On Wednesday August 25th, Toast All Day, a part of the Charleston Hospitality Group, celebrated its nationwide expansion with a gala commemorating this milestone. Our employees, investors and friends alike were invited to come celebrate all that Toast All Day has accomplished since it’s humble beginnings in 2005. The night was filled with keynote addresses from our CEO and Founder Sam Mustafa, live music, hor d’oeuvres and the launch of Toast! University.
Toast All Day Keynote Address
Before Sam took the stage to give his keynote address, Chief Operating Officer of Charleston Hospitality Group Jeff Deihl started off the speech by highlighting all of Toast All Day’s accomplishments and what is in store for the future. “It is no doubt that here at the Charleston Hospitality Group we have grown substantially from where we first began”, Jeff states with enthusiasm. “This has all been made possible due to Sam’s leadership and all the hard working employees at CHG who believe in the company, our mission and vision for the future. This has equated to all our exponential growth. Jeff mentioned that throughout CHG and Toast All Day’s growth the question of “What would be possible?” has always been an idea integrated in our work culture. Jeff concludes his introduction by mentioning Sam’s mentorship and coaching throughout his career. He added, “There are two types of coaches, and Sam is our Strength and Conditioning Coach. He knows what is possible, our limits and our potential. He wants us to grow to our highest potential and often this comes with tough love. This also accounts for all of the success of our company.” Sam Mustafa then took the stage to give his keynote address.
At the beginning of his keynote address, Sam thanked his team who has helped and supported him throughout his career. While doing so, he also welcomed to the stage his very first Toast All Day employee Sarah, who works at our Toast All Day West Ashley location to thank her for her loyalty and commitment since he started his company. He then followed up with his praise of our 400+ hardworking employees. Sam’s work ethic and laser-focused mindset brought him his success today. While on stage, Sam announced that he wants his employees to know that they will always have an opportunity to develop themselves personally and professionally within our company. Integrated in our core values at CHG and Toast All Day is our spirit of service and camaraderie. Sam provides the same opportunities for all his employees as he does himself. As Sam explained when he first opened he worked open to close everyday for months on end which he did not realize was possible. However, Mustafa reassured that he wants his employees to know that they can achieve everything he has achieved, “If I can do it, you can do it” Sam expressed. That means that those employees who want to own their own Toast All Day restaurant have the opportunity to do so.
Continuing on, Sam touched on how incredibly hard the year 2020 was due to the Coronavirus Pandemic. Mentioning that this was a trying time for all of us at each restaurant location, as well as the hospitality industry at large. We all experienced it differently, and came together as a team to lift the lives of those around us through our charity initiatives such as Full Belly Full Hearts. Through this program, we were able to feed over 10,000 meals to those who were left jobless due to the pandemic. Sam has always been a courageous leader and always chooses to approach difficult situations, by looking at challenges and seeing them as opportunities to grow. He states in his speech,“We all have to make lemonade out of lemons.” He then explained that this mindset is how we train and teach our employees in our company. This mindset can be seen throughout our workplace culture and core values. There will be times in your career that will be sour and understanding how to react to these unfavorable situations in a positive manner is a concept that will be beneficial not only in your professional career, but also as a humanitarian.
The Launch of Toast University
Concluding his speech, Sam talked about the story behind the Toast All Day empire. The rapid expansion of Toast All Day led to the need for a place to headquarter corporate training to learn about the standards and procedures of the Toast All Day brand. He followed by expressing with excitement the launch of Toast University.
Being a conglomerate company with six different restaurant concepts, you might be wondering, “So why Toast All Day and not the other restaurant concepts?” Sam states in his keynote address that he chose to expand Toast All Day due to the message and mission of Toast All Day’s branding “We like the idea of being able to celebrate something” Sam explained as Toast All Day’s slogan is “Celebrate the Possibilities”. Continuing on by saying “A lot of things happen in life and you have to understand that things happen for us not to us and this is exactly how we got here today”.
Here at Toast All Day our restaurant has some big plans ahead. While we already have five locations, we are expanding nationwide to Boston, Savannah, and Miami. Not only is there excitement due to the expansion of multiple locations, Toast All Day has also been awarded the Best of the Best for 2021 by TripAdvisor. In addition, Toast All Day was also named the Top 25 Best Brunches in the entire United States. This award is their highest recognition and is presented annually to those businesses that earn excellent reviews from travelers and are ranked in the top 1% of properties worldwide.
This celebration to commemorate the nationwide expansion of Toast All Day is the first of many more to come. While here at Charleston Hospitality Group and Toast All day we pride ourselves in providing an exceptional experience to all our guests- with a mimosa in hand, and always with a side of southern hospitality! Come Toast to the Possibilities and stop by one of our locations soon!
Find a Toast All Day restaurant nearest to you: https://www.facebook.com/toastallday/locations
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