Toast Delivery Mode: can Toast run your own delivery drivers?

Yes, Toast can run your own delivery drivers, but only as a dispatch list inside the POS. Toast's Delivery Mode lets staff send a delivery order to an employee who is clocked in with a "Driver" job, then mark it En Route and Delivered. Toast's support article describes no driver app, no live map and no customer tracking for those drivers. For a driver app and tracking, Toast's own help centre points to the Shipday integration, which Shipday bills separately. Toast's courier option, Toast Delivery Services, uses Uber Direct or DoorDash Drive couriers for a flat fee per delivery, and Toast says you can't use your own drivers and Toast Delivery Services at the same time.

What does Toast offer for in-house delivery?

Two rules from Toast's articles shape the choice:

• Only clocked-in drivers can be dispatched, and orders must be marked Delivered before the driver's shift is closed.
• TDS and your own drivers don't mix. Toast's TDS article says you "cannot use your own delivery drivers and Toast Delivery Services® at the same time".

What's missing when Toast runs your own drivers?

Delivery Mode is a status board, not a driver tool. From Toast's article:

• No driver app. The driver is an employee on the POS, not a phone app with the address and a navigation link.
• No live location. Nobody, the restaurant or the guest, sees where the driver is.
• No tracking link for the guest. TDS orders get a tracking page and SMS; in-house orders in Delivery Mode don't, per the article.

The Shipday integration fills those gaps, but it means a second system:

• you need a Shipday account, access to Toast Partner Integrations, and your Shipday API key entered as the Location ID in Toast Web;
• a delivery range is still required in Toast Web's Delivery Map;
• drivers are added in both Toast and Shipday, and use the Shipday Drive app.

Worked example: 400 deliveries a month

A pizza and wings shop on Toast POS does 400 delivery orders a month, most within 5 miles. Wages, mileage and insurance for your own drivers are the same in every in-house row, so this table compares only what each option adds on top. Work out wages separately in the own delivery cost calculator.

What the numbers say:

• At 400 deliveries, couriers cost about $2,800–3,000 a month before tips. Your own drivers only beat that if they cover enough deliveries per hour; the calculator shows the break-even for your wage and distance.
• Tracking your own drivers costs $35–59 a month with Shipday at this volume, plus a second login and a second set of driver accounts.
• You can't split the night between your drivers and TDS: Toast makes it one or the other.

How do I run my own drivers on Toast today?

1. Give each driver a job type with Driver ticked in Toast, and have them clock in at the start of the shift.
2. Dispatch from Delivery Mode. Pick the order in Unassigned, choose a clocked-in driver, and the order moves to En Route.
3. Mark Delivered before the shift closes, so tips land with the right driver.
4. Want tracking? Set up a Shipday account, request Toast Partner Integrations, enter the Shipday API key as the Location ID, keep your Delivery Map range, add drivers in both systems and install Shipday Drive on their phones.
5. Price delivery to cover the cost. Use the delivery fee calculator with your real cost per mile.

When is Toast the better choice?

• You already run Toast POS and want delivery orders on the same tickets, reports and payroll as dine-in. Moving ordering elsewhere means a second system for staff.
• You'd rather not employ drivers at all. TDS gives you courier delivery with guest tracking from Toast's own ordering, for a flat fee per delivery.
• Your drivers work short shifts with the counter team. Delivery Mode's "clocked-in driver" model fits staff who switch between jobs.

How Menuthere compares

Menuthere is an ordering system with its own driver app, not a POS. On the Pro plan ($39 a month):

• drivers use the Menuthere Delivery App on iPhone and Android, sign in with the phone number and password you set, and get a New Delivery Assignment notification;
• the guest's order page shows the driver's name, an arrival estimate, a live map and a Call button, with nothing to install (how tracking works);
• Menuthere charges no per-delivery fee, and outside India you can also connect your own Uber Direct account.

What it doesn't do:

• you assign each order by hand (no auto-dispatch, route optimisation, batching or photo proof of delivery);
• it doesn't connect to Toast POS, so Menuthere orders arrive in Menuthere's dashboard, not on Toast tickets.

Menuthere Pro can also send WhatsApp order updates from your own number. In the US, Meta doesn't deliver WhatsApp marketing messages to +1 numbers, so WhatsApp sends order updates (utility messages, about US$0.0034 each) but not promotions; use email for offers.

More on the whole set-up: in-house delivery for restaurants, the rider app, and Menuthere vs Toast.

Comparing driver tools side by side? See the best restaurant delivery management software, scored.

Run your own drivers with live tracking and no per-delivery fee. then.

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