About us!
“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.
Bob Howard,
President
