What started as a single station wagon and a stack of cash registers has grown into a trusted name in Payment Processing and smart POS systems.
Here are a few milestones that shaped who we are today.
Mike and Mary Cowan decide to open Cowan’s Retail System. The electronic cash register is taking the business world by storm, and customers across the Intermountain West are clamoring for this exciting technology. The business moves into its first brick-and-mortar location in South Salt Lake. This is also the year that one of the current owners was born.
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After his father's passing, Jason Cowan moves into ownership of the company. While cash registers remain a central business line, MICROS is the new “it” thing and is rapidly expanding into the hospitality industry.
The company now concentrates almost entirely on hospitality, prompting a rebrand to Cowans Restaurant Solutions. This transition clarifies the operational focus, with MICROS as the top product and new offerings like Dinerware introduced.
After Randy Gunter moves into ownership of the company, he and Jason rebrand it as Spark Solutions Group. Spark then branches out, opening offices in Spokane, WA, and Boise, ID, and adds merchant processing to its service catalog.
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Mergers and acquisitions have significantly changed the payments and point-of-sale ecosystem (Heartland has acquired Dinerware and MobileBytes, while Oracle has acquired MICROS). Credit card processors have been bought, sold, merged, and split. Additionally, COVID has transformed the hospitality industry, shifting dine-in to DoorDash, GrubHub, and Uber Eats.
In response to these changes—which have led to greater market complexity and evolving customer needs—Spark has decided to bring all satellite offices back to Salt Lake City. This move aims to better centralize operations and strengthen the customer experience.
Today, Spark is a trusted leader in POS and payments. Jason and Randy continue to lead the organization with innovative products such as Hyfin, Genius, and Square. The company remains committed to offering great products and exceptional service.
Over 50 years of service have built long-lasting customer relationships, and Spark looks forward to continued growth.
Our staff brings hands-on restaurant, payments, and POS expertise built over decades — so we speak your language from day one.
We're not a call-center. You get a dedicated local team that knows your business by name — and answers the phone when you need us.
From electronic cash registers in 1974 to today's cloud POS, we continuously evolve so your business stays ahead of the curve.
