Scaling restaurant brands across Toast
Branding at Toast was fragmented across 16+ surfaces, with no team owning it systemically. I designed Brand Hub as shared infrastructure.
Toast / 1 designer (me), 1 PM, 3 eng, 1 QA / 6 months
720m
Toast emails/yr auto-branded (25% of all)
2k+
brands created in first 30 days
58%
onboarding completion rate
Scaling restaurant brands across Toast
Branding at Toast was fragmented across 16+ surfaces, with no team owning it systemically. I designed Brand Hub as shared infrastructure.
Toast / 1 designer (me), 1 PM, 3 eng, 1 QA / 6 months
720m
Toast emails/yr auto-branded (25% of all)
2k+
brands created in first 30 days
58%
onboarding completion rate
(A little context before we start.)
Toast helps 164,000+ restaurants run their businesses.
Its products span point of sale, operations, digital ordering, marketing, and payroll. I work on the Marketing Suite, which helps restaurants turn guests into regulars.
(A little context before we start.)
Toast helps 164,000+ restaurants run their businesses.
Its products span point of sale, operations, digital ordering, marketing, and payroll. I work on the Marketing Suite, which helps restaurants turn guests into regulars.
Problem
There was no centralized way for restaurants to manage their brand across Toast.
Restaurants had to manually recreate and maintain their brands across products, which led to inconsistent consumer experiences. For product teams, these siloes meant incomplete brand data and duplicated development effort.
Problem
There was no centralized way for restaurants to manage their brand across Toast.
Restaurants had to manually recreate and maintain their brands across products, which led to inconsistent consumer experiences. For product teams, these siloes meant incomplete brand data and duplicated development effort.
Siloed branding led to inconsistent consumer experiences
Siloed branding led to inconsistent consumer experiences
Siloed branding led to inconsistent consumer experiences
Solution
I designed Brand Hub for two audiences: restaurants who need branding to be effortless and teams who need it to be seamless to adopt.
Solution
I designed Brand Hub for two audiences: restaurants who need branding to be effortless and teams who need it to be seamless to adopt.
Designing for users: minimum input, maximum output
To create a brand, restaurants provide just two required fields — logo and brand color — plus an optional tone of voice. From these inputs, we generate coordinated color palettes and suggest font pairings matching their tone. This reduces decision fatigue while giving restaurants a quick start on a brand foundation.
Designing for users: minimum input, maximum output
To create a brand, restaurants provide just two required fields — logo and brand color — plus an optional tone of voice. From these inputs, we generate coordinated color palettes and suggest font pairings matching their tone. This reduces decision fatigue while giving restaurants a quick start on a brand foundation.
Emails are now automatically branded
Emails are now automatically branded
Emails are now automatically branded
Examples of branded user emails
Examples of branded user emails
Examples of branded user emails
Branding through the user lifecycle
Branding through the user lifecycle
Branding through the user lifecycle
How branding powers agentic marketing (diagram by Michelle Senn)
How branding powers agentic marketing (diagram by Michelle Senn)
How branding powers agentic marketing (diagram by Michelle Senn)
Designing for product teams: making adoption seamless
Brand Hub's success depends on other teams adopting it. From day one, I collaborated with other teams to build product and relationships in parallel.
Designing for product teams: making adoption seamless
Brand Hub's success depends on other teams adopting it. From day one, I collaborated with other teams to build product and relationships in parallel.
At 2x speed for an accurate Loom experience
At 2x speed for an accurate Loom experience
At 2x speed for an accurate Loom experience
Impact
Nearly a quarter of all emails sent through Toast — 720 million a year — are now automatically branded.
Brand Hub is now positioned to scale across Toast's 16+ guest-facing surfaces, powering AI-driven content and enterprise brand consistency.
Impact
Nearly a quarter of all emails sent through Toast — 720 million a year — are now automatically branded.
Brand Hub is now positioned to scale across Toast's 16+ guest-facing surfaces, powering AI-driven content and enterprise brand consistency.
Keep reading
Keep reading
Keep reading