The Toast Customer Expert Certification is currently in beta with select US customers. If you are interested in participating, contact the Toast Credentialing team at certifications@toasttab.com. |
Welcome to the Toast Customer Expert Certification! As a restaurant leader, you already rely on Toast to power your daily operations. Now it’s time to turn that daily experience into certified mastery. This certification is designed to validate the real-world troubleshooting, menu building, and system configuration skills you use every single day. By confirming your knowledge, you won't just earn your Customer Expert Badge, you’ll unlock the confidence to solve problems on the fly, optimize your restaurant's workflows, and keep your service running smoothly without missing a beat.
What This Applies To
Product: Hardware, Menu, Payment & Finance, Kitchen Setup, and Employee Management
User types: Restaurant Leaders
Prerequisites:
Enrolled in the Toast Customer Expert Certification beta
A restaurant with one to two locations
Live with Toast for at least 30 days
Scope: This guide covers the exam blueprint for the Toast Customer Expert Certification which includes the five domains tested, their weighting, and the Toast support articles and Classroom training that prepare you for each one. It does not teach the underlying product skills itself. Each task card links to the article that does.
Exam Overview
Format: 50 multiple choice questions
Passing score: 86% (43 of 50 correct)
Domains covered: Hardware, Menu & Ordering, Kitchen Setup, Employee Management, and Payment & Finance
How to prepare: A mix of hands-on practice, Toast Classroom training, and Support Center material
Estimated Study Time: 10-15 Hours
How to Use This Guide
Toast's own certification model is built on a 70/20/10 approach:
70% Hands-on practice: Apply what you learn in your hands-on practice while running your business.
20% People & community: Lean on Office Hours and the Toast Community when something doesn't click.
10% Formal study: Use this guide, the linked support articles, and Toast Classroom training to fill knowledge gaps.
Inside each domain below, you'll find task cards containing the specific skills the exam tests, the exact Toast support articles that teach it, plus a Toast Classroom Path card with the on-demand courses, learning paths, and live sessions that cover the same ground. Every link is one you can click straight through to.
Note: Looking for video tutorials and interactive training? Explore Toast Classroom for on-demand content and additional resources.
Set Yourself Up to Pass
Getting certified is a hands-on process, not a memorization exercise. Here's how to set yourself up to pass with confidence:
Practice in a live account. Reading about the Price Editor is one thing, but opening it and actually updating an item is what makes it stick. Spend time in the tools you'll be tested on, not just the training material.
Bring questions to Office Hours. If a topic still doesn't click after the linked article and classroom training, don't just hope it works out on test day. Office Hours exist for exactly this!
Set realistic expectations. New to Toast? Plan on 10-15 hours of formal training plus 30-60 days of hands-on time in the system before sitting for the exam. Already running Toast day-to-day? You've likely got a head start and may be ready much sooner.
Check your readiness. Take the 25 item practice exam, which mirrors the topics you'll see on test day, before you commit to a real attempt.
The Path at a Glance
This is the certification blueprint. The weight reflects how much of the exam each domain covers.
Domain | Weight | Items |
Hardware & Connectivity | 20% | 10 |
Menu & Ordering | 25% | 15 |
Kitchen Setup | 20% | 10 |
Employee Management | 15% | 5 |
Payment & Finance | 20% | 10 |
Total | 100% | 50 |
Hardware & Connectivity
Weight: 20% | Items: 10
Why It Matters
When hardware goes down, revenue stops. This domain proves you can keep the restaurant online, know the difference between a Toast outage and an internet outage, and lead your team through the tense few minutes when a card reader won't read or the internet drops mid-rush.
What You'll Master
Hardware Connectivity & General Troubleshooting: Diagnose router status lights, configure stable Wi-Fi connections for handheld devices, and trace or troubleshoot hardware cabling to resolve connectivity issues quickly.
RESOURCES
Offline Mode Operations & Recovery: Recognize offline mode banners, apply best practices while operating offline, configure offline transaction limits to manage financial risk, and verify payment status once service is restored.
RESOURCES
Card Reader & Toast Go® Troubleshooting: Resolve EMV communication errors on card readers and apply handheld troubleshooting best practices for Toast Go® devices.
