At San Pedro Fish Market, customers crack crab legs and sip beer in the California sun, with a clear view of the marina. What they don’t see is the hustle and creativity it takes to keep the lights on.
Kelly Esten
Chief Marketing Officer, Toast
People think if you’re a business owner, “you must be rich,” said Michael Ungaro, CEO of San Pedro Fish Market, a fourth-generation family business with three locations in southern California. In reality, he says, “you’re lucky if you can pull 8-10% profit.”
The thin margin between success and struggle is something Matthew Powers, owner of Calioh Coffee, knows well.
“The difference between a coffee shop that brings in $500K and one that brings in $700K? That’s the difference between taking home $80K and $130K,” he said. “And that’s the difference between surviving in California — or not.”*
Across the country, small businesses are feeling the pinch. Consumers feel it most at the register. According to Toast’s new Menu Price Monitor, the median monthly price of many popular items continues to rise: Coffee’s up 6.4% since April 2024. Burgers and chicken wings? Up over 3% since last year.
Owners are living a daily balancing act as operational expenses surge. It’s not just quality ingredients that now cost more. Wages have climbed steadily. Toast analyzed hourly wages for back-of-house restaurant workers at full-service Toast restaurants and found that the median base hourly wages for back of house employees — from dishwashers to line cooks — were approximately $16.98 in December 2024, about 2.5% higher than in December 2023 and 6% higher than in December 2022.
But business owners are also seeing the opportunity in today’s rapidly evolving landscape — particularly in the unprecedented access to data. In fact, Toast data shows that 52% of operators are interested in implementing AI to improve business.
As operators look to help keep costs low, integrated reporting and analytics tools can provide them with the insights they need to make more informed decisions.
When two new competitors recently entered the market, Powers turned to Toast Benchmarking to help sharpen operations and proactively drive revenue, using insights to pinpoint where the business might be vulnerable.
This helped Powers develop a focused plan: “We needed to increase our average check by $2.19, drive 200 more guests per month, and turn on third-party delivery to capture a 10% revenue lift,” he said. With peer comparisons and actionable performance indicators, Powers was able to act fast.
He worked to unlock more revenue by highlighting premium offerings like avocado toast and bagel sandwiches, while refreshing Calioh Coffee’s digital presence through social media content, targeted text promotions, email campaigns, and a delivery-optimized menu. From January to April 2025, the results were substantial: the average ticket increased 4.7%, from $13.05 to $13.69. The digital improvements showed particularly strong impact, with Google Maps engagements rising 18.6% and Google menu clicks nearly tripling, surging 186.2% from 29 to 83 monthly clicks. Calioh Coffee also gained 206 new Instagram followers during this period, demonstrating increased consumer interest and digital traction across multiple channels.
The economic challenges small businesses face aren’t slowing down. But neither is the determination of small business owners — or the innovative technology transforming the way they do business. There’s more knowledge and insights at their fingertips than ever before, helping an industry run on instincts tap into the power of data-driven decisions.
To learn more, visit pos.toasttab.com/data
*Self-reported by customer. Individual results will vary.
