Frisch's Feedback from the Field - June monthly spotlight: Restaurant POS, enter

Research evidence excerpt

Frisch's Feedback from the Field - June monthly spotlight: Restaurant POS, enter

processing rates and cheaper software pricing were the primary wedges Shift4 offered for them to

switch, but a stepdown in customer support quality and software reliability issues prompted the churn to Toast. Operators

cited difficulty with centralized menu management across multiple locations and third-party delivery services (e.g., pricing

updates needed to be individually implemented across each location / delivery service provider), software module stability

issues (e.g., integration connectivity errors), and customer support friction as key reasons for switching platforms. Former

SkyTab operators also flagged ~$20-40K early-termination fees and opaque invoice line items that pushed total cost of

ownership above headline rates (e.g., annual program assessments, regulatory assurance fees, etc.) - contrasted against

Toast's real-time billing visibility.

4. Genius is a credible rebrand, but the biggest opportunity (for now) appears to be converting the legacy base:

Genius was described more as a “family” of products, packaging multiple software offerings across different verticals (built

on the legacy Heartland platform rather than a harmonized platform). Genius functionality appears to slightly lag top

competitors in certain verticals, so as distribution is still being fully built out, the early opportunities for Genius appear to

be centered in converting the legacy base (lower software pricing, longer terms, stronger payments attach) rather than

new-logo growth. Hardware is a relative bright spot; meanwhile, onboarding / support (slower account setup than Toast,

offshore support, payments-side outages the #1 support issue) and an integration backlog remain the primary friction

points.