update, generally expand, and modify requirements applicable to our customers, including rules regulating data integrity, third-party relationships, merchant chargeback standards and compliance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, or PCI DSS. PCI DSS is a set of requirements designed to ensure that all companies that process, store, or transmit payment card information maintain a secure environment to protect cardholder data.
We are also subject to the operating rules of the National Automated Clearing House Association, or NACHA. NACHA is a self-regulatory organization which administers and facilitates private-sector operating rules for ACH payments and defines the roles and responsibilities of financial institutions and other ACH network participants. The NACHA Rules and Operating Guidelines impose obligations on us and our partner financial institutions, such as audit and oversight by the financial institutions and the imposition of mandatory corrective action, including termination, for serious violations.
State Loan Disclosure Requirements and Other Substantive Lending Regulations
Loans facilitated by Toast Capital are subject to state laws and regulations that impose requirements related to commercial loans, including loan disclosures and terms, credit discrimination, and credit reporting. State advertising, loan brokering, loan servicing, and debt collection laws may apply to the marketing and loan administration services we provide to our bank partner that makes the loans facilitated by Toast Capital.
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FTC Act and Unfair and Deceptive Acts and Practices
Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, or FTC Act, prohibits unfair or deceptive acts or practices. The Federal Trade Commission, or FTC, enforces Section 5 of the FTC Act against non-banks and has a history of pursuing enforcement actions for alleged unfair or deceptive acts or practices in connection with the marketing or servicing of financial products and services that are marketed to consumers or small businesses. The FTC has jurisdiction over us and our business practices.
Payroll Card and On-Demand Pay Regulations
Together with our bank partner, we offer a payroll card, which allows the restaurant’s employees to receive wages, tips, and other compensation from their employers. These debit cards are subject to federal and state financial services laws, as well as the payment card network rules and NACHA rules. The Durbin Amendment to the Dodd-Frank Act and its implementing regulation, Regulation II, limit the amount of interchange revenue that the bank partner may receive, and share with us, on transactions made using these cards.
Payroll cards are subject to additional consumer financial regulation under federal law and state law. For example, the Electronic Fund Transfer Act, and its implementing regulation, Regulation E, impose requirements on payroll cards, including requirements related to consumers’ rights and liabilities, treatment of funds on lost or stolen cards, error resolution and investigation, upfront fee disclosures, and access to account information. Additionally, state employment and payroll regulations impose regulations on the use of payroll cards to disburse wages and other compensation.
Further, proposals to adopt or change the statutes or regulations affecting on-demand pay services, such as PayOut, may periodically be promulgated by federal or state legislatures and government agencies. If enacted, those proposals could affect PayOut’s operating environment in substantial and unpredictable ways. These proposals may impact our ability to offer PayOut in a particular jurisdiction, or at all.
Stored Value Services
Stored value cards, gift cards and electronic gift certificates may trigger various federal and state laws and regulations. The customers who utilize our gift card processing products and services may be subject to these laws and regulations, which may include the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009.
Privacy and Consumer Information Security
In the ordinary course of our business, we access, collect, store, use, transmit and otherwise process certain types of data, including personal information, which subjects us to certain federal and state privacy and information security laws, rules, industry standards and regulations designed to regulate consumer information and data privacy, security and protection, and mitigate identity theft. These laws, some of which are discussed below, impose obligations with respect to the collection, processing, storage, disposal, use, transfer, retention and disclosure of personal information, and, with limited exceptions, give consumers the right to prevent use of their personal information and disclosure of it to third parties. Such laws and regulations are subject to ongoing changes, and a number of new proposed or recently-passed laws or regulations in this area are expected to be applicable to our business.
In addition, under these laws and regulations, including the federal Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, or GLBA, and Regulation P promulgated thereunder, we must disclose our privacy policy and practices, including those policies relating to the sharing of nonpublic personal information with third parties. The GLBA may restrict the purposes for which we may use personal information obtained from consumers and third parties. We may also be required to provide an opt-out from certain sharing.
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Since the California Consumer Privacy Act, or the CCPA, took effect on January 1, 2020, our California business operations have been directly impacted in addition to an indirect impact on our operations nationwide. Subsequently, on January 1, 2023, the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020, an amendment to the CCPA, took effect along with the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act, or the VCDPA. Additional US state-specific laws in Colorado, Connecticut and Utah will also become effective in 2023. While personal information that we process that is subject to the GLBA is exempt from the CCPA and many of these other state laws, the CCPA, the VCDPA and these additional state laws will regulate other personal information that we collect and process and impose new consumer rights and limitations around personal information.
Additionally, as we grow our business internationally, international privacy legislation such as the European General Data Protection Regulation, or the GDPR, the United Kingdom GDPR (and other local legislation) and Canada’s Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act along with provincial legislation will similarly impact our operations.
Channels for Disclosure of Information
Our Annual Report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to those reports, filed or furnished pursuant to Sections 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, are available, free of charge, on our website as soon as reasonably practicable after such reports are electronically filed with, or furnished to, the Securities and Exchange Commission, or the SEC. These reports may be accessed through our website's investor relations page at investors.toasttab.com. Further, the SEC's website, www.sec.gov, contains reports and other information regarding our filings.
Investors, the media, and others should note that we announce material information to the public through filings with the SEC, the investor relations page on our website, press releases and public conference calls and webcasts. The information disclosed by the foregoing channels could be deemed to be material information. As such, we encourage investors, the media, and others to follow the channels listed above and to review the information disclosed through such channels. Any updates to the list of disclosure channels through which we will announce information will be posted on the investor relations page on our website.
Corporate Information
We were incorporated under the laws of Delaware in December 2011 under the name Opti Systems, Inc. We changed our name to Toast, Inc. in May 2012. Our principal executive offices are located at 401 Park Drive, Suite 801 Boston, Massachusetts 02215 and our telephone number is (617) 297-1005. Our website address is www.toasttab.com. We do not incorporate the information on or accessible through our website into this Annual Report on Form 10-K, and you should not consider any information on, or that can be accessed through, our website to be part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. We have included our website address in this Annual Report on Form 10-K solely as an inactive textual reference.
“Toast,” our logo, and our other registered or common law trademarks, service marks, or trade names appearing in this Annual Report on Form 10-K are the property of Toast, Inc. Other trademarks and trade names referred to in this Annual Report on Form 10-K are the property of their respective owners.
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Item 1A. Risk Factors
A description of the risks and uncertainties associated with our business is set forth below. You should carefully consider the risks and uncertainties described below, together with all of the other information in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including Part II, Item 7, “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and our financial statements and related notes appearing elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Additional risks and uncertainties that we are unaware of, or that we currently believe are not material, may also become important factors that adversely affect our business. If any of the risks actually occur, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be materially and adversely affected. In that event, the trading price of our Class A common stock could decline.
Risks Related to Our Business and Business Development
If we fail to manage our growth effectively and efficiently, we may be unable to execute our business plan, maintain high levels of service and customer satisfaction, or adequately address competitive challenges.
We have experienced significant growth in recent periods, which puts a strain on our business, operations, and employees. We anticipate that our operations will continue to rapidly expand. To manage our current and anticipated future growth effectively, we must continue to maintain and enhance our finance and accounting systems and controls, as well as our information technology, or IT, and security infrastructure. For example, we expect we will need to continue to invest in and seek to enhance our IT systems and capabilities, including with respect to internal information sharing and interconnectivity between various systems within our infrastructure.
We must also attract, train, and retain qualified sales and marketing personnel, client support personnel, professional services personnel, software engineers, technical personnel, and management personnel, without undermining our corporate culture of rapid innovation, teamwork, and attention to customer success that has been central to our growth.
