Restaurant & Kitchen Technology
POS, kitchen systems, automated dispensing, self-service kiosks, payments, and connected commercial equipment — including systems deployed at national scale for leading restaurant brands.
Principal Engineer · Barrington, IL
I build software that integrates physical systems.
I design and build end-to-end systems that connect software, devices, equipment, sensors, controls, and cloud infrastructure — from mobile applications, embedded systems and edge software to IoT platforms, device management, and operator interfaces. My work spans restaurant technology, autonomous retail and industrial automation, including Point of Sale (POS) systems, connected commercial kitchen equipment, unattended retail machines, self-service kiosks, PLC-controlled equipment, and distributed platforms deployed across thousands of locations.
- 20+ yrsAndroid/Mobile, cloud engineering, edge & embedded
- 7,000+Production locations at scale
- Hardware → CloudEquipment, controls, devices, telemetry & applications
- 4Patents & applications
What I Build
Software for connected machines and real-world operations.
I am most useful on engineering problems that cross traditional boundaries — where software must communicate with, control, monitor, or coordinate physical equipment reliably in production.
Distributed Edge Systems
Resilient on-premise services, real-time messaging, offline-capable workflows, synchronization, APIs, event streaming, and cloud connectivity for systems distributed across physical locations.
Autonomous Retail & Self-Service
Unattended dispensing machines, kiosks, payments, remote provisioning, fleet management, telemetry, transaction tracking, and operational tools for equipment that must work without an employee standing beside it.
Industrial & Machine Automation
PLC integration, equipment control, embedded Linux, sensors and actuators, hardware abstraction, Modbus, MQTT, and software that connects physical equipment to higher-level systems.
AI Work
Applied AI systems and agentic engineering.
I build software that gives AI useful context, reliable interfaces, and a clear path into production workflows. My focus is applied AI engineering: making existing products, SDKs, and operational data genuinely useful to LLM clients.
AI-Extensible Product Platforms
Designed an AI-extensible Android POS and SDK architecture so customers can generate industry-specific UI flows, business logic, and third-party integrations with Claude instead of building every variation by hand.
Operational Data for LLM Clients
Implemented MCP servers that expose machine, telemetry, sales, and inventory data to LLM clients, enabling natural-language operator insights and anomaly diagnosis over live business data.
AI-Augmented Engineering
Use Claude Code, the Anthropic API, and agentic development workflows to structure codebases, documentation, and domain context for dependable AI-assisted development.
Selected Work
Engineering across cloud, edge, and hardware.
Vendistax Autonomous Retail & IoT Platform
Connected equipment platform · Edge to cloud
Architected and implemented a hardware-agnostic platform for managing and monitoring unattended retail dispensing machines. The system bridges physical equipment, edge software, cloud services, and operator tools, supporting remote provisioning, configuration, telemetry, and transaction tracking.
Visit Vendistax →- Built backend services using Node.js/Express, PostgreSQL, pg-boss, and MQTT for device management and real-time operations.
- Built a React provisioning and management application for organizations, locations, machines, configuration, and telemetry.
- Created an Android middleware/SDK for integrating kiosks and unattended devices with the platform.
- Established a hardware abstraction layer supporting Modbus, MQTT, TCP, and USB across diverse equipment.
- Designed the platform around remote observability and fleet operations rather than one-off machine integration.
- Node.js
- React
- PostgreSQL
- pg-boss
- MQTT
- Modbus
- Android SDK
- Apache Superset
wash.pet — Autonomous Equipment & Facility Control
Self-service commercial facility · Buffalo Grove, IL
Founded and built wash.pet under Vendistax as a real commercial deployment where software directly controls physical equipment. I am responsible for the system end-to-end — controls, kiosk software, payments, cloud services, telemetry, and the physical facility systems they operate.
Visit wash.pet →- Built a purpose-built POS/kiosk Android application in Kotlin and Jetpack Compose that integrates payment and automation control.
- Wrote C firmware running on a PLC to control water, soap, and dryer sequencing for reliable unattended operation.
- Designed equipment control panels and translated operational requirements into physical control circuitry.
- Implemented Modbus and MQTT communication between control hardware, kiosk software, and cloud services.
- Built a Node.js backend and PostgreSQL/MQTT/Apache Superset telemetry stack to monitor machine health, usage, and status.
- Integrated EMV payment devices directly into the kiosk and backend transaction workflow.
- Kotlin / Jetpack Compose
- C / PLC Firmware
- Modbus
- MQTT
- Node.js
- PostgreSQL
- EMV Payments
- Industrial Controls
Byte By Yum!™ POS Platform
Principal engineer on a greenfield distributed POS platform deployed to all 7,000+ Taco Bell U.S. restaurants, integrating in-store servers, kiosks, payment devices, kitchen display systems, and order confirmation boards. Owned the Couchbase implementation for in-store clients synchronizing with the server cluster.
