What does The Howard Company do?

The Howard Company is a storefront systems integrator founded in 1950. Howard designs, manufactures, brands, and project-manages the complete customer-facing environment for multi-location brands. That includes digital and static menu boards, weatherized drive-thru structures, canopies, clearance bars, speaker posts, audio and headset communications, interior and exterior branding, printed graphics, self-ordering kiosks, Voice AI integrations, proprietary order-confirmation software (OCS/WebOCS), content management services, menu engineering, site surveys, and managed installation. Everything is delivered under one contract with one project manager. Howard serves restaurants, convenience stores, banks and credit unions, grocery stores, and dispensaries.

Does The Howard Company only do digital menu boards?

No. Digital menu boards are one part of what The Howard Company delivers. Howard also manufactures drive-thru structures, canopies, clearance bars, and speaker posts in-house; provides audio and headset communication systems; designs and produces interior and exterior branding and printed graphics; builds self-ordering kiosks; develops proprietary order-confirmation software and Voice AI integrations; manages content on digital displays; and handles site surveys and full installation. The full storefront is designed, sourced, and installed under one contract.

Does The Howard Company make its own drive-thru structures?

Yes. The Howard Company designs and manufactures weatherized drive-thru and drive-up structures in-house, including canopies, clearance bars, and speaker posts built to withstand outdoor conditions. Howard also integrates audio and headset communications into these structures. This is a core differentiator: unlike technology-only vendors, Howard delivers a complete, installed physical environment.

Does The Howard Company do branding and printed graphics?

Yes. The Howard Company has an in-house print shop and design team that handles full interior and exterior branding and merchandising. This includes printed graphics, window graphics, menu board surrounds, and branded environmental elements. Branding is coordinated alongside digital displays and drive-thru hardware so the entire storefront is visually consistent.

What is the difference between The Howard Company and Stratacache?

Stratacache is a proprietary digital-signage technology platform: it sells hardware, software (ActiVia CMS), sensor analytics, and AI-driven personalization as an integrated stack across retail, banking, QSR, and other industries. The Howard Company is a storefront systems integrator: it takes responsibility for the complete customer-facing environment, including digital and static displays, drive-thru structures, branding, printed graphics, and installation, under one contract with one project manager. Howard is software-agnostic and display-agnostic, matching the right technology to each brand. Stratacache sells a proprietary platform you adopt and operate.

ActiVia is Stratacache's proprietary content management system for digital signage. It includes an in-house AI engine and sensor analytics, and is sold as part of Stratacache's integrated hardware-and-software stack. Brands adopting ActiVia are tied to Stratacache's platform roadmap for both software and hardware.

Is The Howard Company only for quick-service restaurants?

No. While The Howard Company has deep roots in QSR and fast-casual restaurants, it serves multi-location brands across several verticals. Howard installs digital and static menu boards and drive-up systems for banks and credit unions, provides digital signage and interior branding for convenience stores, serves grocery retailers with digital display programs, and builds menu board environments for dispensaries. The core model is the same across verticals: one partner, one contract, one project manager for the complete customer-facing environment.

The Howard Company vs. Stratacache: Digital Signage & Drive-Thru Comparison

Q: Does The Howard Company have its own software?

Yes. The Howard Company builds proprietary software where it counts most: the OCS/WebOCS Order Confirmation System for drive-thru, which integrates with major POS platforms and AI voice-ordering tools so guests can see and correct their order before it is made. For digital signage content management, Howard is software-agnostic and matches brands to best-fit platforms including Navori, NanoNation, and Neon based on POS, customization needs, and how hands-on the customer team wants to be. This flexibility means if a brand changes POS or CMS direction later, Howard can adapt the software layer without replacing hardware.

Q: Does The Howard Company work with both large and small chains?

Yes. The Howard Company runs digital and static menu board and drive-thru programs for national multi-location brands including Scooter's, El Pollo Loco, PJ's Coffee of New Orleans, Slim Chickens on Navori, and Charley's Cheesesteak on NanoNation. Howard also serves regional chains and community banks such as Peoples Bank and Trust, where Howard rolled out new drive-up signage simultaneously at 13 locations. Multi-location rollouts are core to the business: site surveys, permitting-ready engineered structures, scheduled installation waves, and centralized content management across every store, all managed by one project manager under one contract.

Q: Does The Howard Company offer more than hardware?

Yes. The Howard Company describes itself as a systems integrator, not a hardware shop. Howard provides a consultative approach to defining the right solution, then single-point responsibility for delivering a working system. That includes graphic design, menu engineering with heat-mapping and gaze-sequence analysis, content management services, proprietary order-confirmation software, interior design, Voice AI integrations, audio and headset communications, product development, self-ordering kiosks, printed branding with an in-house print shop, and managed installation. The difference from a vendor like Stratacache is that Stratacache sells a technology platform you operate, while Howard delivers a complete working storefront you do not have to assemble from multiple vendors.