Failure to effectively manage our growth could also lead us to over-invest or under-invest in development and operations, result in weaknesses in our infrastructure, systems, or controls, give rise to operational mistakes, financial losses, loss of productivity or business opportunities, and result in loss of employees and reduced productivity of remaining employees. To support our growth, we expect to continue to invest in sales and marketing to increase sales of our platform and increase awareness of our brand and continue to invest in research and development to increase the functionality of our platform and to introduce additional related products and services. A significant portion of our investments in our sales and marketing and research and development activities will precede the benefits from such investments, and we cannot be sure that we will receive an adequate return on our investments. If our management is unable to effectively and efficiently manage our growth, our expenses may increase more than expected, our revenue may not increase or may grow more slowly than expected, and we may be unable to implement our business strategy.
If we do not attract new customers, retain existing customers, and increase our customers’ use of our platform, our business will suffer.
We derive, and expect to continue to derive, a majority of our revenue and cash inflows from our integrated cloud-based restaurant management platform, which encompasses software, financial technology, and hardware components. As such, our ability to attract new customers, retain existing customers, and increase use of the platform by existing customers is critical to our success.
Our future revenue will depend in large part on our success in attracting additional customers to our platform. Our ability to attract additional customers will depend on a number of factors, including the effectiveness of our sales team, the success of our marketing efforts, our levels of investment in expanding our sales and marketing teams, referrals by existing customers, and the availability of competitive restaurant technology platforms. We may not experience the same levels of success with respect to our customer acquisition strategies as seen in prior periods, and if the costs associated with acquiring new customers materially rises in the future, our expenses may rise significantly.
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In addition, while a majority of our current customer base consists of small- and medium-sized businesses, or SMBs, we continue to pursue customer growth within the enterprise and mid-market segments of the restaurant market, as well as among SMBs. Each of those segments of the overall market poses different sales and marketing challenges, and has different requirements, and we cannot be sure that we will achieve the same success in those market segments as we have achieved to date in sales to SMBs.
Our business also depends on retaining our existing customers. Our business is subscription-based, and contract terms for our SaaS products generally range from 12 to 36 months. Customers are not obligated to, and may not, renew their subscriptions after their existing subscriptions expire. As a result, even though the number of customers using our platform has grown rapidly in recent years, there can be no assurance that we will be able to retain these customers or any new customers that may enter into subscriptions. Renewals of subscriptions may decline or fluctuate as a result of a number of factors, including dissatisfaction with our platform or support, the perception that a competitive platform, product or service presents a better or less expensive option, or our failure to successfully deploy sales and marketing efforts towards existing customers as they approach the expiration of their subscription term. In addition, we may terminate our relationships with customers for various reasons, such as heightened credit risk, excessive card chargebacks, unacceptable business practices, or contract breaches.
Further, if customers on our platform were to cease operations, temporarily or permanently, or face financial distress or other business disruption, our ability to retain customers would suffer. This risk is particularly pronounced with restaurants, as each year a meaningful percentage of restaurants go out of business, and this risk has become particularly acute as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, rising inflation and interest rates, and other recent global financial, economic, political, and health events that have impacted consumer behaviors and the restaurant industry.
In addition to attracting new customers and retaining existing customers, we seek to expand usage of our platform by broadening adoption by our customers of the various products included within our platform. Although in recent periods new customers have increasingly adopted our full suite of products, we cannot be certain that new customers will continue to adopt our full suite of products at existing rates or that we will be successful in increasing adoption of additional products by our existing customers. Further, while many of our customers deploy our platform to all of their restaurant locations, some of our customers initially deploy our platform to a subset of locations. For those customers, we seek to expand use of our platform to additional locations over time. Our ability to increase adoption of our products by our customers and to increase penetration of our existing customers’ locations will depend on a number of factors, including our customers’ satisfaction with our platform, competition, pricing, and our ability to demonstrate the value proposition of our products.
Our costs associated with renewals and generating sales of additional products to existing customers are substantially lower than our costs associated with entering into subscriptions with new customers. Accordingly, our business model relies to a significant extent on our ability to renew subscriptions and sell additional products to existing customers, and, if we are unable to retain revenue from existing customers or to increase revenue from existing customers, our operating results would be adversely impacted even if such lost revenue were offset by an increase in revenue from new customers.
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We may not be able to sustain our recent revenue growth in future periods.
We have grown rapidly over the last several years, and our recent revenue growth rate and financial performance should not be considered indicative of our future performance. In the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, our revenue was $2,731 million and $1,705 million, respectively, representing a 60% growth rate. You should not rely on our revenue or key business metrics for any previous quarterly or annual period as indicative of our revenue, revenue growth, key business metrics, or key business metrics growth in future periods. In particular, our revenue growth rate has fluctuated in prior periods. We expect our revenue growth rate to continue to fluctuate over the short and long term. We may experience declines in our revenue growth rate as a result of a number of factors, including slowing demand for our platform, insufficient growth in the number of customers and their guests that utilize our platform, increasing competition, changing customer and guest behaviors, a decrease in the growth of our overall market, our failure to continue to capitalize on growth opportunities, the impact of regulatory requirements, the maturation of our business, and macroeconomic conditions, among others. In addition, SMBs comprise the majority of our customer base. If the demand for restaurant management platforms by SMBs does not continue to grow, or if we are unable to maintain our category share with SMBs, our revenue and other growth rates could be adversely affected.
We have a limited operating history in an evolving industry, which makes it difficult to evaluate our future prospects and may increase the risk that we will not be successful.
We launched our operations in 2013, have grown significantly in recent periods, and have a limited operating history, particularly at our current scale. In addition, we operate in an evolving industry and have frequently expanded our platform features and services and changed our pricing methodologies. This limited operating history and our evolving business make it difficult to evaluate our future prospects and the risks and challenges we may encounter. These risks and challenges include, but are not limited to, our ability to:
•accurately forecast our revenue and plan our operating expenses;
•increase the number of and retain existing customers and their guests using our platform;
•successfully compete with current and future competitors;
•successfully expand our business in existing markets and enter new markets and geographies;
•anticipate and respond to macroeconomic changes and changes in the markets in which we operate;
•maintain and enhance the value of our reputation and brand;
•comply with regulatory requirements in highly regulated markets;
•adapt to rapidly evolving trends in the ways customers and their guests interact with technology;
•avoid interruptions or disruptions in our service;
•develop a scalable, high-performance technology infrastructure that can efficiently and reliably handle significant surges of usage by our customers and their guests as compared to historic levels and increased usage generally, as well as the deployment of new features and services;
•maintain, scale, and effectively manage our internal infrastructure systems, such as information strategy and sharing and interconnectivity between systems;
•hire, integrate, and retain talented technology, sales, customer service, and other personnel;
•effectively manage rapid growth in our personnel and operations; and
•effectively manage our costs.
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Further, because we have limited historical financial data relevant to our current scale and operations and operate in a rapidly evolving market, any predictions about our future revenue and expenses may not be as accurate as they would be if we had a longer operating history or operated in a more predictable market. We have encountered in the past, and will encounter in the future, risks and uncertainties frequently experienced by growing companies with limited operating histories in rapidly changing industries. If our assumptions regarding these risks and uncertainties, which we use to plan and operate our business, are incorrect or change, or if we do not address these risks successfully, our results of operations could differ materially from our expectations and our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be adversely affected.
Our platform includes our payment services, and our ability to attract new customers and retain existing customers depends in part on our ability to offer payment processing services with the desired functionality at an attractive price.
We sell subscriptions to our platform together with our payment services, and customers are unable to subscribe to our platform without also subscribing to our payment services. While we believe that offering a complete all-in-one platform that includes payment processing functionality along with all the other functionality of our platform offers our customers significant advantages over separate point of sale solutions, some potential or existing customers may not desire to use our payment processing services or to switch from their existing payment processing vendors. Some of our potential customers for our platform may not be willing to switch payment processing vendors for a variety of reasons, such as transition costs, business disruption, and loss of accustomed functionality. There can be no assurance that our efforts to overcome these factors will be successful, and this resistance may adversely affect our growth.
