PAR CEO sets sights on company’s future

NEW HARTFORD — PAR Technology Corporation’s recent news that it was selling the two subsidiaries that make up its government operating segment marks the end of an era at the business, which got its start as a government contractor. But more than that, it shows the evolution of a company that just years ago was on the brink of bankruptcy. When Savneet Singh took the helm as CEO and president of PAR Technology in April 2019, he had served on the firm’s board for less than a year. Just a day or two into the job, the company’s CFO told him bankruptcy was imminent. Things were bleak, Singh says, and he took on the leadership role solely with the intent to shore up the company enough to sell it. “Unfortunately, there was nobody that wanted to buy it,” he tells CNYBJ in an interview. “We had started to grow as a software business,” Singh says. However, about 95 percent of the company’s revenue was still coming from legacy hardware products. Those products primarily were hardware point-of-sale (POS) systems, with McDonald’s being PAR’s largest customer. Those POS systems are still deployed in about 30 to 40 percent of McDonald’s locations. Singh, a Cornell graduate that grew up near Albany, had spent time working on Wall Street, had started his own financial technology company, and was running an investment firm before he joined PAR. While he originally thought to sell the company, something changed along the way. With financial experience and a technology background, Singh explains that he looked at PAR with a different perspective than others had. “By having no background in restaurants or the company, we were able to question things,” he says. “Disruption comes from people who don’t have the baggage.” With other POS products like Square and Toast popping up, he felt PAR’s future was rooted in software and not in the legacy hardware product. Bit by bit, PAR’s focus has shifted over the past five years away from the legacy hardware toward software, right at a time when software has become more important than ever to the restaurant industry. Five or six years ago, the average restaurant needed about four to six pieces of software to run. Today, that number is closer to 15 or 20, Singh says, for everything from in-house POS, mobile and online ordering, delivery options like DoorDash and Uber Eats, back-office operations, and customer loyalty programs. “They’ve kind of plugged it all into their POS and hope it worked,” Singh says. PAR hopes to take the lead in providing restaurant operators with a suite of products to meet all their needs. Today, PAR loyalty-program products are used at 45 of the nation’s top 100 restaurants, and sales of its Brink POS system has seen 40 percent year-over-year growth, Singh says. PAR continues to sell hardware, too, and altogether, more than 95,000 restaurant locations in over 100 countries use PAR products. The company has turned the corner far enough that it was time to streamline things and double-down on its focus on the restaurant industry, Singh says. “This was almost an emotional one,” he notes of the sale of PAR Government Systems Corporation (PGSC) to Booz Allen Hamilton, Inc., and the pending sale of Rome Research Corporation to NexTech Solutions Holdings, LLC, in a set of deals valued at $102 million. PAR’s 400 employees at both companies have or will transition their jobs to the new owners. The company’s stock (NYSE: PAR) reacted favorably to the news, closing at $45.57 on June 10 after PAR announced the deals. That was up more than 6 percent from the previous day. Analysts are feeling bullish about PAR as well. Texas–based Voss Capital noted in a May 24 letter to partners, “The market especially loves tech stocks that go from unprofitable to profitable, which we believe PAR will demonstrate on a sustainable basis within the next two quarters.” The letter went on to indicate the sale of the government business was just one of “several tangible catalysts” on the horizon that bode well for PAR. “Oh, we’re just getting started,” Singh says of the company’s future. “Absolutely, you’ll see us grow.” Headquartered in New Hartford, PAR has about 1,400 employees with additional locations in Houston, Texas; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.; and Toronto, Canada. PAR also has a technology hub in India. The company develops and markets restaurant hardware, software, loyalty, drive-thru, and back-office solutions.