News Briefs

Chris Kung has joined Zaxby's as its new Chief Digital Officer. He will lead the transformation and acceleration of the company's Loyalty and e-Commerce initiatives.  

"Zaxbys rapid expansion requires the investment of world-class leaders and resources," said Bernard Acoca, Zaxbys CEO. "Chris's expertise in e-Commerce and loyalty programs will help drive incremental growth and enhance the Zaxbys experience as digital touchpoints continue to proliferate throughout the customer journey. His arrival will help us build stronger relationships with our guests by deepening our understanding of their needs and rewarding their patronage with personalized experiences." 

Growing Loyalty

Kung brings over 20 years of innovation and strategy experience to Zaxbys and most recently served as Chief Digital Officer at Dollar General, where he led initiatives that transformed the company into a digital innovator. Kung played a central role in creating the myDG loyalty program. Under his leadership, the company's e-Commerce sales grew 40x in three years, app usage surged from 1.8 million to 7 million monthly active users, and the DG App earned the distinction of the #1 couponing app in America.

Prior to Dollar General, Kung held key leadership positions at Macy's Inc., where he drove omnichannel technology and innovation.

Zaxbys is establishing a new Loyalty & e-Commerce Team, which will report to Kung. This new team will spearhead efforts to make Loyalty and e-Commerce significant contributors to its growth. The creation of the Chief Digital Officer role will open capacity and drive focus for Mike Nettles, Chief Technology Officer, and Patrick Schwing, Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer, who both previously oversaw a portion of this role.  

Church’s Texas Chicken is launching its new rewards program. The Real Rewards program rewards guests each time they make a purchase in-store, online or via the mobile app. 

“Church’s Texas Chicken has been on a digital journey with the launch of our new mobile app, website, and now our new rewards program, Real Rewards,” said Joe Guith, CEO of Church’s Texas Chicken. “Our recent growth is largely due to the loyalty of our incredible guests and we wanted to find a way to give back to them and thank them for their support.”

REAL REWARDS
With the Real Rewards program guests can earn points and redeem them during future visits for select menu items. For each $1 a rewards member spends in-store, online or via the app, they will receive 10 points. All guests who sign up will receive a free chicken reward, which they can redeem for a 2PC Leg & Thigh or 3PC Tenders on their first purchase as a rewards member.

In addition, just for being a Real Rewards member, guests will receive the following free items and promotional discounts automatically loaded into their account for redemption:

• Members will have their choice of free dessert, regular classic side or 22 oz drink with any purchase for their birthdays and sign up anniversaries
• Throughout the year, members can expect surprise member-only rewards including day of the week deals and special access to new and test menu items

Refreshed Website and App

The Real Rewards program is part of the brand’s digital journey which has included a re-designed custom mobile app and online ordering experiences that make it even easier and more convenient for guests to order their favorite Church's items for pick up or delivery, earn and track points, and redeem rewards.  

Free Chicken Promo
To celebrate the launch of the new loyalty program and improved mobile app, the brand will be giving 500 lucky winners free Church’s Texas Chicken for a year! To enter the “Church’s Texas Chicken Free Chicken for a Year” sweepstakes, guests simply need to sign up for Real Rewards on the new and improved app or online by September 4, 2024, and they will be automatically entered for the chance to win.

The winners will receive a reward deposit in their Real Rewards account for a free 2PC Leg & Thigh once per week for one year. Each reward will be valid for one week. Please see further details and sweepstakes rules HERE.

Chili’s Grill & Bar has rolled out Ziosk tablets to more than 1,100 locations to simplify the payment process and delight guests with an enhanced experience.

Ziosk’s innovative pay-at-the-table solution eliminates the wait time associated with paying the bill, providing a frictionless, secure process that drives loyalty and charity program participation and optimizes service. With a 90% adoption rate, pay-at-the-table is a reliable way to empower guests and offer more convenience.

• 66% say enabling new payment options like mobile wallet is impacting POS upgrade decisions in 2024,  according to HT's 2024 POS Software Trends Survey 

“Today’s casual dining industry is as competitive as ever, and Chili’s continues to lead in team member and guest satisfaction,” said Rhonda Levene, Ziosk CEO. “We are thrilled to return to Chili’s nationwide, giving guests the gift of time. We are committed to being a strategic partner in Chili’s success, driving operational excellence and delivering an unparalleled dining experience.”

Chili’s is also utilizing Ziosk’s loyalty capabilities to increase guest engagement and enrollment in the My Chili’s Rewards  program. Guests may also enjoy Ziosk’s premium games and entertainment that are intended to spark conversations and promote memorable moments around the table. Additionally, Ziosk provides Chili’s access to AI-powered analytics of post-dining surveys, and other interactive features, generating actionable insights that enable Chili’s team members to continuously make refinements and ultimately deliver a heightened version of “ChiliHead” hospitality.

“We are proud to partner with Ziosk and provide a solution designed to improve both the team member and guest experience at Chili’s,” said Brinker Chief Supply Chain Officer James Butler. “Beyond the in-person touchpoints of saving guests’ time, simplifying the payment process and even having fun while playing games, Ziosk provides us the tools to constantly improve as a brand and gives us more opportunities to make everyone feel special.”

