The Howard Company Inc

Name

The Howard Company Inc

Legal name

The Howard Company, Inc.

Website

https://howardcompany.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1950

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Brookfield

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Hardware Sales: Sale of physical products including drive-thru menu boards (Drive-Thru Choice, Drive-Thru Flex, Drive-Thru Eco), digital displays, kiosks, drive-thru accessories (speaker posts, headsets, presell boards, canopies, clearance bars), indoor menu boards, exterior signs, and interior decor. Products can be purchased through webstore or direct sales.
2. Software Subscriptions: Digital signage software sold as subscriptions with automatic renewal at end of term. Subscription terms indicated in ordering documents. Payment obligations non-cancellable during subscription term.
3. Professional Services: Design services, content management services, installation services, rollouts and site surveys. Content management billed at agreed-upon rates with professional services hours logged in 15-minute increments.
4. Support and Training: Technical support services and training programs. Support includes answering questions about service, features, hardware, troubleshooting. Training courses available with cancellation policies.
5. Graphic Design and Content Creation: Custom design services for graphics and content, including artwork release fees for transferring ownership of creative files.
6. Annual Maintenance and Hosting: Annual maintenance agreements required for support access, covering digital technical support services.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels14 records

Core offering

The Howard Company designs, manufactures, and installs drive-thru menu boards (Flex, Choice, and Eco models), indoor digital menu boards, self-ordering kiosks, and outdoor digital signage for multi-location businesses. Its offering combines commercial-grade hardware with a proprietary content management system, POS integration, dayparting, and full-service capabilities including graphic design, installation, rollouts, and ongoing monitoring.

Product overview

The Howard Company is a provider of drive-thru systems, digital signage, and menu board solutions for restaurants, convenience stores, and other retail environments. The product portfolio centers on two core hardware lines — drive-thru menu boards (Drive-Thru Flex, Drive-Thru Choice, and Drive-Thru Eco) and indoor/outdoor digital displays — supported by a proprietary content management system (Digital Content Manager), digital media players, order confirmation systems, self-ordering kiosks (aservio), and drive-thru accessories (presell boards, canopies, speaker posts, headset systems, directional signs). These hardware products are complemented by a suite of services: graphic design and content management, installation, site surveys, multi-location rollouts, and active monitoring. The ecosystem is designed for unified management of static and digital menu content across single or franchise-chain locations, with POS integration for automatic pricing and availability updates.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Drive-Thru Flex Digital Menu Board A hybrid drive-thru menu board configurable as full static/print, digital hybrid, or full digital, allowing printed graphic panels and digital displays to be swapped out on-site while the drive-thru remains open. Targeted at multi-location restaurant, convenience store, bank, and dispensary operators.
• Drive-Thru Choice Menu Board A static, printed-graphics drive-thru menu board with selectable color and panel layout options to fit brand requirements. Targeted at multi-location operators seeking a non-digital drive-thru menu solution.
• Drive-Thru Eco Menu Board A full-digital drive-thru menu board positioned as a more cost-effective digital option than the Drive-Thru Flex, without the hybrid static/digital flexibility. Targeted at operators standardizing on digital drive-thru menus.
• Indoor Digital Menu Boards Indoor digital menu board systems with flexible screen configurations, wireless and connected content delivery, and optional expert design services for content creation. Targeted at restaurants, convenience stores, banks, grocery, and dispensary operators.
• aservio Self-Ordering Kiosk Self-ordering indoor kiosk allowing customers to place orders directly at a digital terminal, reducing counter labor and enabling upsell. Targeted at restaurant and quick-service operators.
• Indoor Menu Boards Indoor menu board products spanning digital displays, magnetic menu boards, and illuminated menu boards in customizable styles to highlight a brand's products and services. Targeted at restaurants and retail food operators.
• Exterior Signs Exterior signage products including building signs, directional signs, stall parking signs, poster frames, and sidewalk boards, fully customizable to brand specifications. Targeted at multi-location businesses across industries served.
• Drive-Thru Accessories Supporting equipment for drive-thru operations including canopies, clearance bars, brand boosters, directional signs, speaker posts, headset systems, and curbside pickup signage. Targeted at operators building out or refurbishing drive-thru lanes.
• Order Confirmation Systems Digital screens that display customer orders in the drive-thru lane as part of an integrated digital drive-thru ecosystem, reducing order errors and pickup friction. Targeted at quick-service and fast-casual operators with drive-thru lanes.
• Square for Drive-Thru An end-to-end integrated drive-thru solution for quick-service restaurants combining The Howard Company's digital menu boards and order confirmation technology with Square's POS and kitchen display systems, developed in partnership with Nanonation. Targeted at QSR operators seeking a unified order-capture, kitchen-prep, and customer-handoff workflow.
• Graphic Design and Content Management Services Design services, content management, and digital support/template creation for digital signage content, including content updates, graphic design, and rollouts across multiple locations, billed at agreed-upon rates in 15-minute increments. Targeted at operators lacking in-house creative resources.
• Installation Services Full installation services for drive-thru equipment, digital displays, and signage, including site surveys, permitting guidance, and a nationwide network of certified installers. Targeted at multi-location operators standardizing rollout execution.
• Rollouts and Site Surveys

Quantifiable outcome

• 3-5% increase in sales from well-designed digital menu boards
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers23 records

Segments7 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

Feature21 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered flagship, core and minor.

