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Toast Together App Kicks Off

By V.L. Craven, posted Jul 31, 2015
Correction: This version updates NFL player Connor Barth's playing status with the Denver Broncos, which was incorrect due to an editing error.

What does an NFL placekicker have to do with a mobile app based in Wilmington?

Everything, it turns out. Denver Broncos player Connor Barth attended Hoggard High School and now has a house on Wrightsville Beach.

When he met Ryan Watts, currently the CEO and co-founder of Toast Together, on a plane in 2014, they hit it off immediately.

“We got on a plane, and I knew exactly who he was but didn’t want to be that guy,” Watts said. “We chatted and struck up a big time conversation about his thoughts about life after football. Mobile apps came up, and I told him about some of my ideas that I keep in my little black book of sorts.”

They kept in touch, and Watts continued to think about what types of social apps they could develop. A business major who worked as a strategy consultant for IBM, Watts says prior to Toast Together he “managed several projects and [had] been responsible for developing mobile, social and digital strategies for five Fortune 50 companies.”

Eventually he had an idea and called Connor.

“I said how frustrating is it to have to send the ‘What’re you up to tonight’ text message to five, 10, 15 – however many – people just to meet up and grab drinks, brunch, etc.,” Watts said. “And he was stoked about the idea behind it. So we worked out the particulars, and Toast Together was eventually born.”

The two organized pre-launch events earlier this month at Ironclad Brewery in Wilmington and The Palm Room and Jimmy’s at Red Dogs in Wrightsville Beach.

“I’ve found that the more you are out and about with friends, old and new, the happier and healthier your lifestyle is,” Barth said in an email about the app’s concept. “I believe that there’s one thing that you can never put a price tag on, and that is making memories.”

Toast Together is a social media app that has a few different features from other existing apps.
“Users can CLINK message in our app and see who’s going out, plus everyone can set a status and let people know what they’re thinking,” Watts said. “All those things – going out, your status, etc. – all expire so the next day is a whole new day of Toasting. Plus it means nothing you do or say is going to stick around in the public domain.”

Besides being able to coordinate brunch, dinner or going-out plans with friends in the app, there’s also a Toast the Town side of the app, which provides information on local food and drink specials as well as live music.

There are new features planned for upcoming versions, Watts said.

“We have a very lengthy app roadmap because we think there’s so many things we can do to make
being social easier,” he said.

Toast Together is currently in what Watts calls a “super beta version,” with over 1,000 beta users.
“We have a variety of things we are working on to squash the bugs,” he said. “But ultimately, I think the community has embraced it. Over 20 bars and restaurants are working with us between downtown and Wrightsville, and we see consistent user growth day by day and increasing in-app activity.”

At the moment Toast Together has a team of seven working on it, a figure expected to double within the next few months. The goal is to expand across the state and then the country over the next year.
“We would love to keep all those jobs within North Carolina because this state has given so much to
Connor and I,” Watts said.
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