If you've paid for a coffee or settled a restaurant bill in the Bay Area lately, there's a good chance you tapped a Toast screen. On Thursday, Oct. 29, San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu, the Federal Trade Commission, Los Angeles County and several state attorneys general sued the company, accusing it of deceptive practices against the restaurants that use it.

Who is suing

The FTC filed the complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco. The San Francisco Chronicle reported that plaintiffs include the attorneys general of Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Utah, plus the Los Angeles County Counsel's Office. Colorado's attorney general described the state coalition as Arizona, Colorado, Nebraska and Oklahoma. The two lists differ, and the complaint itself is the final word on who signed on.

What the lawsuit alleges

  • Hidden fees: Toast advertised starter kits at "$0" per month, but customers ended up with extra costs that were in fine print or not disclosed at all, the complaint alleges. Colorado says none of Toast's hardware is actually $0.
  • Support promises: Toast promised "24/7/365" customer support, but customers reported getting no response or reaching staff who couldn't help, including with payroll and payment problems.
  • Cancellation hurdles: Customers can't cancel online and must give 30 days' written notice, which the lawsuit says Toast doesn't clearly disclose. Some who did were transferred to an internal "churn line" available only on weekdays.
  • A 99-cent fee: The lawsuit says Toast charged a 99-cent fee to some restaurant accounts as early as 2021, collecting more than $5.5 million before suspending it in 2023.

The suit claims violations of the FTC Act, the federal Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act and related state laws, including Colorado's auto-renewal statute. Plaintiffs are seeking a permanent injunction, money for affected customers, civil penalties and other relief.

"Restaurants trusted Toast so they could simplify operations. Instead Toast trapped them in inflexible subscriptions with hidden fees," Chiu said, according to the Chronicle. The paper reported that the largest number of complaints came from California.

Toast's response

Toast, which is based in Boston and has offices in San Francisco, said it strongly disagrees with the allegations and will "vigorously defend" itself. The company said it has cooperated with the FTC's review since mid-2025, and that the agency "disregarded the information we provided showing the extent to which our restaurant customers negotiate their contracts." Toast also argued that the online-shopper law doesn't apply to its negotiated restaurant agreements.

According to the complaint, Toast serves more than 180,000 restaurants worldwide, brought in $6.15 billion in revenue in fiscal 2025, and charges an average of $900 a month for subscriptions.