• Square (Block, Inc.)flagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 11 May 2026Square partnered with The Howard Company and Nanonation to develop 'Square for Drive-Thru,' an end-to-end integrated solution for quick-service restaurants. The solution combines Square's point-of-sale and kitchen display systems with The Howard Company's digital menu boards and order confirmation technology. This partnership enables QSR operators to connect order capture, kitchen operations, and customer handoff into a single streamlined workflow. Currently available through Early Access Program with broader availability planned for summer 2026.
• NanonationflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 11 May 2026Nanonation partnered with The Howard Company and Square (Block, Inc.) to develop 'Square for Drive-Thru,' combining their order confirmation technology with Square's POS/kitchen display systems and The Howard Company's digital menu boards.
• MENU TechnologiescoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 18 February 2021Partnership announced in February 2021 webinar 'Integrated Restaurant Ecosystems as an Engine to Accelerate Sales Growth.' The Howard Company collaborated with MENU Technologies to help restaurants increase revenue while indoor operations were limited, integrating digital signage with MENU's restaurant technology ecosystem.
• Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs)coreTechnology or IntegrationThe Howard Company sources commercial-grade digital displays from manufacturers including LG and Samsung. These displays are used in The Howard Company's digital menu board and drive-thru solutions, with enclosures engineered to meet manufacturer environmental specifications.
• SYNERGY Restaurant ConsultantsminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSYNERGY Restaurant Consultants experts (Anne Haerle and Danny Bendas) collaborated with The Howard Company's Grant Gustke and Rod Humphrey on a September 2020 webinar about restaurant interior design and maximizing revenue site-wide.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Nanonation: Nanonation is an interactive digital display provider for restaurants, retail, and financial institutions, specializing in drive-thru order confirmation and kiosk experiences. It is both a direct competitor and a co-development partner with The Howard Company on the Square for Drive-Thru solution.
• BrightSign: BrightSign manufactures digital signage media players and offers a cloud-based CMS, serving retail, QSR, and corporate customers worldwide. It directly competes with The Howard Company's digital media player and content management software stack at the component/integrator level.
• Mood Media (formerly Stratacache): Mood Media, which acquired Stratacache/Scala, delivers end-to-end digital signage, in-store media, and customer experience solutions to retail and QSR chains globally. It competes with The Howard Company across hardware, software, and managed services for multi-location enterprises.
• Scala (Stratacache): Scala, now part of Stratacache/Mood Media, is a long-standing digital signage software platform serving retail, QSR, and banking. It overlaps directly with The Howard Company's proprietary CMS and POS-integrated content management capabilities.
• MENU Technologies: MENU Technologies provides restaurant technology including digital ordering, menu, and kitchen display systems. It is a 2021 strategic co-development partner of The Howard Company and a peer in restaurant-facing digital menu and signage ecosystems.
• SpinetiX: SpinetiX produces digital signage media players (HMP) and the Elementi CMS for retail, corporate, and QSR applications. It competes with The Howard Company's media player + CMS offering as a software/hardware stack provider.

Broad incumbents

• Samsung Electronics (Commercial Display / VXT): Samsung's commercial display division and VXT CMS platform sell integrated digital signage solutions directly to QSR and retail chains. As a display OEM and emerging software player, Samsung competes broadly with The Howard Company across hardware and content management.
• LG Electronics (Commercial Displays / SuperSign): LG supplies commercial-grade digital displays (including the webOS-based SuperSign CMS) used in QSR, retail, and banking signage. The Howard Company sources LG panels as an OEM supplier, but LG also competes as a bundled hardware-plus-software incumbent.
• NCR Voyix: NCR Voyix is a restaurant and retail technology platform providing POS, kitchen display, and integrated digital signage. It competes with The Howard Company's drive-thru and menu board solutions as part of a broader enterprise restaurant tech portfolio.

Emerging players

• Broadsign: Broadsign provides a cloud-based digital signage CMS primarily focused on DOOH and retail networks. While not heavily concentrated in QSR, it competes with The Howard Company's CMS layer in multi-location digital signage deployments.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/thehowardco
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCP6Fq3IHG2qPq6TfvVwxwCg
• Facebookfacebook.com/the-howard-company-121803957877350
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/the-howard-company
• Instagraminstagram.com/thehowardcompany

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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 The Howard Company Inc