The food & retail industry has undergone immense modifications and alterations. Technology has added fuel to its fire by making it trendy, accessible and rapid. Owing to the recurring demands of the modern-day population, retail has become one of the largest employers of the world. The thriving growth in the business sector has driven innovation and technology to further elevate its economy. Each and every sector has borne fruits from the advancing digital technology. One only needs to look at the increase in mobile ordering, delivery, and payment to see how technology is affecting restaurants and retail.
PAR Technology Corporation, is an industry leader in systems and service solutions for the hospitality industry. For 40 years, PAR has developed technology solutions for hospitality companies, and today is recognized as the largest supplier of POS systems to the global QSR market, with installations in nearly 100,000 restaurants and more than 110 countries. PAR offers management technology solutions for the full spectrum of restaurant operations, from large chain and independent table service restaurants to international quick service chains. The company’s software is complemented by reliable hardware and is backed by its international service infrastructures. PAR is committed to delivering innovative solutions that optimize the guest experience to all corners of the enterprise. PAR Technology Corporation stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol PAR. It is also a leading provider of technical solutions to the government sector.
Founder & Visionary
Dr. John Sammon, Founder of  PAR Technology Corporation (PTC) established the company in 1968, to provide consulting services to the commercial sector in the areas of digital signal and image processing, while he worked as a research scientist at the Air Force’s Rome Labs. In 1970, Sammon left government service to work full time in the pursuit of innovative applications of digital technology involving the detection and recognition of patterns in complex data streams. Throughout the 1970s, under John’s supervision and steely determination, PAR grew rapidly as a computer applications research firm with 150 employees, of which 35% held PhDs. PAR’s customers included the Department of  Defense (Air Force, Army, and Navy) as well as several intelligence agencies. Recognizing a need in the industry for a reliable, small form factor, stand-alone solution to provide order accuracy and cash accounting, PTC launched the industry’s first Point of Sale (POS) solution. PAR’s first customer was McDonald’s, which recognized the value of its POS design and began a partnership to bring the product to their US restaurants. Over the years, PTC’s POS market continued to expand and flourish and are proud to count industry leaders like Yum! Brands, Subway, Five Guys Burgers & Fries, Jack in the Box, Pita Pit, and many others as customers.
World Class Retail Solutions
PAR provides its restaurant and retail customers with technology to improve internal operations, enhance the customer experience and better manage information. PAR’s primary areas of focus are on POS and food safety systems where they provide a combination of hardware and software services.
- Hardware Services:Â With vast years of hardware design experience, and installation of POS hardware in nearly 100,000 restaurants from terminals, to kitchen systems, to temperature monitoring IoT devices, PAR Technology brings expertise in terms of knowledge and innovation to the industry.
Software Services: PAR provides cloud-based Brink POS® Software, PixelPoint® Software as well as a food safety and checklist management solution, SureCheck®. The Brink POS software offers customers all the advantages of the cloud and eliminates the need to have complicated in store installations. The SureCheck solution helps businesses ensure they are meeting HACCP standards and improves operational efficiencies eliminating paper records of checks performed and corrective actions completed.
Customer Care Services
PAR works tooth and nail to provide its customers with best in class hardware combined with industry leading cloud solutions. This combination allows its customers to focus on the functioning of their business, while PAR takes care of the technology. The hospitality solutions provider company is dedicated in supervising installations, field services, with support teams working hand in hand to assist its customers in configuring and rolling out the systems.
Factors Behind PAR’s Success
The long tradition of supplying technology to the restaurant and retail space over the last 40 years, combined with an aggressive push into new technologies, like cloud and IoT, has allowed PAR to succeed in the retail market. The focus on recognizing and unleashing possibilities for the good of their customers, employees, partners, and its communities, in turn, define their character and further drive to do better. From the starting point, PAR has empowered to imagine what is possible, thereby working hand in hand with its customers and partners to bring it to reality.
Future Challenges
As the restaurant and retail industry is disrupted by technology, the challenge for the PAR team is to stay focused on what is most important to its customers and not to just develop technology for the sake of it.
