Toast Courts Convenience Stores With Fuel Platform

Toast, a restaurant and retail digital technology platform, unveiled Toast Fuel, a new set of capabilities specifically designed for gas stations and convenience stores, according to a press release shared on September 29th. The platform enables operators to manage in-store and at-the-pump fuel payments, retail, and food service through a single, connected system.

"Convenience stores sell an estimated 80% of the fuel purchased by consumers in the United States," Toast stated, referring to data provided by the National Association of Convenience Stores. Many of these operators run their in-store retail and fuel businesses on two separate systems, lacking access to the cloud-based tools that have transformed restaurants and retailers over the past decade.

Convenience stores increasingly resemble quick-service restaurants, offering made-to-order food, digital ordering, and loyalty programs alongside standard fuel and retail sales. As this convergence accelerates, Toast aims to extend its proven cloud-native platform to the forecourt, merging pump control onto the same system that powers the store. Toast Fuel will offer a dedicated forecourt interface with a real-time pump dashboard, allowing cashiers to authorize or halt a pump's operation.

For stores with a more extensive food program, Toast Fuel will incorporate the same trusted kitchen automation technology used by Toast's approximately 180,000 customer locations. This includes kitchen display systems, digital menus, online ordering, drive-thru, and delivery services. Toast's second-quarter earnings report, released on August 4th, indicates the company is entering a new phase, focusing on AI-driven customer relationships and new revenue streams.

Toast's CEO, Aman Narang, emphasized the company's growing customer base and the increasing integration of AI into its software, moving beyond experimentation into tools that restaurateurs are already paying to use.