The call I dread most isn't the one where a client's system is down. It's the one where they tell me it's been acting up for weeks. Drive-thru systems don't fail without warning — here's what to look for before it becomes an emergency.

A restaurant owner called me after one of his staff dropped a headset in the sink. When I told him replacements run $899, he said: "I need to educate these kids on how much they cost." This post does exactly that.

14 years in the field teaches you things no certification ever could. From a McDonald's group that challenged us to beat a 10-hour install — and we did it in 3.5 — to keeping the right parts on the shelf so a client never waits days for a repair, here's what I've actually learned about this industry and what separates good installers from great ones.