The attractiveness of our payment processing services also depends on our ability to integrate emerging payment technologies, including crypto currencies, other emerging or alternative payment methods, and credit card systems that we or our processing partners may not adequately support or for which we or they do not provide adequate processing rates. In the event such methods become popular among consumers, any failure to timely integrate emerging payment methods into our software, anticipate consumer behavior changes, or contract with processing partners that support such emerging payment technologies could reduce the attractiveness of our payment processing services and of our platform, and adversely affect our operating results.
Our operating results depend in significant part on our payment processing services, and the revenue and gross profit we derive from our payment processing activity in a particular period can vary due to a variety of factors.
Even if we succeed in increasing subscriptions to our platform and retaining subscription customers, the revenue we derive from payment processing services may vary from period to period depending on a variety of factors, many of which are beyond our control and difficult to predict. Our revenue from payment processing services is generally calculated as a percentage of payment volume plus a per-transaction fee and, accordingly, varies depending on the total dollar amount processed through the Toast platform across all of our customers’ restaurant locations in a particular period. This amount may vary, depending on, among other things, the success of our customers’ restaurant locations, the proportion of our customers’ payment volumes processed through our platform, ticket size, consumer spending levels in general, and overall economic conditions. In addition, the revenue and gross profit derived from our payment processing services varies depending on the particular type of payment processed on our platform. For example, card-not-present transactions, which are transactions for which the credit card is not physically present at the merchant location at the time of the transaction, are generally associated with higher payment processing revenue and gross profit compared to card-present transactions, and debit card transactions are generally also associated with higher gross profit compared to credit card transactions. The ratio of card-not-present and debit card transactions as a proportion of the total payment transactions processed through our platform can fluctuate from time to time and may be impacted by global events such as the recent COVID-19 pandemic, which may lead to corresponding fluctuations in our revenue and gross profit.
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A majority of our customers are SMBs, which can be more difficult and costly to retain than enterprise customers, and are subject to increased impacts of economic fluctuations, which may adversely affect our business and operations.
A majority of our customers are SMBs and we expect they will continue to comprise a large portion of our customer base for the foreseeable future. We define SMBs in the context of our customer base as customers that have between one and ten restaurant locations. Selling to and retaining SMBs can be more difficult than retaining enterprise customers, as SMBs often have higher rates of business failure and more limited resources, may have decisions related to the choice of payment processor dictated by their affiliated parent entity and are more readily able to change their payment processors than larger organizations.
SMBs are also typically more susceptible to the adverse effects of economic fluctuations, including those caused by the recent COVID-19 pandemic, rising inflation and interest rates, and economic downturns. Adverse changes in the economic environment or business failures of our SMB customers may have a greater impact on us than on our competitors who do not focus on SMBs to the extent that we do.
We rely in part on revenue from subscription contracts, and because we recognize revenue from subscription contracts over the term of the relevant subscription period, downturns or upturns in sales are not immediately reflected in full in our results of operations.
Subscription services revenue accounts for a significant portion of our total revenue. Sales of new or renewal subscription contracts may decline or fluctuate as a result of a number of factors, including customers’ level of satisfaction with our platform, the prices of our subscriptions, the prices of subscriptions offered by our competitors, reductions in our customers’ spending levels, or other changes in consumer behavior. If our sales of new or renewal subscription contracts decline, our revenue and revenue growth may decline. We recognize subscription revenue ratably over the term of the relevant subscription period, which generally ranges from 12 to 36 months in duration. As a result, much of the subscription revenue we report each quarter is derived from subscription contracts that we sold in prior periods.
Consequently, a decline in new or renewed subscription contracts in any one quarter will not be fully reflected in revenue in that quarter but will negatively affect our revenue in future quarters. Accordingly, the effect of significant downturns in new or renewal sales of our subscriptions is not reflected in full in our results of operations in a given period. Also, it is difficult for us to rapidly increase our subscription revenue through additional sales in any period, as revenue from new and renewal subscription contracts must be recognized ratably over the applicable subscription period. Furthermore, any increases in the average term of subscription contracts would result in revenue for those subscription contracts being recognized over longer periods of time.
Our future revenue will depend in part on our ability to expand the financial technology services we offer to our customers and increase adoption of those services.
We offer our customers a variety of financial technology products and services, and we intend to make available additional financial technology products and services to our customers in the future. A number of these services require that we enter into arrangements with financial institutions or other third parties. For example, one of our bank partners, which is a Utah-chartered and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, or the FDIC,-insured industrial bank, offers qualified customers working capital loans, which we service. In order to provide these and future financial technology products and services, we may need to establish additional partnerships with third parties, comply with a variety of regulatory requirements, and introduce internal processes and procedures to comply with applicable law and the requirements of our partners, all of which may involve significant cost, require substantial management attention, and expose us to new business and compliance risks. We cannot be sure that our current or future financial technology services will be widely adopted by our customers or that the revenue we derive from such services will justify our investments in developing and introducing these services.
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Failure to maintain and enhance our brand recognition in a cost-effective manner could harm our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
We believe that maintaining and enhancing our brand identity and reputation is critical to our relationships with, and ability to attract, new customers, partners and employees. Accordingly, we have invested, and expect to continue to invest, increasing amounts of money in and greater resources to branding and other marketing initiatives, which may not be successful or cost effective. If we do not successfully maintain and enhance our brand and reputation in a cost-effective manner, our business may not grow, we may have reduced pricing power relative to competitors with stronger brands or reputations, and we could lose customers or partners, all of which would harm our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
In addition, any negative publicity about our company or our management, including about the quality, stability, and reliability of our platform or services, changes to our products and services, our privacy and security practices, litigation, regulatory enforcement, and other actions involving us, as well as the perception of us and our products by our customers and their guests, even if inaccurate, could cause a loss of confidence in us and adversely affect our brand.
We depend on the experience and expertise of our senior management team and key technical employees, and the loss of any key employee could harm our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
Our success depends upon the continued service of our senior management team and key technical employees. Each of these employees could terminate his or her relationship with us at any time. Further, our competitors may be successful in recruiting and hiring members of our management team or other key employees, and it may be difficult for us to find suitable replacements on a timely basis, on competitive terms, or at all.
The loss of any member of our senior management team or key technical employees might significantly delay or prevent the achievement of our business objectives and could harm our business and our customer relationships.
Our ability to recruit, retain, and develop qualified personnel is critical to our success and growth.
All our businesses function at the intersection of rapidly changing technological, social, economic, and regulatory environments that require a wide range of expertise and intellectual capital. For us to successfully compete and grow, we must recruit, retain, and develop personnel who can provide the necessary expertise across a broad spectrum of disciplines. In addition, we must develop, maintain and, as necessary, implement appropriate succession plans to ensure we have the necessary human resources capable of maintaining continuity in our business.
The market for qualified personnel is competitive, and we may not succeed in recruiting additional personnel or may fail to effectively replace current personnel who depart with qualified or effective successors. Our effort to retain and develop personnel may also result in significant additional expenses, which could adversely affect our profitability. In addition, job candidates and existing employees often consider the value of the equity awards they receive in connection with their employment. The trading price of our Class A common stock has been and may continue to be volatile, could be subject to fluctuations in response to various factors and may not appreciate. If the perceived value of our equity awards declines for these or other reasons, it may adversely affect our ability to attract and retain highly qualified employees. Certain of our employees have received significant proceeds from sales of our equity in previous transactions and many of our employees may receive significant proceeds from sales of our equity in future transactions, which may reduce their motivation to continue to work for us.
We are also substantially dependent on our direct sales force to obtain new customers and increase sales to existing customers. There is significant competition for sales personnel with the skills and technical knowledge that we require. Our ability to achieve significant revenue growth will depend, in large part, on our success in recruiting, training, and retaining a sufficient number of sales personnel to support our growth. If we are unable to hire, train, and retain a sufficient number of qualified and successful sales personnel, our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be harmed.
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From time to time, we are subject to various legal proceedings that could adversely affect our business, financial condition, or results of operations.