The decision to expand Ziosk nationally follows Chili’s successful pilot, affirming Ziosk’s pivotal role in Chili’s strategic growth and commitment to industry-leading value.

Ziosk and Chili’s share a goal of providing a great time with convenience, value, and community at the heart of their dining experience. In that pursuit, both brands are committed to innovating together on smart solutions that put the guest first and ensure they’ll come back for more.

To learn more about Ziosk’s capabilities, please visit www.ziosk.com.

Stayntouch, a global leader in cloud hotel property management systems (PMS) and guest-centric technology, recently made  Attribute-Based Selling (ABS) technology available to hoteliers everywhere through the release of UpsellPRO, a dynamic pricing/ABS solution that enables hotels to unbundle room reservations and market individual room features to guests during the booking process.

This follows a report released in partnership with  NYU SPS Jonathan M. Tisch Center of Hospitality, which concluded that approximately “half of all respondents with a booking window of more than one month would spend more during booking to have access to attribute-based selling.” 

To continue the conversation, Stayntouch assembled a panel of experts to assess the current and future benefits of ABS  technology. Among other insights, the experts keyed in on the following benefits for hoteliers:

• Expanded control over the booking process, allowing for targeted delivery of the hotel experience directly in line with guest expectations. 
• Increased visibility of property attributes and automated inventory management, allowing for more significant upselling opportunities and operational efficiency.
• Increased price transparency, dynamic pricing, and improved personalization.

Experts weighing in on the discussion included: Flo Lugli, Founder and Principal at Navesink Advisory Group; George Roukas, AI Business Application Advisor for DataArt and president of GAIPAN; John Burns, President of Hospitality Technology Consulting; Klaus Kohlmayr, Chief Evangelist at IDeaS; and Nichole Dehler, VP of Product at Stayntouch.

Here is a summary of their insights:

1. ABS is giving hoteliers greater insight into guest preferences and has the potential to influence hotel decision-making, from purchasing strategies to design.
2. Hotels that are investing in ABS are creating new differentiators for both investors and travelers due to their ability to deliver a higher level of guest satisfaction alongside increased revenue and upselling opportunities.
3. Hotels leveraging ABS see greater engagement with all on-property services and amenities thanks to improved visibility and awareness of all upselling options. 

“The greatest benefit for hotels on the cutting edge of ABS is their ability to gain more insight into the guest preferences and offer more personalization opportunities to travelers. For ABS to gain traction, however, the hospitality industry must come to a consensus on how to speak about the technology and better define what it is. Doing so is a necessary step toward having all parts of the hospitality tech stack aligned in identifying and inventorying attributes across the hotel, such as the hotel bed, the guestroom view, its location on property, and more. As the industry matures with ABS, it will be critical to take learnings from the airline industry’s effort in unbundling the product to avoid damaging consumer relations and create ‘shopping fatigue’ from an overabundance of choices.”
Flo Lugli, Founder and Principal at Navesink Advisory Group

“Hotels that can implement ABS and begin delivering experiences based on it will have a significant advantage when attracting new bookings. Consumers naturally want to purchase goods and services this way, and they gravitate toward any delivery system capable of providing this experience. From food to haircuts to cars, we enjoy adding and removing elements until we build the product we want. Innovators today are experimenting with providing ABS capabilities outside of the central reservations system. I hope ABS developers will continue to innovate and the concept continues to gain traction in the near future."
George Roukas, AI Business Application Advisor and President of GAIPAN, LLC

“Hotels and hotel brands are in just the first of what will be multiple stages in ABS evolution and implementation. As time passes, guests will increasingly be offered the opportunity to ‘create’ their hotel reservation in any sequence, not necessarily starting with reserving accommodation first. The ABS format and the smart building mechanics behind it will allow hotels to offer a much broader array of options to the guests. These elements will be guided by AI-powered tools that draw on a guest’s profile to deliver highly relevant booking options to guests that strongly appeal to traveler desires. To reach this point within our industry, we must develop a clear, industry-wide, and agreed-upon definition of ABS.”
John Burns, President of Hospitality Technology Consulting

“Attribute-Based Selling is giving travelers a degree of control over their hotel stay that they never thought possible, and hoteliers can deliver this experience without overwhelming themselves with unmanageable processes. The best part about today’s ABS deployments is they can be delivered directly through the hotel PMS, automating inventory and room management without relying on a convoluted network of connected systems. Now, any hotel can leverage upselling capabilities to improve their service delivery and revenue growth strategies in an organic way that guests love.”
Nicole Dehler, VP of Product at Stayntouch

“Generally, implementing ABS will increase engagement with your hotel’s shopping cart as more attributes are listed for purchase. While this means hotels with more diverse offerings currently have more ways to benefit from ABS, we are quickly learning about new attributes guests value and new ways to deliver existing attributes in a way that improves the guest experience. A no-frills experience may come with a lower price tag for business travelers willing to stick to the basics, while leisure travelers can sculpt the trip of their dreams without finding an unexpected upcharge during checkout. This technology no longer requires a complicated tech stack, and its potential for revolutionizing hotel profitability is staggering.”
Klaus Kohlmayr, Chief Evangelist at IDeaS
 

Click here to access Stayntouch’s 2022 report: Traveler Sentiment on Attribute-Based Selling.