As Toast IPO rumor swirls, restaurant owners express support for the tech firm
After a pandemic year, the software company could be valued at $20 billion
By Janelle Nanos Globe Staff,Updated February 22, 2021, 3:44 p.m.
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Aman Narang and Steve Fredette are two of the cofounders of Toast, a Boston startup that has designed a new kind of cash register and order-taking system for restaurants.
Toast, a restaurant-management software company in Boston, is rumored to be contemplating an initial public offering this year that could value the business at $20 billion, as first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
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The tree is decorated, the stockings are up, the presents are wrapped, and the hand sanitizer is in place. The only thing left to worry about: What are you eating for Christmas dinner?
This year, as restaurants continue to face extensive coronavirus-related hardships, there’s even more of a reason to spend your money on a Christmas feast from a local business. Thankfully, plenty of restaurants are still open and have both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day dinner covered, offering takeout options that include classic and out-of-the-box dishes and, yes, plenty of eggnog. Most pre-order deadlines are on or before Dec. 20, so now is the time to start planning your holiday feast.
Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, restaurant owners have made the hard decision to either close their business or remain open and hope that takeout and indoor dining get them through the colder months.
But in late fall, a third option emerged: hibernating, which entails temporarily closing a restaurant with the hope of reopening when the weather is warmer or the world is safer.
Emory “Andy” Kilgore, whose downtown restaurant, The Emory, is closed but hopes to reopen in the spring, told Boston.com in October that he didn’t have a choice.
“Our business is probably 70 percent tourism, Financial District [workers and residents], and State House [employees],” he said. “None of that exists right now. Our sales were