Toast Alternatives for Food Trucks That Won't Drain Your Profits

Here's what nobody tells you about Toast's 2025 pricing: $0.99 per order is just the base fee. Add payment processing (2.49% + 15¢), monthly software subscription ($165+), and hardware costs, and you're still bleeding $8K-$12K per year if you're doing decent volume.

I've spent the last six months talking to Austin food truck operators who switched away from Toast. We're talking real numbers, real alternatives, and what actually works when you're doing 300+ orders a week from a 200-square-foot kitchen on wheels.

Why Food Trucks Are Still Ditching Toast (THE NUMBERS)

Toast is phenomenal for dine-in restaurants. Tableside ordering, kitchen display systems, tip pooling—they've nailed the sit-down experience. But food trucks? That's a completely different business model.

Here's the brutal reality: 60-80% of food truck revenue comes from online orders. At 100 orders/week, that $0.99 fee adds up to $5,148/year. Throw in processing fees and software subscriptions, and you're north of $10K annually.

The kicker? Toast's ecosystem is sticky. Once you're in, switching feels like ripping out plumbing. But it's doable—and worth it.

We were doing great until we looked at our P&L. Toast fees were our third-highest expense after food costs and payroll. That's when I knew we had to switch.

The 5 Best Toast Alternatives (COMPARED)

Full disclosure: I work for Outbites, and yeah, I think we're the best option for food trucks. But I'm also going to give you the real breakdown of every legitimate alternative, because you deserve to know what's actually out there.

1. Outbites — Best for Commission-Free Online Ordering

Full disclosure: I'm biased. But the math is the math. We built Outbites specifically because we watched food trucks get destroyed by percentage-based pricing models.

What you get:

• Your own branded online ordering site (no "powered by" watermarks)
• Integrated POS with kitchen display system
• SMS/email marketing automation
• Customer data exports (you own your list, not us)
• QR code ordering for events
• Real-time menu updates across all channels

The catch: We're laser-focused on food trucks and mobile vendors. If you're running a brick-and-mortar with tableside service, Toast is probably still better for you. But if you're operating out of a truck, trailer, or cart? We're built for your workflow.

2. Square for Restaurants — Best for Simple Setup

Square is the Honda Civic of food truck POS systems—reliable, affordable, gets the job done. You can literally start taking orders in 20 minutes with a free card reader and their app.

Pros:

• No monthly fees for basic plan (just processing fees)
• Free online ordering site included
• Hardware is cheap ($49 for a reader, $299 for a full register)
• Works offline (critical for trucks at festivals with spotty service)

Cons:

• Processing fees add up fast (2.6% on $2,800/week = $72.80/week)
• Online ordering interface is basic (can't do complex modifiers easily)
• Limited marketing automation
• Customer data stays in Square's ecosystem

3. Clover — Best for Full Restaurant Features

Clover is the Swiss Army knife—tons of features, but you're paying for capabilities you might not need in a truck. Their hardware is gorgeous, though.

The deal: Clover has no per-order commission (just processing fees around 2.3% + 10¢). But you're dropping $800+ on hardware upfront, plus monthly software fees.

4. Lightspeed Restaurant — Best for Multi-Location Operations

If you're running a fleet of trucks and need centralized menu management, inventory across locations, and franchise-level reporting, Lightspeed is solid. Single-truck operators? Way too expensive.

5. ChowNow — Best for Commission-Free Ordering (Restaurants)

ChowNow markets themselves as the commission-free alternative to Grubhub and DoorDash. And they are—for restaurants. But their system isn't built for mobile operations. No offline mode, limited POS integration, and their $149/month fee assumes you're doing restaurant-level volume.

Side-by-Side Cost Breakdown

Here's what each system actually costs for a food truck doing 100 orders per week at $28 average ticket ($2,800/week, $145,600/year in revenue).

*Costs include software, hardware, processing fees. Does not include credit card processor interchange fees (typically 2.3-2.9%).

Bottom Line

Toast's 2025 pricing is better than their old commission model, but it's still expensive for food trucks doing decent volume. If you're doing under 30 orders/week, Square is probably fine. If you're doing 50+ orders/week, the math becomes clear: $1/order flat fee beats percentage-based pricing every time.

I've watched too many talented food truck operators work 70-hour weeks and walk away with $400/week in profit because their POS was eating their margins. You're not in business to fund Toast's growth—you're in business to build something that's yours.

Run the numbers. Export your data. Make the switch.

And if you decide Outbites isn't the right fit for your truck? No hard feelings. Just please, for the love of breakfast tacos, stop overpaying for POS systems.