What Heard does

Heard is a privately held hospitality technology company headquartered in Port Saint Lucie, Florida, founded by operators who opened their first hospitality business in 2008 and launched the unified software platform in 2020 after struggling to integrate four disparate POS systems across their restaurant and entertainment brands. The company's core product is a cloud-based, all-in-one hospitality management ecosystem that consolidates point of sale, mobile ordering, hardware, payment processing, inventory management, loyalty and rewards, gift cards, reservations, employee scheduling with instant tip-out payments, multi-location manager analytics, and white-label custom branded apps — explicitly eliminating the need for third-party integrations such as Paytronix, Ziosk, and OpenTable.

The platform is delivered through three primary go-to-market motions: a free, commission-free customer-facing Heard App with self-serve onboarding targeting SMB restaurants (product-led growth); an enterprise field-sales motion converting demo requests into quote-based annual subscriptions for mid-market and chain operators; and direct hardware sales bundled with the software stack. Revenue is generated through subscription/recurring platform fees, transaction fees on integrated payment processing, and hardware sales. The company targets three verticals — restaurants (primary), golf courses and country clubs, and entertainment venues — with the golf vertical anchored by a strategic co-ownership with Tiger Woods via TWS Holdings / Heard Holdings, following a $10 million equity funding round in September 2021 that valued the company at $100 million post-money.

Heard operates as Heard LLC (Florida), employs 101-250 people, is GDPR compliant (privacy policy last updated May 2020), and is led by founder Christopher J. Langbein. The company has not publicly disclosed revenue, ARR, or customer counts, and its named customer logos on the company website are anonymized ("industry leaders"), making the customer base composition difficult to assess precisely.

Name

Heard

Legal name

Heard LLC

Website

https://tryheard.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2008

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Heard is a Florida-based hospitality software company offering an all-in-one cloud platform combining point of sale, mobile ordering, payment processing, inventory, loyalty, and employee management for restaurants, golf courses, and entertainment venues, with a free consumer app and enterprise subscriptions.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Hospitality Management Software

NAICS

Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (518), Full-Service Restaurants (722511)

SIC

Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370), Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)

akta.pro primary industry

Meeting & Event Program Technology (Registration, Apps, Badging) (THACAFAB)

Keywords

• Hospitality management software
• Restaurant point of sale
• Cloud-based POS platform
• Integrated payment processing
• Restaurant mobile ordering

Headquarters

HQ city

Port Saint Lucie

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Platform and Software Services: Unified hospitality management platform combining POS, hardware, software, and payment processing. Revenue derived from platform fees for restaurant operators accessing the complete ecosystem
2. Payment Processing: Integrated payment processing services for restaurant transactions, eliminating the need for third-party payment providers
3. Hardware Sales: Sale of physical POS hardware and equipment to restaurant operators

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

Heard provides a cloud-based unified hospitality management platform that combines point of sale, proprietary hardware, software, and integrated payment processing into a single ecosystem for restaurants, golf courses, and entertainment venues. The offering includes a free commission-free customer-facing restaurant app, an employee app for scheduling and instant tip payouts, a manager app for real-time multi-location analytics, smart inventory forecasting, loyalty and rewards programs, and a white-label custom branded app builder, all designed to eliminate the need for third-party integrations.

Product overview

Heard is a unified hospitality management platform combining point of sale, hardware, software, and payment processing into a single ecosystem. The platform includes the core Heard Point of Sale system, the customer-facing Heard App for ordering and reservations, an Employee App for scheduling and instant payments, a Manager App for real-time operations monitoring, a Custom App for white-label branded experiences, and Real Time Analytics for business intelligence. The platform targets restaurants, golf courses, and entertainment venues, eliminating the need for third-party integrations.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Heard Point of Sale End-to-end point of sale platform combining POS, hardware, software, and payment processing with built-in inventory management, loyalty and rewards, physical and e-gift cards, reservation booking, and real-time customer reviews. Designed for restaurant, golf, and entertainment venue operators.
• Heard App Free restaurant mobile app and website enabling customers to order in-restaurant or for takeout, set up delivery, curbside pickup, and self-serve ordering without commission fees. Integrates directly with the Heard's POS and prints orders to the kitchen.
• Employee App Mobile application enabling restaurant employees to view and request changes to their daily schedule, track hours worked and tips earned in real time, and receive instant credit card tip-out payments directly from the employer when their shift ends.
• Manager App Real-time management dashboard mobile application enabling operators to track daily sales, product mix, payroll, employee hours, inventory levels, and financial analytics, with multi-location visibility across all restaurant or venue locations.
• Custom App White-label mobile app solution allowing restaurants and hospitality operators to create a fully customized branded app, collect customer data, track spending habits and favorite items, and engage customers through instant push notifications, promotions, and coupons.
• Real Time Analytics Real-time analytics dashboard providing sales tracking, product mix analysis, payroll monitoring, and financial reporting with comparison to budget metrics for restaurant and hospitality operators.

Quantifiable outcome

• Eliminated need for multiple third-party integrations across POS systems
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature7 records

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Toast: Toast is the leading cloud-based restaurant POS platform in the US, combining point of sale, payments, payroll, and digital ordering. Direct competitor to Heard with overlapping restaurant customer base, similar all-in-one platform positioning, and identical SaaS-plus-payment-processing revenue model.
• TouchBistro: TouchBistro is a restaurant-specific POS and management platform serving SMB and mid-market restaurants with ordering, payments, reservations, and loyalty. Direct competitor to Heard in the SMB restaurant POS category with comparable feature breadth.
• Lightspeed Restaurant: Lightspeed Restaurant is a cloud POS solution for full-service and quick-service restaurants with integrated payments, inventory, and reporting. Direct competitor targeting the same SMB/mid-market restaurant segment as Heard.
• SpotOn: SpotOn is a restaurant and hospitality POS and payments platform offering integrated software, hardware, and marketing tools. Direct competitor to Heard in SMB restaurant POS with similar unified-ecosystem positioning and aggressive SMB pricing.
• OpenTable: OpenTable is the dominant restaurant reservation and guest management platform. Heard explicitly positions itself as displacing OpenTable by integrating reservations into the unified POS ecosystem; comparable restaurant-tech category with overlapping operator buyer.
• Paytronix: Paytronix is a restaurant loyalty, gift card, and digital engagement platform serving chains and SMBs. Heard explicitly names Paytronix as a third-party integration it replaces, making it a direct competitor in the loyalty/rewards layer of the restaurant stack.
• SevenRooms: SevenRooms is a restaurant CRM, reservations, marketing, and guest experience platform serving hospitality operators. Comparable to Heard in the reservations/loyalty/customer-data layer and competing for the same restaurant-tech wallet share.

Broad incumbents

• Square for Restaurants: Square (Block) offers a restaurant-focused POS built on its broader payments platform, serving SMBs globally with low-cost hardware and integrated payments. Larger incumbent with overlapping restaurant customer base and significantly greater scale than Heard.
• Clover: Clover is a POS and business management platform owned by Fiserv serving restaurants and other SMBs with hardware, software, and payments. Broad incumbent in restaurant POS competing with Heard primarily through SMB hardware-plus-software bundles and Fiserv's payments reach.
• NCR Aloha: NCR Aloha is a long-standing restaurant POS platform serving enterprise and multi-unit restaurant chains with ordering, kitchen, and back-office functionality. Broad incumbent in the same restaurant POS category as Heard, focused on larger chains.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/tryheardpos
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/tryheard

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Heard