Latest / Restaurant Business with Fexingo: Food Service, Hospitality, and Independent Operators / Why Restaurant Toast Points Are a Profit Powerhouse
Transcript
- Lucas: Alright, Luna, I want to run a piece of math past you. A restaurant buys a loaf of brioche for about four dollars. From that one loaf, they can get maybe forty toast points — those little triangles you see with dips or pâté. Luna: Okay, so roughly ten cents per toast point in bread cost, before anything goes on top. Lucas: Exactly. Now they add a smear — say a compound butter or a chicken liver mousse — call it fifty cents of ingredient cost. That plate of four toast points costs them about ninety cents to put together. And they sell it for, conservatively, four dollars. Luna: That's over a 77 percent gross margin. Better than most steaks. Lucas: And that's before you factor in the beverage pairing. A toast point with a nice salty spread practically begs for a glass of something — a Sancerre, a Negroni. Suddenly that four-dollar plate drives a fifteen-dollar drink sale. Luna: So the toast point is less a dish and more a gateway drug for the bar tab. Lucas: Listen, if this kind of analysis is moving the way you think about your own numbers, that's the whole point of this show. We keep it ad-free and focused because listeners like you make it possible. If today's episode was worth a coffee to you, you know the link — buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. No pressure, just a way to keep the conversation going. Luna: Yeah, and it genuinely helps us avoid chasing sponsors. So if the toast point math clicked for you, that's the place. Lucas: Right. So back to the toast point. I want to talk about a place that built an entire small-plates strategy around this. There's a restaurant in Manhattan — let's call it Place Dauphine — that does a smoked trout rillettes with pickled fennel on grilled sourdough points. They sell it for fourteen dollars. Luna: Fourteen bucks for toast and fish spread. And it's one of their best-selling items. Lucas: Their chef told me the bread cost is about twelve cents per point, the rillettes maybe eighty cents. That's under a dollar total. The gross margin on that dish is over 93 percent. But here's the kicker — they use the heels of their sourdough loaves that would otherwise go to croutons or compost. Luna: So they're actually reducing waste while maximizing margin. That's a double win. Lucas: It is. And it's not just the high-end places. I talked to a casual Italian spot in Chicago that does a 'crostini of the day' — they take whatever vegetables are about to turn, roast them, mash them onto toast points, and sell it for six bucks. The food cost is maybe 15 percent. Luna: Which means they're effectively monetizing their trim. That's brilliant. Lucas: The real profit center, though, is the upsell. Every toast point order is a chance to offer a 'topping add-on' — an extra dollop of truffle butter for two dollars, or a side of cured ham for four. The incremental cost is almost nothing. Luna: And the guest perceives it as a small indulgence, not a rip-off. Lucas: Exactly. There's some behavioral science at play too. When you order a shared plate of toast points, you're not committing to a full appetizer. It feels low-risk. But then you try one, and suddenly everyone at the table wants another round. Luna: So the toast point is a volume driver. One order leads to two or three. Lucas: Right. And because the margin is so high, each additional order is almost pure profit. A table of four might go through three rounds of toast points plus two or three cocktails each. The check average jumps from forty to sixty dollars per person. Luna: What about the kitchen prep? Toast points seem labor-intensive if you're cutting bread into precise triangles. Lucas: It's actually not bad. A good prep cook can slice a loaf into even planks, then cut those into triangles in about thirty seconds. You can toast them in batches on a flat top or in the oven. Most restaurants do a batch at the beginning of service and hold them in a warm drawer. Luna: So the marginal labor cost is minimal. And the plating is just a smear and a garnish. Lucas: Yeah. Compare that to a composed salad — you're washing, drying, chopping multiple vegetables, making a vinaigrette, plating with tweezers. The toast point is a fraction of the labor. Luna: So why don't more restaurants lean into this? I feel like I still see a lot of menus where the cheapest small plate is a basket of fries or something. Lucas: I think it's a perception issue. Toast points can feel like 'bread and spread' — something you'd get for free at a wine bar. Owners worry guests won't pay eight bucks for what feels like a complimentary item. Luna: But the data suggests they will, if you frame it right. Call it 'artisan crostini' or 'toast bar' and suddenly it's a concept. Lucas: Exactly. I visited a place in Austin that calls its menu section 'The Toast List.' They have five options, from a simple olive oil and sea salt at six dollars to a duck confit and fig jam at twelve. That section alone accounts for 18 percent of their food revenue. Luna: Eighteen percent from bread. That's incredible. Lucas: And the best part — it's a hedge against rising ingredient costs. When beef prices spike, you can't swap out the ribeye for something cheaper without guests noticing. But toast points? You can change the topping every week based on what's in season or what your purveyor has a deal on. Luna: Menu flexibility with zero guest pushback. That's a huge operational advantage. Lucas: Right. So my takeaway is this: if you run a restaurant and you're not doing some version of a toast point or crostini program, you're leaving money on the table. The numbers are too good to ignore. Luna: And it gives the chef a canvas for creativity without the risk of a full new dish. I'm sold. Lucas: Next time you're at a place with good toast points, look at the table next to you. Chances are they're ordering a second round. That's the signal. Luna: Alright, let's see if our listeners start seeing toast points everywhere now. Lucas: I hope so. That's it for this episode of Restaurant Business with Fexingo.