Merger & Acquisition

Heartland Acquires Digital Dining

On Oct 30, 2015

Princeton-based Heartland Payment Systems, one of the nation’s largest payment processors, today announced it has acquired privately held Digital Dining, a provider of restaurant point-of-sale (POS) and management systems throughout the United States. The acquisition allows Heartland to help restaurants turn their POS system into a secure commerce center as it collaborates with other operations including payroll, marketing and loyalty programs.

Headquartered in Springfield, Virginia, Digital Dining offers restaurants the convenience of a handheld POS on an iPad, iPhone, iPod and iPad Mini in a hybrid environment with conventional fixed terminals. Digital Dining is also used by restaurateurs for table management, delivery, reservations, labor scheduling, inventory and loyalty programs.

Key Highlights/Facts

  • With this acquisition of Digital Dining, Heartland advances its strategy of growing its commerce segment. Previously, the company acquired pcAmerica and Dinerware in February 2015 and XPIENT Solutions and LiquorPOS in 2014. The company will continue seeking profitable acquisitions to support its strategy.
  • Digital Dining, together with Heartland’s existing POS businesses of pcAmerica, Dinerware, XPIENT Solutions, LiquorPOS and other Heartland solutions, comprise Heartland Commerce. This segment delivers leading-edge, secure POS solutions, payments processing capabilities and other adjacent business service applications, initially serving the hospitality and retail industries.
  • Heartland has more than 100,000 customer locations using its Heartland Commerce software.
  • With more than 130,000 restaurant merchant relationships, Heartland has approximately 18 percent share of the entire restaurant market, including close to 24 percent share of table service restaurants, according to CHD Expert.
  • From payroll to gift cards and loyalty to card processing to POS solutions, Heartland has rapidly expanded its restaurant vertical business, supported by the endorsements of 45 state restaurant associations, the Council of State Restaurants Associations and the National Restaurant Association.
  • Heartland will substantially retain all Digital Dining employees and they will join the Heartland Commerce business group.
  • Menusoft, Digital Dining’s first product, was introduced in the U.S. in 1984. The first Digital Dining POS system was installed that same year at a Washington D.C. tavern with three workstations.