Influencing Change for Our Customers
2022 is shaping up to be another year of great change in restaurant and retail technology. Before the year gets too far in front of us, we thought it’d be a good idea to wrap up what 2021 has meant for PAR Technology.
2021 was a year of immense challenge. Overnight, we learned that the world’s supply chain issues were not going to skip over us, we were taught how to deal with the constant ups and downs of COVID, and we discovered that the path to success is always under construction.
There are many ways that path to success manifested itself. We acquired Punchh and their industry-leading guest loyalty platform which systematically spurred several changes, including the beginning of a rebranding effort and the welcoming of Punchh leadership to the PAR family.
Speaking of Punchh, they led an amazing fundraising effort in 2021 to assist with the COVID situation in India, in addition to expanding their Women in Tech (WIT) initiative across the organization. We’re certainly lucky to have partnered with such a caring and kind group.
In the meantime, we added 14 incredible integration partners to the Brink POS ecosystem, bringing the grand total above 200! We love giving our customers the power of choice when designing their restaurant systems, so this was a special milestone for us.
As an organization we also sought improvements in our products, in our operational focus, and in our desire to staff with top talent in the industry. 2021 was a strong hiring year, and we welcomed nearly 300 new employees to the organization. We also continued to innovate our product lines, introducing new POS terminals like PAR Phase and PAR Helix.
Data Central continued to grow into its role as the industry’s marquee restaurant back-office management platform. 2021 saw the introduction of a new scan assist feature for paperless invoices, as well as improvements to SSO and enhancements to its web application.
Events were getting back up to speed until Omicron showed up to slow things back down. However, it was great to be able to (safely) get back into the swing of in-person events by attending industry events like FSTEC, The Restaurant Leadership Conference, and NACS, just to name a few. We also attended numerous customer events, and hosted our own events like the PARtner Summit and sPARk User Conference.
Always Adapting
Let’s be honest, 2021 was not what anyone hoped or predicted it would be, and 2022 is already off to a rocky start. Untold challenges lie ahead. But amid the turbulent flow, PAR is adapting and growing in ways that will serve our customers now and well after a full return to normalcy. Our path won’t be a straight shot – at times, it may feel like we’re going backwards and there will be moments where it’ll seem like we’re running at lightspeed, but it will move forward. To put it in words that my father said to me recently, “I can’t yet tell exactly what my grandchildren are going to be, but I’m starting to see their footprints in the snow.”
Here’s wishing everyone a safe and healthy 2022.
Best,
Savneet
