Toast, the unicorn restaurant management platform provider, acquired Chicago-based HR and payroll software company StratEx. StratEx's software is used by restaurants to automate scheduling, applicant tracking, payroll, benefits and labor law compliance.
StratEx counts businesses such as Eastern Standard, Blue Bottle Coffee and Gregory's Coffee among its clientele. Toast's clientele includes Tartine Bakery, Joe Coffee Company, Eggs Up Grill, JACKS Urban Eats and The County Line.
"Clientele is just one aspect," said Toast CFO and chief business officer Tim Barash. "The most important thing is that we love the product and the team."
With this acquisition, Barash noted that the company will double down on investment in Chicago. He also confirmed that all jobs will remain intact, and the company will continue to hire across its offices in Boston and Chicago, as well as in Portland, Oregon; Omaha, Nebraska; and Dublin, Ireland.
In April, Toast raised $250 million in a Series E round led by TCV and Tiger Global Management. At the time, with a valuation of over $2 billion, Toast leadership said it would invest as much as $1 billion toward software and hardware research. Following the funding round in April, Toast told BostInno that it planned to add 1,000 employees by the end of 2019 in sales and marketing, R&D and customer success.