- Kotlin
- Couchbase
- GraphQL
- Distributed Edge
Automated Drink Dispensing Machine
Took a proof-of-concept application for an automated drink dispenser (a soda machine that makes and lids drinks automatically) from Yum!'s Red Innovation Lab to a scalable, observable production system with a redesigned UX, deployed for Taco Bell. Later supported the commercialized version at BlueSparq. The GUI is the subject of a design patent application.
- Android
- Embedded
- Equipment Integration
- IoT Telemetry
- MQTT
Byte Edge — KFC Next-Gen Kitchen Platform
Helped design and implement an in-restaurant platform integrating POS, Kitchen Display Systems, predictive demand, and ordering. Designed and benchmarked NATS JetStream for real-time order-event streaming and replay, implemented GraphQL support, and delivered a client-side SDK for other platform consumers.
- Go
- GraphQL
- MongoDB
- NATS JetStream
- TypeScript SDK
Connected Agricultural Equipment
Built Java daemons on embedded Linux to monitor and control tractor equipment, plus Android applications used to discover and configure connected equipment. This work combined embedded software, equipment control, device discovery, and operator-facing tooling.
- Embedded Linux
- Java
- Android
- Equipment Control
- Device Discovery
Commercial Kitchen Equipment Field-Service Platform
Built a mobile application and supporting backend services connecting commercial kitchen operators and service technicians to libraries of technical documentation, ecommerce purchasing and IoT networks using AWS IoT Core, Lambda, Cognito, and DynamoDB.
- AWS IoT Core
- Lambda
- Cognito
- DynamoDB
- Mobile
About
A hardware-to-cloud engineer who still likes building.
I'm a software engineer and technical leader specializing in systems where software interacts with physical equipment. My background spans Android, cloud backends, mobile, embedded Linux, device control, IoT, distributed edge systems, cloud platforms, and user-facing applications.
I've built systems that monitor and control commercial kitchen equipment, automated dispensing machines, self-service kiosks, payment devices, unattended retail systems and agricultural equipment. I tend to work across boundaries that are traditionally owned by separate teams — hardware interfaces, device software, networking, backend services, telemetry, APIs, and user experience — and turn them into cohesive production systems.
My experience ranges from individual machines to distributed platforms running across thousands of physical locations. I have held hands-on principal engineering roles as well as engineering leadership roles, and I am most interested in difficult technical problems where reliability, hardware integration, and production operations matter.
More recently, I founded wash.pet, a self-service dog wash operating under Vendistax. It is a live production business and a working example of the systems I like to build: cloud services, kiosk/POS software, payment device integrations, device communication, monitoring, physical controls, PLC firmware, and operations all working together for real customers. In fact, you can visit the facility and wash your dog! It's located at 1505 West Dundee Rd., Buffalo Grove, IL 60089. Right next to the Burger King!
Quick Facts
- Based in
- Barrington, IL
- Focus
- System integration, automation, Industrial IoT, edge systems, connected equipment
- Domains
- Unattended & autonomous retail, point of sale, restaurant technology, hardware controllers
- Languages
- Kotlin, Java, C, TypeScript, JavaScript, SQL
- Data
- PostgreSQL, Couchbase, DynamoDB
- APIs
- REST, GraphQL
- Real-time
- WebSockets, Server-Sent Events, Webhooks
- Messaging
- NATS, Kafka, RabbitMQ, MQTT
- Education
- B.A. Computer Science, Principia College
- Currently
- Principal Engineer, Vendistax
Career
Experience
-
Principal Engineer, Full Stack & Embedded Systems
Vendistax · Barrington, IL
- Build distributed edge and IoT systems for real-time operations across autonomous retail and connected-equipment environments, leading both product development and enterprise client delivery.
- Delivered a scalable IoT platform for managing and monitoring unattended retail dispensing machines, including remote provisioning, configuration, telemetry, and transaction tracking.
- Built backend services (Node.js/Express, pg-boss, MQTT), a React provisioning and management UI, and an Android middleware/SDK for device integration.
- Established a hardware-agnostic abstraction layer supporting Modbus, MQTT, TCP, and USB across diverse unattended retail hardware.
- Founded and operate wash.pet, a live commercial deployment of Vendistax's kiosk, payment, PLC-control, and equipment-telemetry platform.
-
Engineer, Byte Edge — KFC Next-Gen Kitchen Platform
Yum! Brands / KFC · via Vendistax
- Helped design and implement an in-restaurant edge platform in Go integrating POS, Kitchen Display Systems, predictive demand, and ordering for KFC's next-generation kitchen.