From time to time, we are or may become involved in claims, lawsuits (whether class actions or individual lawsuits), arbitration proceedings, government investigations, and other legal or regulatory proceedings involving commercial, corporate and securities matters; privacy, marketing and communications practices; labor and employment matters; alleged infringement of third-party patents and other intellectual property rights; and other matters. The results of any such claims, lawsuits, arbitration proceedings, government investigations, or other legal or regulatory proceedings cannot be predicted with any degree of certainty. Any claims against us, whether meritorious or not, could be time-consuming, result in costly litigation, require significant management attention, and divert significant resources. Determining reserves for our pending litigation is a complex and fact-intensive process that requires significant subjective judgment and speculation. It is possible that a resolution of one or more such proceedings could result in substantial damages, settlement costs, fines, and penalties. These proceedings could also result in harm to our reputation and brand, sanctions, consent decrees, injunctions, or other orders requiring a change in our business practices. Any of these consequences could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations. Further, under certain circumstances, we have contractual and other legal obligations to indemnify and to incur legal expenses on behalf of our business, customers, and commercial partners and current and former directors and officers. In addition, certain litigation or the resolution of certain litigation may affect the availability or cost of some of our insurance coverage, which could adversely impact our results of operations and cash flows, expose us to increased risks that would be uninsured, and adversely impact our ability to attract directors and officers.
Notwithstanding the terms of our agreements with our customers, it is possible that a default on such obligations by one or more of our customers could adversely affect our business, financial condition, or results of operations. For example, if a customer defaults on its obligations under a customer agreement or terminates a customer agreement prior to the contractual termination date, we may be required to assert a claim to acquire the amount in full due under the customer agreement, which we may choose not to pursue. However, if we choose to pursue any such claim, we may incur substantial costs to resolve claims or enter into litigation or arbitration, and even if we were to prevail in the event of claims, litigation or arbitration, such claims, litigation, or arbitration could be costly and time-consuming and divert the attention of our management and other employees from our business operations.
We also include arbitration and class action waiver provisions in our terms of service with the customers that utilize our platform and certain agreements with our employees. These provisions are intended to streamline the litigation process for all parties involved, as they can in some cases be faster and less costly than litigating disputes in state or federal court. However, arbitration can nevertheless be costly and burdensome, and the use of arbitration and class action waiver provisions subjects us to certain risks to our reputation and brand, as these provisions have been the subject of increasing public scrutiny. In order to minimize these risks to our reputation and brand, we may limit our use of arbitration and class action waiver provisions, or we may be required to do so in any particular legal or regulatory proceeding, either of which could cause an increase in our litigation costs and exposure. Additionally, we permit certain customers and other users of our platform to opt out of such provisions, which could cause an increase in our litigation costs and exposure.
Further, with the potential for conflicting rules regarding the scope and enforceability of arbitration and class action waivers on a state-by-state basis, as well as between state and federal law, there is a risk that some or all of our arbitration and class action waiver provisions could be subject to challenge or may need to be revised to exempt certain categories of protection. If these provisions were found to be unenforceable, in whole or in part, or specific claims are required to be exempted, we could experience an increase in our costs to litigate disputes and in the time involved in resolving such disputes, and we could face increased exposure to potentially costly lawsuits, each of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
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We have closed multiple acquisitions and may acquire or invest in other companies or technologies in the future, which could divert management’s attention, fail to meet our expectations, result in additional dilution to our stockholders, increase expenses, disrupt our operations, or harm our operating results.
We closed multiple acquisitions since 2019. In addition to these recent acquisitions, we may in the future acquire or invest in other businesses, products, or technologies that we believe could complement or expand our platform, enhance our technical capabilities, or otherwise offer growth opportunities. We may not be able to fully realize the anticipated benefits of our past or future acquisitions.
We cannot forecast the number, timing or size of any future acquisitions or other similar strategic transactions. We may not be able to successfully identify future acquisition opportunities or complete any such acquisitions if we cannot reach agreement on commercially favorable terms, if we lack sufficient resources to finance the transaction on our own and cannot obtain financing at a reasonable cost, or if regulatory authorities prevent such transactions from being completed. In addition, the pursuit of potential acquisitions may divert the attention of management and cause us to incur various expenses related to identifying, investigating, and pursuing suitable acquisitions, whether or not they are consummated. Further, we may have to pay cash, incur debt, or issue securities, including equity-based securities, to pay for acquisitions, joint ventures, or strategic investments, each of which could affect our financial condition or the value of our capital stock or result in dilution to our existing stockholders.
There are inherent risks in integrating and managing acquisitions. When we acquire additional businesses, we may not be able to assimilate or integrate the acquired personnel, operations, and technologies successfully or effectively manage the combined business following the acquisition. We also may not achieve the anticipated benefits from the acquired business due to a number of factors, including but not limited to: unanticipated costs associated with the acquisition, including but not limited to, integration and compliance costs; the inability to generate sufficient revenue to offset acquisition costs; the inability to maintain relationships with customers and partners of the acquired business; the difficulty of incorporating acquired technology into our platform and of maintaining quality and security standards consistent with our brand; harm to our existing business relationships as a result of the acquisition; and the potential loss of key employees. Acquisitions also increase the risk of unforeseen legal liability arising from prior or ongoing acts or omissions by the acquired businesses which are not discovered by due diligence during the acquisition process or that prove to have a greater than anticipated adverse impact. We have previously acquired and continue to evaluate companies that operate in highly regulated markets. There is no assurance that acquired businesses will have invested sufficient efforts in their own regulatory compliance, and we may need to invest in and seek to improve the regulatory compliance controls and systems of such businesses. Generally, if an acquired business fails to meet our expectations, or if we are unable to establish effective regulatory compliance controls with respect to an acquired business, our operating results, business, and financial condition may suffer.
In addition, we have previously acquired and may in the future pursue acquisitions of companies with extensive operations outside the United States. These types of acquisitions often involve additional or increased risks compared to acquisitions of operations within the United States.
The diversion of management’s attention and any delays or difficulties encountered in connection with acquisitions and their integration could adversely affect our business, financial condition, or results of operations.
We do not have sufficient history with our subscription or pricing models to accurately predict optimal pricing strategies necessary to attract new customers and retain existing customers.
We have limited experience with respect to determining the optimal prices for our platform and services and we expect to make further changes to our pricing model from time to time. As the market for our platform matures, or as competitors introduce new products or services that compete with ours, we may be unable to attract new customers at the same price or based on the same pricing models that we have used historically. Moreover, while SMBs comprise the majority of our customer base, we have and will continue to seek subscriptions from enterprise customers, which may be more likely to demand substantial price concessions. As a result, in the future, we may be required to reduce our prices, which could adversely affect our revenue, gross margin, profitability, financial position, and cash flow.
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Our business is exposed to risks associated with the handling of customer funds.
Our business handles payroll processing administration for certain of our customers. Consequently, at any given time, we may be holding or directing funds of customers, while payroll payments are being processed. This function creates a risk of loss arising from, among other things, fraud by employees or third parties, execution of unauthorized transactions, or errors relating to transaction processing. We are also potentially at risk if the financial institution in which we hold these funds suffers any kind of insolvency or liquidity event or fails, for any reason, to deliver their services in a timely manner. The occurrence of any of these types of events could cause us financial loss and reputational harm.
Any failure to offer high-quality customer support may adversely affect our relationships with our customers and could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
In deploying and using our platform, our customers depend on our 24/7 support team to resolve complex technical and operational issues, including ensuring that our platform is implemented in a manner that integrates with a variety of third-party platforms. We also rely on third parties to provide some support services, and our ability to provide effective support is partially dependent on our ability to attract and retain qualified and capable third-party service providers. As we continue to grow our business and improve our offerings, we will face challenges related to providing high-quality support services at scale. We may be unable to respond quickly enough to accommodate short-term increases in demand for customer support or to modify the nature, scope, and delivery of our customer support to compete with changes in customer support services provided by our competitors. Increased demand for customer support, without corresponding revenue, could increase costs and adversely affect our operating results. Our sales are highly dependent on our business reputation and on positive recommendations from our existing customers. Any failure to maintain high-quality customer support, or a market perception that we do not maintain high-quality customer support, could adversely affect our reputation and brand, our ability to benefit from referrals by existing customers, our ability to sell our platform to existing and prospective customers, and our business, financial condition, or results of operations.
