Toast, the restaurant payments company, added a 99-cent fee to certain online food orders over $10 from September 2021 to late July 2023 without adequately telling customers or asking their consent, the Federal Trade Commission and seven states say in a complaint announced October 29. The complaint also names two California local governments and targets how Toast signs up and keeps restaurant customers. No refund for diners has been announced.
Toast sells point-of-sale hardware and software, payment processing and Toast Capital loans to restaurants.
The 99-cent fee on online orders
According to the FTC’s complaint announcement, Toast added the $0.99 fee to certain online orders over $10 placed through its platform. The complaint alleges that patrons and restaurants were not adequately told about it. The money went to Toast, not to the restaurants, and it was charged on top of the fees restaurants already paid.
The fee covered a closed window of roughly two years, from September 2021 through late July 2023. The FTC’s allegation applies to certain online orders over $10, not to every order.
Anyone who ordered pickup or delivery online from a Toast-powered restaurant during those months may have a 99-cent line on an email receipt or a card statement from the time. The way to find it is to search saved receipts and statements from September 2021 through July 2023 for a small add-on charge tied to restaurant orders, and to write down the dates and restaurants. Because the case has just been filed, no claim form exists yet.
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No refund or settlement yet
The announcement describes no refund, settlement or compensation for diners, and it does not say what relief the agencies want. The FTC says it files when it has “reason to believe” violations are occurring, and that the court will decide the case. The announcement carries no response from Toast.
The distinction matters for anyone hoping to be repaid. A complaint is an allegation, not a finding, and the 99-cent fee is only one of several practices in it. The FTC votes to file, the court decides, and a refund program, if one ever comes, would be announced later.
When the FTC does return money in other cases, it posts the program on its refunds page, with dates and the phone number of the claims administrator. The agency says it will never tell anyone to transfer money to get a refund, so a message about a Toast refund that asks for a fee or an account number first is not coming from the FTC.
What the suit says about restaurants
Most of the complaint concerns restaurant owners, whom the FTC says are enrolled in auto-renewing subscriptions that average about $900 a month, depending on terminals and add-ons such as timekeeping and payroll. Customers frequently report being charged for add-ons without consent, according to the complaint. The “Pay-as-you-Go” plan allegedly advertises $0 monthly hardware and software costs while charging higher per-transaction fees.
The complaint lists more fees it calls undisclosed. Temporarily closed restaurants must still pay $85 a month for payment processing, hardware must be returned or paid for in full if payments are not processed within 120 days, and canceling triggers an early termination fee of $150 for each remaining month of the contract. One consumer reported a $5,318.87 early termination fee after four years, which Toast allegedly refused to refund.
Cancellation is a second theme. Customers must give 30 days’ written notice, the complaint says, and some report no response and continued charges, while phone callers face questions and sales pitches. Customers with a Toast Capital loan allegedly owe the full balance at once if they leave. The complaint also says that nearly every page of Toast’s website promises “24/7/365” support, while one owner who called on a Saturday was told the team was off on weekends.
Who is suing, and on what laws
The FTC filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California after a 2-0 Commission vote. The plaintiffs also include the attorneys general of Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Utah, and the People of the State of California through the Los Angeles County Counsel and the San Francisco City Attorney. The claims arise under the FTC Act, the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act and related state laws.
Christopher Mufarrige, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said the practices “are illegal, and the FTC will continue to take aggressive action,” and that Toast “failed to honor a number of its promises.” Those are the FTC’s allegations, and the court has not ruled on any of them.
For diners, the takeaway is narrower than the lawsuit. A fee that appears as a small add-on on a restaurant order is easy to miss, and a 99-cent charge repeated across a year of takeout adds up to a figure that few people would notice in one statement but could total real money. Anyone who sees a charge that cannot be placed can dispute it with the card issuer in writing, and can report a misleading charge at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
Seen a charge you cannot place?
A small fee that goes unnoticed for months is exactly the kind a diner finds too late. The window for disputing a card charge runs out, and a call to the bank leaves no record of what was asked.
50 Letters to SSA, IRS, Banks & Insurers includes bank letters for card disputes and unauthorized transfers, and with every letter it spells out when to send it, where, the deadline and what to enclose. Each letter sits on two pages, the first with the deadline and mailing details and the second with the letter itself.
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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
