“I began installing proprietary Point-of-Sale (POS) systems in restaurants in 1985. But after ten years, I felt a change was needed. There were new POS alternatives available for a restaurant that desired a PC based POS, in other words, a non-proprietary platform. Desktop PC’s were being manufactured by 100’s of companies all striving to make their PC’s faster, more powerful, more reliable, and more affordable.” The benefits of that competition, the foundation of Capitalism, were hard at work. PC’s did indeed, become faster, more powerful, more reliable, and thankfully more affordable in a very short time period. Naturally this benefits those who buy PC based platforms.” Then one day, the Sales Manager at the company I was installing restaurant POS for asked me, “if you owned a restaurant would you put our POS system in it”. My answer was “no”. The realization set in. How could I recommend a system I would not own myself? I couldn’t. Shortly after that conversation I left that company and started Team Howard. After much research my brother Joe and I decided to offer the most mature restaurant POS software product that was available, Digital Dining by Menusoft. Menusoft is a privately held software company based in Virginia. Digital Dining offered what we were looking for, a feature rich POS system based upon open-architecture hardware. Menusoft also had the experience we needed. Menusoft had installed their first Digital Dining POS system in 1984 and had grown every year since. One of the first Digital Dining POS systems Team Howard installed was at the Butcher Block Restaurant in Albany. That install is now going on 12 years. The DOS based platform we installed in 1995 is still running fine. In 1995, Team Howard also started to support a few Micros POS platforms. Micros parts and software knowledge were not a problem since I had spent years installing and supporting Micros 2700, 2400, and 4700 systems. AlthoughTeam Howard has never been an authorized Micros dealer; we found it hard to resist requests for support and service. “Customers that I had met over the past ten years started calling Team Howard and asking us to support their Micros systems, we simply couldn’t ignore the revenue. At first we thought Micros support would be a short-term venture, but we quickly realized that Team Howards’ approach to Micros service outperformed our competitors. Our clients were pleased to have an alternative to their choice in a POS service provider, something proprietary system users are not accustomed to.” Here we are in 2007, 12 years later and Team Howard still offers and supports only two products and only works for the Hospitality industry. The Digital Dining POS system has become totally Windows based, and has an incredible array of features that allow today’s restaurateur to control and grow their business. With over 100 authorized dealers across the country, Menusofts’ Digital Dining software is now used in over 100,000 establishments. Team Howard has grown too. Team Howard now supports almost 300 clients in Upstate New York. In 2003, Team Howard moved it’s operations into a 4,500 sq ft facility located at 974 Rte 67 in Ballston Spa, NY. “Our clients have benefited from our product line focus in this industry. Our product knowledge is obvious and a benefit every time the phone or pager rings. When our clients need answers, we can provide them quicker than any competitor.” Our Micros support is now limited to the series 2000 models (2400,2700). Team Howard recently replaced the only remaining Micros 4700 system in the area. “I was kind of glad to see it finally go since we had been supporting it since 1995. It was a proprietary system and although Team Howard could still find parts for it, the software became harder to support”. Team Howard supports over 100 Micros clients. Micros stopped production of the 2700 product line in 2005 after selling approx. 95,000 of them since 1989. The model 2700 enjoyed a very successful run but as with any proprietary product that is sole source in nature, current state-of-the-art technology offerings surpass it. We have been very fortunate to have chosen the Digital Dining software product. Digital Dining has continued to be a leading pioneer in restaurant POS industry, enhancing their software feature set to keep up with the demanding needs of today’s restaurateur. Team Howard has received dealer recognition awards from Menusoft for the past three years. Dealer recognition awards are based upon unit sales and client satisfaction. In 2006 Team Howard became a Menusoft business partner which allows us to participate in pre-release software testing and software development seminars. So come in for a demo, let us show you why Digital Dining is the best choice if you are considering buying or upgrading a restaurant POS system. We look forward to the future and invite you to join our Team of satisfied clients.