The long-term potential of our business may be adversely affected if we are unable to expand our business successfully into international markets.
Although we currently do not derive significant revenue from customers located outside the United States, the long-term potential of our business will depend in part on our ability to expand our business into international markets. We have recently made an initial investment to establish our international presence and plan to continue such efforts, which has and may continue to be accomplished in part through acquisitions of companies located outside of the United States. However, we have limited experience with international customers and in selling our platform internationally. Accordingly, we cannot be certain that our business model will be successful, or that our platform will achieve commercial acceptance, outside the United States.
Conducting international operations subjects us to risks that we have not generally faced in the United States, including but not limited to:
•managing geographically separate organizations, systems, and facilities;
•challenges caused by language, cultural, and ethical differences;
•difficulties in staffing and managing foreign operations, including employment laws and regulations;
•presence of more established competitors and/or local competitors favored by local business practices;
•compliance challenges related to the complexity of multiple, conflicting, and changing governmental laws and regulations, including data privacy, employment, tax, anti-money laundering, and anti-bribery laws and regulations and sanction regimes, including but not limited to, additional exposure to GDPR, rules and programs administered by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC, domestic and international anti-corruption laws, such as the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, or FCPA, and the U.K. Bribery Act, as well as other similar anti-bribery and anti-kickback laws and regulations;
•different pricing environments, sales cycles, and collections issues;
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•financial and other impacts to our business resulting from fluctuations in currency exchange rates and unit economics across multiple jurisdictions;
•increased financial accounting and reporting burdens and complexities;
•enforcing intellectual property rights outside of the United States;
•difficulty entering new non-U.S. markets due to, among other things, difficulties in achieving consumer acceptance of our platform in new markets and more limited business knowledge of these markets; and
•general economic and political conditions.
Expanding our business internationally requires significant additional investment in our platform, operations, infrastructure, compliance efforts, and sales and marketing organization, and any such investments may not be successful or generate an adequate return on our investment.
Our risk management strategies may not be fully effective in mitigating our risk exposure in all market environments or against all types of risk.
We operate in a rapidly changing industry. Accordingly, our risk management strategies may not be fully effective to identify, monitor, and manage all risks that our business encounters. In addition, when we introduce new services, focus on expanding relationships with new types of customers, or begin to operate in new markets, we may be less able to forecast risk levels and reserve accurately for potential losses, as a result of fraud or otherwise. If our strategies are not fully effective or we are not successful in identifying and mitigating all risks to which we are or may be exposed, we may suffer uninsured liability or harm to our reputation, or be subject to litigation or regulatory actions, any of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
Risks Related to Our Technology and Privacy
We are responsible for transmitting a high volume of sensitive and personal information through our platform and our success depends upon the security of this platform. Any actual or perceived breach of our system that would result in disclosure of such information could materially impact our business.
We, our customers, our partners, and other third parties, including third-party vendors, cloud service providers, and payment processors that we use, obtain and process large amounts of sensitive and personal information, including information related to our customers, their guests, and their transactions. We face risks, including to our reputation as a trusted brand, in the handling and protection of this information, and these risks will increase as our business continues to expand to include new products and technologies. Our operations involve the storage, transmission, and processing of our customers’ proprietary information and sensitive and personal information of our customers and their guests and employees, including contact information and payment information, purchase histories, lending information, and payroll information. Cyber incidents have been increasing in sophistication and frequency and can include third parties gaining access to employee or guest information using stolen or inferred credentials, computer malware, viruses, spamming, phishing attacks, ransomware, card skimming code, and other deliberate attacks and attempts to gain unauthorized access. In addition, these incidents can originate on our vendors’ websites or systems, which can then be leveraged to access our website or systems, further preventing our ability to successfully identify and mitigate the attack. As a result, unauthorized access to, security breaches of, or denial-of-service attacks against our platform (or any platform of our third-party vendors) could result in the unauthorized access to or use of, and/or loss of, such data, as well as loss of intellectual property, guest information, employee data, trade secrets, or other confidential or proprietary information.
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We have administrative, technical, and physical security measures in place and proactively employ multiple security measures at different layers of our systems to defend against intrusion and attack and to protect our information, however, we have experienced security incidents in the past, and we may face additional security incidents in the future. Because the techniques used to obtain unauthorized access to or to sabotage systems change frequently and generally are not identified until they are launched against a target, we may be unable to anticipate these techniques or to implement adequate preventative measures that will be sufficient to counter all current and emerging technology threats. In addition, any security breaches that occur may remain undetected for extended periods of time. While we also have and will continue to make significant efforts to address any IT security issues with respect to acquisitions we make, we may still inherit such risks when we integrate these companies.
We also have policies and procedures in place to contractually require third parties to which we transfer data to implement and maintain appropriate security measures. Sensitive and personal information is processed and stored by our customers, software and financial institution partners and third-party service providers to whom we outsource certain functions. Threats to third-party systems can originate from human error, fraud, or malice on the part of employees or third parties, or simply from accidental technological failure, and/or computer viruses and other malware that can be distributed and infiltrate systems of third parties on whom we rely. While we select third parties to which we transfer data carefully, we do not control their actions, and these third parties may experience security breaches that result in unauthorized access of data and information stored with them despite these contractual requirements and the security measures these third parties employ.
If any security breach involving our systems or the systems of third parties that store or process our data or significant denial-of-service attacks or other cyber attack occurs or is believed to have occurred, our reputation and brand could be damaged, we could be required to expend significant capital and other resources to alleviate problems caused by such actual or perceived breaches or attacks and remediate our systems. In addition, we could be exposed to a risk of loss, litigation, or regulatory action and possible liability, some or all of which may not be covered by insurance, and our ability to operate our business may be impaired. Unauthorized parties have in the past gained access, and may in the future gain access, to systems or facilities used in our business through various means, including gaining unauthorized access into our systems or facilities or those of customers and their guests, attempting to fraudulently induce our employees, customers, their guests, or others into disclosing usernames, passwords, payment card information, or other sensitive or personal information, which may in turn be used to access our IT systems or fraudulently transfer funds to bad actors.
If new or existing customers believe that our platform does not provide adequate security for the storage of personal or sensitive information or its transmission over the Internet, they may not adopt our platform or may choose not to renew their subscriptions to our platform, which could harm our business. Additionally, actual, potential, or anticipated attacks may cause us to incur increasing costs, including costs to deploy additional personnel and protection technologies, train employees, and engage third-party experts and consultants. Our errors and omissions insurance policies covering certain security and privacy damages and claim expenses may not be sufficient to compensate for all potential liability. Although we maintain cyber liability insurance, we cannot be certain that our coverage will be adequate for liabilities actually incurred or that insurance will continue to be available to us on economically reasonable terms, or at all.
Further, because data security is a critical competitive factor in our industry, we may make statements in our privacy statements and notices and in our marketing materials describing the security of our platform, including descriptions of certain security measures we employ or security features embedded within our products. Should any of these statements be untrue, become untrue, or be perceived to be untrue, even if through circumstances beyond our reasonable control, we may face claims, including claims of unfair or deceptive trade practices, brought by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, state, local, or foreign regulators (e.g., a European Union-based data protection agency), or private litigants.
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Interruptions or performance problems associated with our technology and infrastructure may adversely affect our business and operating results.
