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Delphi Display of Costa Mesa Sold to Boston’s Toast

Delphi Display Systems, which provides indoor and outdoor digital menu boards as well as drive-thru technology for quick-service restaurants around the world, has a new owner with big plans for the Costa Mesa-based company.

The aim: to engage with, influence, attract, and retain customers ordering meals.
Boston-based Toast Inc. (NYSE: TOST), a high-tech restaurant management company valued around $10 billion, said Feb. 16 it had acquired Delphi for an undisclosed price.

Delphi Display says its systems have been installed in more than 40,000 locations globally, while Toast says the Costa Mesa firm has a potential market 10 times that number.
Delphi Display’s website currently displays fast-food chains including Jack in the Box, IHOP, Chick-fil-A, Arby’s, Wendy’s, McDonald’s, Subway, and fellow Cost Mesa-based El Pollo Loco. Other customers include Disney and the Paul Merage School of Business at University of California, Irvine.

Delphi’s systems also facilitate voice-ordering, track drive-thru performance metrics and show confirmed orders for diners at drive-thrus among other functions.

The company’s “vision is to transform the drive-thru experience with state-of-the-art innovation,” Ken Neeld, Delphi CEO and president, said in a statement announcing the acquisition on Feb. 16.

$27 Million

Neeld said the change will “collectively enhance our ability to serve the global quick-service and enterprise restaurant communities as we have for the past 25 years,” with the aim of boosting sales.

Investor website Rocket-Reach estimated Delphi Display has revenue of $27 million. A spokesperson for new owner Toast declined to provide a sales figure on Feb. 23.

Toast is “making its move into QSR (quick-service restaurants) by targeting the high-volume drive-thru channel,” website RestaurantBusiness said of the Delphi purchase on Feb. 16.

The industry website said Toast, which has previously partnered with Irvine-based restaurant software platform Restaurant365, was making an aggressive move beyond its usual turf of small and midsized restaurants.

“Adding a drive-thru offering and digital menu boards enhances our offering for both small and large quick-serve restaurants,” Toast CEO Chris Comparato said during an earnings call with analysts on Feb. 16.

He added: “We plan to continue to add more capabilities to our QSR offering in 2023 to drive even deeper penetration in this segment going forward.”

Toast’s revenue jumped 50% to $769 million for the fourth quarter.

Comparato said the acquisition brings Delphi CEO Neeld and the team “into our fold so that we can more broadly serve QSR restaurants, specifically with drive-thru capabilities.”
Delphi Display provides software and service in addition to “hardware” for the signage.

75 Countries

Delphi says its systems have been installed in over 75 countries around the world.
The company also serves the education, corporate, transportation and theme park markets as well as other industry sites. Its main office is at 3550 Hyland Ave., in Costa Mesa, near the SoCo shopping center.

“Integrating Delphi into the Toast platform will enable us to deepen our support for customers who operate a drive-thru service model,” said Aman Narang, COO and co-founder of Toast.

In December, Delphi Display Systems launched Endura 32X, its latest platform to facilitate voice-ordering at drive-through restaurants.

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Sonia Chung
Sonia Chung
Sonia Chung joined the Orange County Business Journal in 2021 as their Marketing Creative Director. In her role she creates all visual content as it relates to the marketing needs for the sales and events teams. Her responsibilities include the creation of marketing materials for six annual corporate events, weekly print advertisements, sales flyers in correspondence to the editorial calendar, social media graphics, PowerPoint presentation decks, e-blasts, and maintains the online presence for Orange County Business Journal’s corporate events.
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