Restaurant POS and Security Upgrade

Hughes recently upgraded the network of a large quick service restaurant chain, adding additional switches, integrating new payment terminals, and improving security. This popular drive-in restaurant decided the time was right to make these changes as part of a broader modernization effort. This effort included point of sale updates and changes required to meet updated PCI compliance standards. 

Given our long relationship as this customer's network partner, they came to us to help deliver this critical and complex effort. Their team told us, “You know us, you know our restaurants, and we need someone who can begin work immediately. We have a strict timeline because of the compliance change, so we have to start fast, deliver efficiently, and get it right the first time.” From both a networking and security perspective, updating a point of sale system and it’s payment terminals is a complex task because it involves working within an intricate web of communication, dealing with customer and payment information. This is exactly the type of environment that attracts bad actors looking to exploit under-protected systems.

Normally, this type of job would require an engineer at each franchise location for several hours. In an effort to save time and money. the customer asked Hughes to design a system that could be updated remotely and installed by local restaurant employees instead of an engineer. 

When it comes to restaurant chains, you have to think about it like thousands of small businesses. Interrupting a franchisee, even for a few hours, has a big impact on that site, causing the restaurant to close, losing customers, and losing sales. It was really important that we come up with the solution that kept the day-to-day as normal as possible for the individual sites while we work. Not only did we come up with an automated way to perform the updates, but we also staffed up an overnight engineering team. This allowed Hughes to perform the installations and updates when the restaurants were closed so the business would not be affected. 

This significantly reduced the time required to upgrade each restaurant and created a pathway for Hughes to simplify and automate future updates. 

Our solution saved time, cut costs, and enabled the security our customer needed for future business growth. In fact, our efforts saved the restaurant chain over 2 million dollars. What really hit home for me was knowing we kept money in the pockets of the small business owner. Because Hughes went the extra mile, those franchisees were able to keep their restaurants open to serve their communities, and that feels good.