RESOURCES
Toast Classroom Path
Course: Manager Essentials: Core Operations (45m) - Covers common hardware and offline basics as part of daily operations
Live Training: Manager Essentials: Core Operations
Menu & Ordering
Weight: 25% | Items: 15
Why It Matters
This is the single highest-weighted domain on the exam — and for good reason. Menu changes, pricing strategies, and tax and sales-category setup are the most common source of both customer confidence and customer confusion. Master this domain and you'll cut down more of your own support tickets than any other.
What You'll Master
Menu Building & Configuration: Configure menu availability, modifier group settings, size and sequence pricing, prep station routing, sales categories, and tax inclusion settings.
RESOURCES
Menu Editing and Maintenance: Use the price editor for individual and bulk pricing updates, archive duplicate items in the Items Database, and manage item availability with quick edit (86) mode.
RESOURCES
Online Ordering & 3PO: Troubleshoot auto-fire devices, adjust menu visibility and quote-time settings, and process guest refunds correctly within third-party ordering channels.
RESOURCES
Reporting & Analytics: Analyze sales performance using the Product Mix (PMIX) report.
RESOURCES
Toast Classroom Path
Learning Path: Get Started With Toast Menus (6 modules)
Courses: Get Started with Toast Menus (48m) · Build and Manage Item Modifiers (48m) · Get Started with Toast Online Ordering (43m)
Kitchen Setup
Weight: 20% | Items: 10
Why It Matters
This domain has one of the highest impacts on the guest experience of anything on the exam. When the Kitchen Display System or prep stations aren't configured correctly, tickets get lost, orders fire late, and guests feel it immediately.
What You'll Master
KDS Features and Operations: Use the KDS as an expediter across all fulfillment workflows and understand the difference between All Day view and Production Item Count.
RESOURCES
Prep Station & Ticket Configuration: Configure kitchen ticket printing behavior and optimize prep station settings and routing.
RESOURCES
Kitchen Troubleshooting & Online Ordering Workflow: Troubleshoot blank KDS screens and prep station failures, diagnose online ordering disruptions on the KDS, and determine the right auto-fire device for incoming online orders.
RESOURCES
Toast Classroom Path
Course: Manager Essentials: Core Operations - Touches on kitchen and prep station basics as part of daily operations
Course: End-Of-Day Activities (11m) - Useful context for how kitchen workflows tie into closing procedures
Employee Management
Weight: 15% | Items: 5
Why It Matters
Fewer items than the other domains, but high complexity. Getting jobs, permissions, and login access right is what keeps the wrong people out of sensitive settings and keeps the right people from getting locked out at the worst possible moment.
What You'll Master
Jobs & Permissions: Understand and audit job vs. user permissions to maintain secure, well-structured access across the team.
RESOURCES
Troubleshooting & Reporting: Troubleshoot login issues between POS terminals and Toast Web, and audit time entries using Toast Web reporting.
RESOURCES
Toast Classroom Path
Course: Manager Essentials: Core Operations (45m) - Employee setup, jobs & permissions, and shift review
Live Training: Manager Essentials: Core Operations
Payment & Finance
Weight: 20% | Items: 10
Why It Matters
Money questions carry some of the highest pain and highest urgency of any support topic. Knowing how to read a check, dispute a chargeback, and reconcile a deposit means you can answer “where's my money” before it becomes a crisis.
What You'll Master
Check Lifecycle & Payment Adjustments: Reopen closed checks, differentiate voids from refunds, diagnose negative check balances, and understand how check numbers sequence throughout the day.
RESOURCES
Financial & Sales Reporting: Analyze how voids, refunds, and discounts affect sales reports, and verify credit card batch statuses using the Payout Overview report.
RESOURCES
Gift Card Operations & Liabilities: Monitor active gift card metrics and identify unredeemed balances using Toast's gift card reporting.
RESOURCES
Cash Management & Chargebacks: Understand the chargeback dispute process and troubleshoot cash drawer discrepancies during shift review.
RESOURCES
Toast Classroom Path
Course: Manager Essentials: Payments, Deposits, and Reports (35m) - Tracking payments and deposits, understanding sales discrepancies, and managing refunds/voids
Live Training: Understanding Your Funds: From Payment to Deposit
After You're Certified
Passing the exam makes you your restaurant's official Toast Expert. The go-to-person when something comes up, before a ticket ever reaches Toast Customer Care. To stay sharp, plan on a shorter, targeted re-certification each year, focused on whatever's changed since you last tested. In the meantime, keep an eye on Toast release notes, product updates, and the Toast Community as that's exactly where re-certification content will come from.
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