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Mar 2008

Are you compliant with current Credit Card Security & PCI DSS rules?
If not, immediate action is required! Here!

Credit Card Breaches in 2007 reach all time high. Here!

Check out some of these videos about credit card skimming. Video 1 Video 2

Jan 2008

Fox Morning News shows why you should have Digital Dining in your restaurant. Here!

Nov 2007

Heartland Payment Systems Files Anti-Trust Lawsuit Against Micros Corp.

Read the entire Complaint Here!

Sept 2007

The much anticipated opening of the Recovery Room Sports Grill (RR) occurred on June 13, 2007. Located at 62 New Scotland Ave on the lower floor of the new Hilton Garden Inn (directly across from Albany Medical Center), the RR opened its doors to great reviews. The RR is local builder BBL Developments’ first venture into operating the restaurant as opposed to just building it. Daniel Klaus of BBL Development Group in Albany has been selected to oversee operations of the local RR as well as new restaurant ventures currently being considered. Daniel Klaus formerly served as the Food Service Director at Morrison Senior Dining, a division of the Compass Group.

The Recovery Room Sports Grill is a family restaurant for sports enthusiasts who enjoy watching live sports combined with excellent and affordable dining. With over 50 TV and HD satellite receptions, 18 booths equipped with private LCD TV’s, this is a great place for every sports fan. There’s not a bad seat in the house (TV’s on the outdoor patio and even TV’s in the restrooms – you wont miss a play.)

The staff at the RR would like to invite you to enjoy the Capital Regions very first ChillDisc zone at their sleek stylish bar. The ChillDisc is a patented 4” stainless steel disc that is embedded into the bar and is designed to keep your adult beverages cold.

At the RR you can catch all the Sports action; MLB, NASCAR, NFL, NCAA, NBA, NHL, GOLF, BOXING, and TENNIS.

The RR also has Sweets n’ Treats Ice Cream shop where you can enjoy Edy’s delicious hard and soft ice creams and a variety of other desserts. The RR offers a wide variety of sandwiches and salads for dine-in, take out or just grab n’ go. You can call in your order, fax it or even email your order for even quicker service. Using Digital Dining’s Future Orders feature the RR can also take you order days or weeks in advance. At the Recovery Room Sports Grill, they gotcha covered. The RR is open everyday from 11AM to 11PM.

Located upstairs is the Great American Grill which is open for breakfast Mon-Fri from 6AM to 10AM, and 7AM to 11AM on the weekends. The Great American Grill is a beautiful dining room with huge glass windows on two sides that offer a delightful dining and relaxing atmosphere.
Catering, meeting rooms, Banquets and private party facilities are available as well.

For more information about the RR please visit http://www.recoveryroomsportsgrill.com

After considering several well known Point-Of-Sale (POS) platforms and companies, Daniel Klaus and BBL Development Group chose Team Howard and Digital Dining. The RR represents Team Howard’s largest installation to date. The RR’s Digital Dining configuration has a total of 19 terminals, 12 of which are Hand Held Order Terminals, 5 are the traditional 15” LCD Touchscreens, and the two Bar Terminals are 17” LCD Touchscreens.

Our ability to customize a client’s hardware configuration is a huge advantage in today’s marketplace. At Team Howard, we do not rely upon proprietary hardware platforms that can restrict a client’s ability to take advantage of current technology.

IE #1: the RR is using Digital Persona’s Finger Print ID for time clock punches and manager authorization of voids, discounts etc. The Finger Print ID is a device that simply plugs into the POS computers USB port. Digital Dining clients have had access to Finger Print ID technology since 2004. It’s a very popular option, at a price point of $169; it usually pays for itself in less than 60 days. Digital Dining clients have the option of using Finger Print ID as an alternative to the traditional use of Mgr #’s and swipe cards. Our largest POS competitors are just starting to release Finger Print ID, while Digital Dining has offered it for years.

IE #2: at the RR, they are using 17” touchscreens at the bar, with the open-architecture hardware platform Team Howard employs, we can take advantage of the larger displays which are very desirable at the bar POS stations as well as the Hostess POS when clients utilize the Table Reservations and Table Management modules. In comparison, Team Howard’s largest POS competitor just released their first 15” touchscreen, WOW! Team Howard has been installing 15” LCD Flat Panel Touchscreens since 2002, and have had 17” touchscreens available for three years.

For Handheld Ordering, Team Howard provided the RR with Symbol MC50’s. The MC50 is small (3” x 5”) and weighs only 7 ounces. At the RR, table servers have the ability to send drink and food orders to the bar and kitchen without leaving the guests table, runners typically deliver the product. Many benefits are realized when using the Handhelds, servers can handle more tables, “menu item out” alerts are displayed at tableside, food and drink recipes can be displayed and printed at tableside, if a menu item is out of stock servers can receive an automatic substitute suggestion, and servers no longer have to leave the table to input the guests order at a traditional touchscreen station. The payment process is also accelerated. Servers can receive and process credit card payments at tableside as well. Dining guests feel more secure when their credit card never leaves their sight.

Team Howard also installed QSR Automations Kitchen Display System (KDS). The RR utilizes three 17” LCD order screens with Bump Bars in the kitchen (two production screens and one expo screen); the RR also uses one 17” LCD screen for drink orders at the service bar. This is an alternative to the traditional use of printers in these areas. The QSR Video System is interfaced to the Digital Dining POS platform allowing food orders to be automatically timed using
“delayed routing” into the kitchen.

This powerful functionality was built specifically to streamline and simplify kitchen operations for table service restaurants, QSR's KDS reduces stress by providing a quieter, more organized production environment. With delayed routing, each menu item is routed based on cook times to the specific kitchen station responsible for preparing that item. Every change made at each preparation station is reflected at the expeditor station so that servers and managers can keep track of the status of their orders. Another important advantage over using kitchen printers, speed of service data is displayed in
real-time at all kitchen stations and is available for historical reporting. QSR’s KDS also offers integrated kitchen alerts, responding to events from the kitchen software and hardware.

QSR’s powerful software reporting capabilities allow the RR’s management to evaluate how long an item is taking to be prepared and how long it “sits” in the window. This information is critical to compare individual personnel and meal shifts as it pertains to production productivity. Product quality, staff efficiency and reduced labor costs are the driving forces behind the development and use of this technology.

“Based upon current and future competition in this arena, we needed to examine and utilize technology that not only takes our operations run more efficiently but also enhances our guests’ experience” said Dan Klaus.

At Team Howard, our staff was very excited to have an opportunity to deliver such a powerful POS system. Steve Fereday, Team Howard’s’ lead programmer on the project got an opportunity to design and implement today’s latest software capabilities and hardware technology.
Steve is currently working on the eSysco interface in Digital Dining which will enable the RR to streamline pricing updates, product ordering (PO’s) and inventory management through eSysco.

“I’m proud of the Recovery Rooms’ POS system, putting all the pieces together properly and seeing it all work, seeing the benefits our POS system delivers, brings a lot of satisfaction” Steve Fereday of Team Howard