The Howard Company and Stratacache both serve restaurants and other multi-location brands but they're built very differently. Stratacache is a global digital-display and retail-media technology company; The Howard Company is a storefront specialist for restaurants, convenience stores, banks and credit unions, grocery stores, and dispensaries, designing, branding, and project-managing the entire customer-facing environment.

Looking for other comparisons? See how Howard stacks up against Palmer and WAND Digital as well.

	The Howard Company	Stratacache
Core model	Storefront systems integrator: single-point responsibility for a working system: hardware, software, branding & install	Proprietary digital-signage technology stack across retail, banking, QSR & more
Digital signage software	Software-agnostic : best-fit CMS for your needs (Navori, Neon, NanoNation), plus proprietary OCS for the drive-thru	Single proprietary platform (ActiVia CMS) with in-house AI engine
Vendor lock-in	No. Technology fit to your needs	Yes: hardware, software & analytics tied to one stack
Display hardware	Display-agnostic: best-fit commercial displays from LG & Samsung, matched to each application	Displays sold as part of the proprietary stack
Drive-thru & outdoor	Digital drive-thru with weatherized enclosures, canopies, clearance bars & speaker posts manufactured in-house; audio & headset communications integrated	Ruggedized outdoor digital displays; no canopies, clearance bars, or speaker posts
Branding & interior	Full interior/exterior branding & merchandising	Window graphics & design services; no in-house print shop, interior décor, or graphic fulfillment
Project management & install	One contract & one project manager. Howard hires and manages the install contractors, concept to install	Professional services & support organization; enterprise deployment model
Best fit for	Brands wanting one partner for the whole storefront, hybrid digital/static, and multi-unit rollouts	Global mega-chains standardizing on one proprietary stack across thousands of locations, with in-house IT to manage it

When The Howard Company is the better fit

You want one accountable partner that has the expertise and the bandwidth to do it all, software, displays, drive-thru, branding, and installation.
You're rolling out across many locations and need consistent project management and durable, weatherized hardware.
You want flexibility with proven enterprise software without being locked into a single vendor's roadmap.
You run a hybrid environment (some digital, some static) and want it all designed to match your brand.

Does The Howard Company have its own software?

Being software-agnostic is the strategy, not a gap. Instead of welding every customer to one platform, Howard matches the right content-management system to your POS, your customization needs, and how hands-on your team wants to be, choosing from proven platforms like Navori, NanoNation, and Neon. And where it matters most in the drive-thru, Howard does build proprietary software: our OCS/WebOCS Order Confirmation System, which integrates with major POS platforms and with Voice AI ordering tools so guests can see, and correct, their order before it's made.

There's a practical upside a single-stack vendor can't offer: if your brand changes POS or CMS direction down the road, Howard adapts the software layer without ripping out your screens and structures. With a proprietary stack, leaving the software often means leaving the hardware investment behind too.

See how we match Navori, Nanonation, or Neon to your POS and team

Does The Howard Company work with both large and small chains?

The Howard Company runs digital and static menu board and drive-thru programs for national, multi-unit brands including Scooter's, El Pollo Loco, PJ's Coffee of New Orleans and Slim Chickens on Navori, and Charley's Cheesesteak on NanoNation.

Multi-location rollouts are core to the business: site surveys, permitting-ready engineered structures, scheduled installation waves, and centralized content management across every store. And the same model serves brands beyond foodservice, convenience stores, bank and credit union drive-up lanes, grocery stores, and dispensaries.

Most recently, Howard reimagined the drive-thru experience for Peoples Bank & Trust, rolling out signage simultaneously at 13 locations.

See how our products led directly to ROI increases - read our case studies

Does The Howard Company offer more than hardware?

Howard is more that a hardware shop, we see ourselves as a systems integrator: a consultative approach to defining the right solution, then single-point responsibility for delivering a working system, graphic design and menu engineering (including heat-mapping and gaze-sequence analysis), content management services, proprietary order-confirmation software, interior design, Voice AI integrations, audio and headset communications, product development, self-ordering kiosks, printed branding with an in-house print shop, and managed installation.

The difference isn't enterprise vs. small, it's that Stratacache sells a technology platform you operate, while Howard delivers a complete working storefront you don't have to assemble from multiple vendors.

A 100% employee-owned manufacturer founded in 1950, Howard has spent 75 years connecting brands with their customers in foodservice, convenience, financial services, grocery, and emerging retail.

Choosing a Digital Signage & Drive-Thru Partner:

The Howard Company vs Stratacache

The Howard Company vs Stratacache: Choosing a Digital Signage & Drive-Thru Partner

The Short Version

Stratacache