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.

Arizona summers don't just test your staff — they test your equipment. Headset batteries that seemed fine in March may not survive a July lunch rush. Outdoor components bake in triple-digit heat. And most of the drive-thru failures I see in summer were completely preventable. Here's your pre-summer checklist — go through it before June 1st.

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.