Our continued growth depends in part on the ability of our existing and potential customers to access our platform at any time and within an acceptable amount of time. Our platform is proprietary, and we rely on the expertise of members of our engineering, operations, and software development teams for our platform’s continued performance. We have experienced system outages in the past, including in some cases as a result of disruptions at our third-party vendors, and may in the future experience, disruptions, outages, and other performance problems related to our platform due to a variety of factors, including infrastructure changes, introductions of new functionality, human or software errors, delays in scaling our technical infrastructure if we do not maintain enough excess capacity and accurately predict our infrastructure requirements, capacity constraints due to an overwhelming number of users accessing our platform simultaneously, denial-of-service attacks, actions or inactions attributable to third parties, earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, fires, natural disasters, power losses, disruptions in telecommunications services, fraud, military or political conflicts, terrorist attacks and other geopolitical unrest, computer viruses, ransomware, malware, or other events. Our systems also may be subject to break-ins, sabotage, theft, and intentional acts of vandalism, including by our own employees. Some of our systems are not fully redundant and our disaster recovery planning may not be sufficient for all eventualities. Further, our business and/or network interruption insurance may not be sufficient to cover all of our losses that may result from interruptions in our service as a result of system failures and similar events.
From time to time, we may experience limited periods of server downtime due to server failure or other technical difficulties. In some instances, we may not be able to identify the cause or causes of these performance problems within an acceptable period of time. It may become increasingly difficult to maintain and improve our performance, especially during peak usage times and as our platform becomes more complex and our user traffic increases. If our platform is unavailable or if our users are unable to access our platform within a reasonable amount of time, or at all, our business would be adversely affected and our brand could be harmed. In the event of any of the factors described above, or certain other failures of our infrastructure, customer or guest data may be permanently lost. Moreover, a limited number of our agreements with customers provide for limited service-level commitments, and we may enter into additional agreements providing such commitments from time to time. If we experience significant periods of service downtime in the future, we may be subject to claims by our customers against these service level commitments. These events have resulted in losses in revenue, though such losses have not been material to date. System failures in the future could result in significant losses of revenue.
We have and may, from time to time, voluntarily provide certain credits to our customers to compensate them for the inconvenience caused by a system failure or similar event, to support our customers and for the benefit of the restaurant community as part of our ongoing goodwill efforts. We are committed to providing our customers high platform reliability, and may utilize significant time, human capital and other resources to analyze the root causes of these performance problems and address any gaps identified, which in turn may take away resources from other business activities. To the extent that we do not effectively address capacity constraints, upgrade our systems as needed, and continually develop our technology and network architecture to accommodate actual and anticipated changes in technology, our business and operating results may be adversely affected.
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Our success depends upon our ability to continually enhance the performance, reliability, and features of our platform.
The markets in which we compete are characterized by constant change and innovation, and we expect them to continue to evolve rapidly. Our success has been based on our ability to identify and anticipate the needs of our customers and their guests and design and maintain a platform that provides them with the tools they need to operate their businesses successfully. Our ability to attract new customers, retain existing customers, and increase sales to both new and existing customers will depend in large part on our ability to continue to improve and enhance the performance, reliability, and features of our platform. To grow our business, we must develop products and services that reflect the changing nature of restaurant management software and expand beyond our core functionalities to other areas of managing relationships with our customers, as well as their relationships with their guests. Competitors may introduce new offerings embodying new technologies, or new industry standards and practices could emerge that render our existing technology, services, website, hardware, and mobile applications obsolete. Accordingly, our future success will depend in part on our ability to respond to new product offerings by competitors, technological advances, and emerging industry standards and practices in a cost-effective and timely manner in order to retain existing customers and attract new customers. Furthermore, as the number of our customers with higher volume sales increases, so does the need for us to offer increased functionality, scalability, and support, which requires us to devote additional resources to such efforts.
The success of these and any other enhancements to our platform depends on several factors, including timely completion, adequate quality testing and sufficient demand, and the accuracy of our estimates regarding the total addressable market for new products and/or enhancements and the portion of such total addressable market that we expect to capture for such new products and/or enhancements. Any new product or service that we develop may not be introduced in a timely or cost-effective manner, may contain defects, may not have an adequate total addressable market or market demand or may not achieve the market acceptance necessary to generate meaningful revenue.
We have scaled our business rapidly, and significant new platform features and services have in the past resulted in, and in the future may continue to result in, operational challenges affecting our business. Developing and launching enhancements to our platform and new services on our platform may involve significant technical risks and upfront capital investments that may not generate return on investment. For example, we may use new technologies ineffectively, or we may fail to adapt to emerging industry standards. We may experience difficulties with software development that could delay or prevent the development, introduction or implementation of new products and enhancements. Software development involves a significant amount of time, as it can take our developers months to update, code, and test new and upgraded products and integrate them into our platform. The continual improvement and enhancement of our platform requires significant investment, and we may not have the resources to make such investment.
If we are unable to successfully develop new products or services, enhance the functionality, performance, reliability, design, security, and scalability of our platform in a manner that responds to our customers’ and their guests’ evolving needs, or gain market acceptance of our new products and services, or if our estimates regarding the total addressable market and the portion of such total addressable market which we expect to capture for new products and/or enhancements prove inaccurate, our business and operating results will be harmed.
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Defects, errors, or vulnerabilities in our applications, backend systems, hardware, or other technology systems and those of third-party technology providers could harm our reputation and brand and adversely impact our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
The software underlying our platform is highly complex and may contain undetected errors or vulnerabilities, some of which may only be discovered after the code has been released. Our practice is to effect frequent releases of software updates. Third-party software that we incorporate into our platform and our backend systems, hardware, or other technology systems, or those of third-party technology providers, may also be subject to defects, errors, or vulnerabilities. Any such defects, errors, or vulnerabilities could result in negative publicity, a loss of customers or loss of revenue, and access or other performance issues. Such vulnerabilities could also be exploited by bad actors and result in exposure of customer or guest data, or otherwise result in a security breach or other security incident. We may need to expend significant financial and development resources to analyze, correct, eliminate, or work around errors or defects or to address and eliminate vulnerabilities. Any failure to timely and effectively resolve any such errors, defects, or vulnerabilities could adversely affect our business, reputation, brand, financial condition, and results of operations.
Risks Related to Our Financial Condition and Capital Requirements
We have a history of generating net losses, and if we are unable to achieve adequate revenue growth while our expenses increase, we may not achieve or maintain profitability in the future.
We have incurred a net loss in each year since our inception and have a significant accumulated deficit. We incurred net losses of $275 million and $487 million for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively. As of December 31, 2022, we had an accumulated deficit of $1,377 million. These losses and our accumulated deficit are a result of the substantial investments we have made to grow our business. We expect our costs will increase over time and our losses to continue as we expect to continue to invest significant additional funds in expanding our business, sales and marketing activities, research and development as we continue to build software and hardware designed specifically for the restaurant industry, and maintaining high levels of customer support, each of which we consider critical to our continued success. We also expect to incur additional general and administrative expenses as a result of our growth and expect our costs to increase to support our operations as a public company. In addition, to support the continued growth of our business and to meet the demands of continuously changing security and operational requirements, we plan to continue investing in our technology infrastructure. Historically, our costs have increased over the years due to these factors, and we expect to continue to incur increasing costs to support our anticipated future growth. If we are unable to generate adequate revenue growth and manage our expenses, we may continue to incur significant losses and may not achieve or maintain profitability.
Following the completion of our initial public offering, or IPO, the stock-based compensation expense related to our restricted stock units, or RSUs, and other outstanding equity awards has resulted in an increase in our expenses and will result in increases in our expenses in future periods.
Further, we may make decisions that will adversely affect our short-term operating results if we believe those decisions will improve the experiences of our customers and their guests and if we believe such decisions will improve our operating results over the long term. These decisions may not be consistent with the expectations of investors and may not produce the long-term benefits that we expect, in which case our business may be materially and adversely affected.
Unfavorable conditions in the restaurant industry or the global economy could limit our ability to grow our business and materially impact our financial performance.
