There is a report inside your Toast account that almost nobody looks at. It shows you two numbers: active gift cards and inactive gift cards. For one real restaurant account reviewed in June 2026, those numbers were 89 active and 912 inactive. A 10-to-1 dormancy ratio.

In this episode, Pam Monteith breaks down why inactive gift cards are a marketing list in disguise, why operators consistently miss them, and the exact campaign to recover those visits inside Toast Email Marketing with zero ad spend and zero discounting.

RESOURCES MENTIONED:

• Free 30-minute Toast Marketing Audit: tidycal.com/pam-pormentilla-monteith/restaurant-growth-session

• Free Toast Marketing Activation Checklist: greatworkonline.com/toast-activation-checklist

• Great Work Online: greatworkonline.com

TOPICS COVERED:

• What "inactive" gift cards mean inside Toast POS

• Why gift cards are a marketing asset, not just a finance line item

• How to find the Gift Cards and Loyalty Summary report in Toast

• The guest segmentation strategy to build inside Toast Guestbook

• How to build the reactivation email in Toast Email Marketing

• Zero acquisition cost, recovered revenue: the margin case for this campaign

If you just opened your restaurant, or you are a few months in, this episode is for you.

Most new restaurant owners believe that being open and posting on social media is enough marketing. And in the first few weeks, it can feel that way. The novelty does some of the work.

But novelty fades. And the guests who walked in during that window, if your Toast marketing suite was off, are gone. No email address on file. No loyalty enrollment. No way to bring them back intentionally.

In this episode, Pam walks through:

- Why month one is the most valuable marketing window a restaurant owner will ever have

- What the 50/7 Rule means for new operators (Toast/Resy Regulars Report 2026: 50% of order volume comes from 7% of guests, and those regulars are built in the first 90 days)

- The three things to turn on inside Toast before your first busy weekend: Email Marketing, Loyalty, and Guestbook segmentation

Resources mentioned:

Free 30-minute Toast Marketing Audit (no pitch, just a gap analysis): tidycal.com/pam-pormentilla-monteith/restaurant-growth-session

Free Toast Marketing Activation Checklist: greatworkonline.com/toast-activation-checklist

Great Work Online: greatworkonline.com

Half of a restaurant's revenue comes from just 7% of its guests, according to new research from Toast and Resy.

In this episode, Pam Monteith breaks down what the Regulars Report means for independent restaurants heading into Father's Day weekend, including why loyalty programs roughly quadruple return rates, why regulars book ahead, and the recognition gap that's costing restaurants repeat business.

Pam shares one specific action restaurant owners can take this week, using Toast's Guestbook, to reach their top regulars before Father's Day arrives.

Resources mentioned:

• Toast Tables setup guide: greatworkonline.com/blog

• Free Toast Marketing Activation Checklist: greatworkonline.com/toast-activation-checklist

• Book a free 30-minute Toast Marketing Audit: tidycal.com/pam-pormentilla-monteith/restaurant-growth-session