- Designed and benchmarked NATS JetStream for real-time order-event streaming, including event replay when downstream kitchen systems were unavailable.
- Defined, implemented, tested, and delivered a client-side Node/TypeScript SDK for platform consumers.
- Evangelized and implemented GraphQL support for the platform to support domain-specific integrations across teams.
-
Principal Engineer
BlueSparq, a Middleby Company · Cape Coral, FL
- Led the redesign of an Android application for connected food-delivery cabinets, resolving technical debt and performance issues to improve reliability and scalability.
- Supported and expanded an automated soda dispensing machine deployed for Yum! Brands / Taco Bell; the product also received an innovation award at the NRA Show.
- Represented the company at industry trade shows, delivering live demos and advising customers on integration strategy.
-
Principal Engineer
Yum! Brands · Chicago, IL
- Principal engineer on a greenfield distributed POS platform — now known as Byte By Yum!™ — deployed to all 7,000+ Taco Bell U.S. restaurants.
- Integrated in-store servers, kiosks, payment devices, kitchen display screens, and order confirmation boards into a cohesive edge platform.
- Core member of the small team that integrated the POS platform with Yum!'s first Voice-AI-powered drive-thru assistant.
- Go-to engineer for Couchbase architecture and synchronization between in-store clients and the server cluster.
- Productionized an automated drink dispensing machine from proof of concept into a scalable, observable system with enhanced UX — patent pending.
-
VP, Android Mobile Development
GPShopper, a Synchrony Financial Company · Chicago, IL
- Oversaw mobile platform development for eCommerce applications serving national retail and fashion chains including Foot Locker, Tillys, Shoe Carnival, Ardene, and Boohoo.
- Supervised a team of nine programmers, coaching individual developers while remaining hands-on with backend integration work.
-
Android Platform Development · Consultant
Parrish Systems LLC · Barrington, IL
- Improved BMW's Android app to reduce EV drivers' range anxiety, factoring vehicle location, battery level, and traffic into points-of-interest recommendations.
- Led new feature development for REXEL's native Android ecommerce application.
Earlier career — 2006 – 2018
-
Mobile App Lead
Parts Town LLC · Addison, IL
- Built cloud backend and mobile applications for commercial kitchen operators and service technicians using AWS IoT Core, Lambda, Cognito, and DynamoDB.
-
Android Consultant
CNH Industrial · Burr Ridge, IL
- Built Java daemons on embedded Linux to monitor and control tractor equipment, plus Android applications used to discover and configure connected equipment.
-
Senior Android Software Developer
ContextMedia Health LLC · Chicago, IL
- Led Android and Linux software for media players and interactive kiosks; integrated Ruby on Rails services for remote device management.
-
Principal Android and Linux Software Engineer
D2 Technologies · Barrington, IL
- Extended the Google Android SDK with native C/NDK modules delivering VoLTE, RCSe, and RCS communication capabilities.
Technical Breadth
From equipment interfaces to distributed platforms.
Industrial & Edge
- C
- Embedded Linux
- PLC Integration
- Modbus TCP
- MQTT
- TCP/IP
- USB
- Hardware Abstraction
- Equipment Control
Languages & Application Development
- Kotlin
- Java
- Go
- TypeScript
- JavaScript
- SQL
- Android
- Jetpack Compose
- Android NDK
IoT & Distributed Systems
- MQTT
- NATS JetStream
- Kafka
- GraphQL
- REST
- OpenAPI
- Event-Driven Architecture
- Device Provisioning
- Telemetry
Cloud, Data & Infrastructure
- AWS IoT Core
- Lambda
- EC2
- S3
- DynamoDB
- PostgreSQL
- Couchbase
- pg-boss
- MongoDB
- Docker
- Datadog
- Apache Superset
Engineering Workflow
- Unix / Linux
- Git
- VS Code
- JetBrains
- Android Studio
- Systems Architecture
- Technical Leadership
AI Systems & Developer Tooling
- Claude Code
- Anthropic API
- Model Context Protocol
- LLM-Extensible SDK Design
- Agentic Development Workflows
- AI-Readable Architecture
Patents & Applications
- App. 29/958,027 — Display Screen or Portion Thereof With Graphical User Interface for Automated Drink Dispensing Machine
- Patent 9,107,049 — Methods and Systems of Advanced Real-time IP Communication in a Mobile Terminal
- App. 20140079023 — Method of Internet Protocol (IP) to IP Handover
- App. 20090113460 — Systems and Methods for Providing a Generic Interface in a Communications Environment
Get In Touch
Let's build something that has to work in the real world.
Open to Staff / Principal engineering roles and consulting in industrial automation, IoT, connected equipment, autonomous retail, edge computing, and restaurant technology.