Our operating results may vary based on the impact of global events and macroeconomic conditions, such as inflation and its potential impact on consumer spending, rising interest rates, global supply chain issues, and pandemics. For example, the COVID-19 pandemic impacted our business and operations in a variety of ways, including supply chain challenges, disruptions in our sales and marketing efforts, restrictions in our ability to conduct research and development and other business activities, uncertainty in restaurant technology spending, and fluctuation on the payment volume processed through our platform. In addition, during the COVID-19 pandemic, we conducted a reduction in force in April 2020, and re-prioritized our capital and investment.
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Furthermore, our revenue growth and potential profitability depend on demand for business management software and platforms serving the restaurant industry. Historically, during economic downturns, there have been reductions in spending on IT as well as pressure for extended billing terms and other financial concessions. The adverse impact of economic downturns may be particularly acute among SMBs, which comprise the majority of our customer base. If economic conditions deteriorate, our current and prospective customers may elect to decrease their IT budgets, which would limit our ability to grow our business and adversely affect our operating results.
A deterioration in general economic conditions (including distress in financial markets, rising inflation and interest rates, and turmoil in specific economies around the world) may adversely affect our financial performance by causing a reduction in locations through restaurant closures or a reduction in gross payment volume. A reduction in the amount of consumer spending or credit card transactions could result in a decrease of our revenue and profits. Adverse economic factors may accelerate the timing, or increase the impact of, risks to our financial performance. These factors could include:
•declining economies and the pace of economic recovery which can change consumer spending behaviors;
•low levels of consumer and business confidence typically associated with inflationary or recessionary environments;
•high unemployment levels, which may result in decreased spending by consumers;
•budgetary concerns in the United States and other countries around the world, which could impact consumer confidence and spending;
•restrictions on credit lines to consumers or limitations on the issuance of new credit cards;
•uncertainty and volatility in the performance of our customers’ businesses, particularly SMBs;
•customers or consumers decreasing spending for value-added services we market and sell; and
•government actions, including the effect of laws and regulations and any related government stimulus.
We are subject to additional risks relating to the financial products we make available to our customers, including relationships with partners, the ability of our customers to generate revenue to pay their obligations under these products, general macroeconomic conditions and the risk of fraud.
Current and any future financial products offered by Toast, Toast Capital, or through either party’s bank partners, subject us to additional risks. If we cannot source capital or partner with financial institutions to fund financial solutions for our customers, we might have to reduce the availability of these services, or cease offering them altogether.
Toast Capital’s bank partner offers qualified Toast customers working capital loans in accordance with credit policies established by our bank partner. Toast Capital markets the loans and acts as servicer of the loans and receives a servicing fee based on the outstanding balance of loans being serviced as well as a fee that varies depending on the credit performance of the loans extended under the program. We do not currently have similar partnerships with other financial institutions and are solely reliant on our bank partner to support this program. If our bank partner were to terminate its relationship with us, we would be unable to make working capital loans available to our customers, at least in the short-term, until we are able to enter into a relationship with another financial institution to offer similar loans. In addition, our bank partner may not expand its lending under this program to support future demand for such loans from our customers. There can be no assurance that we would be able into a similar relationship with another financial institution to make working capital loans available to our customers on terms our customers would find attractive, or at all.
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Under our agreement with our bank partner, on a monthly basis, we are obligated to purchase loans made in a particular quarter that have been (or are scheduled to be) charged off, are otherwise non-performing, or do not satisfy our bank partner’s credit policy, unless such purchase would cause the principal amount of such purchased loans to exceed 15% of the original principal amount of loans made in the applicable quarter. As a result of this potential repurchase obligation, and our servicing fee and credit performance fee, we are subject to credit risk on the loans extended by our bank partner under this program. Accordingly, if we fail to accurately predict the likelihood of default or timely repayment of loans, our business may be materially and adversely affected. For example, if more of our customers cease operations, experience a decline in their revenue, or engage in fraudulent behavior and are not able to repay their loans, our business may be materially and adversely affected. A decline in macroeconomic conditions could increase the risk of non-payment or fraud and could also lead to a decrease in the number of customers eligible for loans or financing. In addition, although our bank partner acts as the lender with respect to these working capital loans, we are subject to numerous contractual and regulatory requirements in connection with our marketing and servicing activities in connection with these loans. If we were to fail to comply with these requirements, we could be subject to liability, regulatory sanctions, or claims by our customers or our bank partner, and our bank partner could terminate its relationship with us.
We intend to continue to explore other financial solutions to offer to our customers. Some of those solutions may require, or be deemed to require, additional procedures, partnerships, licenses, regulatory approvals and requirements, or capabilities. Should we fail to address these requirements, or should these new solutions, or new regulations or interpretations of existing regulations, impose requirements on us that are impractical or that we cannot satisfy, the future growth and success of our financial business may be materially and adversely affected. Macroeconomic factors such as changes in interest rates may also increase our costs in servicing certain financial solutions products. Further, we have and may continue to have obligations to share in certain losses incurred in offering these financial solutions to our customers, which could negatively impact our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
If we are unable to properly manage the risks of offering financial solutions, either ourselves or through partner financial institutions, our business may be materially and adversely affected. If we are unable to maintain third-party insurance coverage to mitigate these risks, such as errors and omissions insurance, our exposure to losses would increase, which could have an adverse impact on our results. If laws and regulations change, or are interpreted by courts or regulators as subjecting us to licensing or other compliance requirements, we may be subject to government supervision and enforcement actions, litigation, and related liabilities, our ability to offer financial solutions may be negatively impacted, our costs associated with existing financial solutions, including Toast Capital, may increase or we may decide to discontinue offering financial solutions altogether, and our business, financial condition, and results of operations would be negatively impacted.
Our failure to raise additional capital or generate cash flows necessary to expand our operations and invest in new technologies in the future could reduce our ability to compete successfully and harm our financial condition.
Historically, we have funded our operations, capital expenditures, and acquisitions primarily through the issuance of convertible preferred stock, common stock and convertible notes, payments received for the delivery of our services as well as borrowings under our revolving credit facility. We intend to continue to make investments to support our business growth and may require additional funds to respond to business challenges. Although we currently anticipate that our existing cash and cash equivalents, marketable securities, and amounts available under our revolving credit facility will be sufficient to meet our cash needs for at least the next twelve months, our future capital requirements and the adequacy of available funds will depend on many factors. We may require additional financing, and we may not be able to obtain debt or equity financing on favorable terms, if at all. If we raise additional funds through further issuances of debt, equity, or other securities convertible into equity, including convertible debt securities, our existing stockholders may experience significant dilution of their ownership interests, and any new securities we issue could have rights, preferences, and privileges superior to those of holders of our Class A common stock.
We have outstanding debt obligations that restrict our ability to incur additional indebtedness and require us to maintain specified minimum liquidity amounts, among other restrictive covenants. The terms of any additional debt financing may be similar or more restrictive.
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If we need additional capital and cannot raise it on acceptable terms, or at all, we may not be able to, among other things:
•develop and enhance our platform and product offerings and operating infrastructure;
•continue to expand our technology development, sales, and marketing organizations;
•hire, train, and retain employees;
•respond to competitive pressures or unanticipated working capital requirements; or
•acquire complementary businesses and technologies.
Our inability to do any of the foregoing could reduce our ability to compete successfully and harm our results of operations.
Our revolving credit facility provides our lenders with a first-priority lien against substantially all of our assets, and contains financial covenants and other restrictions on our actions that may limit our operational flexibility or otherwise adversely affect our results of operations.
We are party to a revolving credit and guaranty agreement which contains a number of covenants that restrict our and our subsidiaries’ ability to, among other things, incur additional indebtedness, create or incur liens, merge or consolidate with other companies, sell substantially all of our assets, liquidate or dissolve, make distributions to equity holders, pay dividends, make redemptions and repurchases of stock, or engage in transactions with affiliates. We are also required to maintain a minimum liquidity balance. The terms of our outstanding debt may restrict our current and future operations and could adversely affect our ability to finance our future operations or capital needs or to execute business strategies in the manner desired. In addition, complying with these covenants may make it more difficult for us to successfully execute our business strategy, invest in our growth strategy, and compete against companies who are not subject to such restrictions.
A failure by us to comply with these covenants or payment requirements specified in the revolving credit and guaranty agreement could result in an event of default under the agreement, which would give the lenders the right to terminate their commitments to provide additional loans and extensions of credit and to declare any and all debt outstanding, together with accrued and unpaid interest and fees, to be immediately due and payable. In addition, the lenders would have the right to proceed against the collateral in which we granted a security interest to them, which consists of substantially all our assets. If our outstanding debt were to be accelerated, we may not have sufficient cash or be able to borrow sufficient funds to refinance the debt or sell sufficient assets to repay the debt, which could materially and adversely affect our cash flows, business, results of operations, and financial condition. Further, the terms of any new or additional financing may be on terms that are more restrictive or less desirable to us.
Our results of operations may be adversely affected by changes in foreign currency exchange rates.
Our operations and customer base are currently concentrated in the United States. Therefore, we have limited foreign currency diversification and exposure. However, our foreign currency diversification and exposure may increase as international sales of our products and services increase over time. Our revenue and profits generated by any non-U.S. operations may fluctuate from period to period as a result of changes in foreign currency exchange rates. In addition, we may become subject to exchange control regulations that restrict or prohibit the conversion of our other revenue currencies into U.S. dollars. Any of these factors could decrease the value of revenue and profits we derive from our non-U.S. operations and adversely affect our business.
We may also seek to reduce our exposure to fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates through the use of hedging arrangements. To the extent that we hedge our foreign currency exchange rate exposure, we forgo the benefits we would otherwise experience if foreign currency exchange rates changed in our favor. No strategy can completely insulate us from risks associated with such fluctuations and our currency exchange rate risk management activities could expose us to substantial losses if such rates move materially differently from our expectations.
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Our ability to use our net operating loss carryforwards and certain other tax attributes may be limited.
As of December 31, 2022, we had accumulated $597 million and $573 million of federal and state net operating loss carryforwards, or NOLs, respectively, available to reduce future taxable income. Of the federal NOLs, $513 million have an indefinite carryforward period but may not offset more than 80% of current taxable income annually in accordance with the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, and $85 million will expire at various dates through 2037. Of the state NOLs, the majority will begin to expire in 2034. It is possible that we will not generate taxable income in time to use NOLs before their expiration, or at all. Under Section 382 and Section 383 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or the Code, if a corporation undergoes an “ownership change,” the corporation’s ability to use its pre-change NOLs and other tax attributes, including R&D tax credits, to offset its post-change income may be limited. In general, an “ownership change” will occur if there is a cumulative change in our ownership by “5 percent stockholders” that exceeds 50 percentage points over a rolling three-year period. Similar rules may apply under state tax laws. Our ability to use NOLs and other tax attributes to reduce future taxable income and liabilities may be subject to annual limitations as a result of prior ownership changes and ownership changes that may occur in the future.
We experience elements of seasonal fluctuations in our financial results, which could cause our stock price to fluctuate.
Our business is highly dependent on the behavior patterns of our customers and their guests. We experience seasonality in our financial technology revenue which is largely driven by the level of GPV processed through our platform. For example, our average customers typically have greater sales during the warmer months, though this seasonal effect varies regionally. As a result, our financial technology revenue per location has historically been stronger in the second and third quarters. As a result, seasonality may cause fluctuations in our financial results, and other trends that develop may similarly impact our results of operations.
We rely primarily on third-party insurance policies to insure our operations-related risks. If our insurance coverage does not cover a particular loss or is insufficient for the needs of our business or our insurance providers are unable to meet their obligations, we may not be able to mitigate the risks facing our business, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
We procure third-party insurance policies to cover various operations-related risks including employment practices liability, workers’ compensation, business interruptions, cybersecurity and data breaches, crime, directors’ and officers’ liability, and general business liabilities, but our insurance may not cover 100% of the costs and losses from all events. For certain types of operations-related risks or future risks related to our new and evolving services, we may not be able to, or may choose not to, acquire insurance. In addition, we may not obtain enough insurance to adequately mitigate such operations-related risks or risks related to our new and evolving services, and we may have to pay high premiums, self-insured retentions, or deductibles for the coverage we do obtain. Additionally, if any of our insurance providers becomes insolvent, it would be unable to pay any operations-related claims that we make. Further, some of our agreements with customers may require that we procure certain types of insurance, and if we are unable to obtain and maintain such insurance, we would be in violation of the terms of these customer agreements.
We are responsible for certain retentions and deductibles that vary by policy, and we may suffer losses that exceed our insurance coverage by a material amount. If the amount of one or more operations-related claims were to exceed our applicable aggregate coverage limits, we would bear the excess, in addition to amounts already incurred in connection with deductibles, or self-insured retentions. Insurance providers have raised premiums and deductibles for many businesses and may do so in the future. As a result, our insurance and claims expenses could increase, or we may decide to raise our deductibles or self-insured retentions when our policies are renewed or replaced. Our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be adversely affected if the cost per claim, premiums, or the number of claims significantly exceeds our historical experience and coverage limits; we experience a claim in excess of our coverage limits; our insurance providers fail to pay on our insurance claims; we experience a claim for which coverage is not provided; or the number of claims under our deductibles or self-insured retentions differs from historical averages.
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Risks Related to Competition, Sales, and Marketing
The markets in which we participate are intensely competitive, and if we do not compete effectively, our operating results could be adversely affected.
The overall market for restaurant management software is rapidly evolving and subject to changing technology, shifting customer and guest needs, and frequent introductions of new applications. Our competitors vary in size and in the breadth and scope of the products and services they offer. In addition, there are a number of companies that are not currently direct competitors but that could in the future shift their focus to the restaurant industry and offer competing products and services, which could compete directly in our entire customer community or in a certain segment within the restaurant industry. There is also a risk that certain of our current customers and business partners could terminate their relationships with us and use the insights they have gained from partnering with us to introduce their own competing products.
Some of our current and future competitors may enjoy competitive advantages, such as greater name recognition, longer operating histories, greater category share in certain markets, market-specific knowledge, established relationships with restaurants, larger existing user bases in certain markets, more successful marketing capabilities, more integrated products and/or platforms, and substantially greater financial, technical, sales, and marketing, and other resources than we have. Additionally, some potential customers in the restaurant industry, particularly large organizations, have elected, and may in the future elect, to develop their own business management and point of sale software and platforms. Certain of our competitors have partnered with, or have acquired or been acquired by, and may in the future partner with or acquire, or be acquired by, other competitors, thereby leveraging their collective competitive positions and making it more difficult to compete with them. We believe that there are significant opportunities to further increase our revenue by expanding internationally. As we expand our business by selling subscriptions to our platform in international markets, we will also face competition from local incumbents in these markets.
Additionally, many of our competitors are well capitalized and offer discounted services, lower customer processing rates and fees, customer discounts and promotions, innovative platforms and offerings, and alternative pay models, any of which may be more attractive than those that we offer. Such competitive pressures may lead us to maintain or lower our processing rates and fees or maintain or increase our incentives, discounts, and promotions in order to remain competitive, particularly in markets where we do not have a leading position. Such efforts have negatively affected, and may continue to negatively affect, our financial performance, and there is no guarantee that such efforts will be successful. Further, the markets in which we compete have attracted significant investments from a wide range of funding sources, and we anticipate that many of our competitors will continue to be highly capitalized. These investments, along with the other competitive advantages discussed above, may allow our competitors to continue to lower their prices and fees, or increase the incentives, discounts, and promotions they offer and thereby compete more effectively against us.