News Briefs

Mark Shambura has joined Panera Bread as Chief Marketing Officer. Shambura will lead all aspects of marketing at Panera, including Brand Building, Digital & Loyalty, Product Strategy & Consumer Insights. An accomplished marketing leader with broad expertise in the restaurant industry, Mr. Shambura has previously held marketing leadership roles during pivotal growth periods for top brands including Chipotle, MOD Pizza, and most recently Papa Johns.

"Mark brings an impressive background building brands and leading marketing teams for fast-casual restaurants, and we’re thrilled to welcome him to Panera Bread,” said José Alberto Dueñas, Chief Executive Officer. “As Panera continues to evolve our brand, guided by listening to our guests, Mark’s depth of experience and ability will help drive our growth as a brand that serves great food you feel good about eating.”

Shambura previously served as CMO at Papa Johns, where he led a revitalization of the brand by enhancing its iconic “Better Ingredients, Better Pizza” platform, and developing a more modern, innovative omnichannel approach to transform how Papa Johns appealed to both new and loyal consumers. As Executive Director at Chipotle, Mr. Shambura guided the marketing function through periods of both sustained growth and transition, providing leadership over brand strategy, advertising, digital, social, events/sponsorships, promotions, and field marketing, including playing a key role in spearheading its “Real Ingredients” brand strategy.

“I’m proud to join the Panera Bread team and excited to build on the momentum of the brand's transformation as it continues to evolve in service of our guests,” Mr. Shambura said. “Panera propelled and cemented its position at the top of the fast casual restaurant segment through its promise of high-quality ingredients and freshly prepared food, and I’m thrilled to join a highly talented team to help shape its next chapter.”

Prior to his tenure in the restaurant industry, Mr. Shambura gained extensive marketing agency experience, working with a broad array of top global consumer brands for over a decade. Shambura will report directly to José Alberto Dueñas, Chief Executive Officer, and officially assumed the role of Chief Marketing Officer on July 29, 2024.

In the third quarter of 2024, Square completed a significant infrastructure shift, creating a best-in-class commerce platform with leading payments and ordering capabilities for sellers. The new platform fundamentally changes how the company builds products and will provide expanded commerce capabilities like Pre-Auth and Bar Tabs to sellers of all sizes across verticals in the U.S.

Square’s new order-based infrastructure is designed to help sellers grow their business by enabling them to complete a sale anywhere and anyhow, which allows them to run an efficient operation that delights customers and gives sellers time back.

• 84% of survey participants plan to add new functionality, features, or modules to their current POS software, according to HT's 2024 POS Software Trends Survey

“We are thrilled that sellers in the U.S. are now on the new Orders Platform, which is currently in general availability. This is a key unlock for innovation and we expect this will accelerate product velocity going forward,” said Saumil Mehta, Head of Product for Square. “With the Orders platform, Square will be able to provide more checkout flexibility to sellers - whether their customers are seeking to order ahead, open a bar tab or set up a subscription, sellers using Square will be able to offer more options to capture sales across their businesses.”

To learn more about Square’s latest offerings, visit www.squareup.com.

Agilysys, Inc., a global provider of hospitality software solutions and services, announced that the gourmet market and food hall Famous Foods Street Eats at Resorts World Las Vegas has chosen the Agilysys InfoGenesis Point-of-Sale (POS) platform, guest-facing kiosks and related solutions to significantly improve operational efficiency and dining experiences across 16 diverse culinary stalls in its one-of-a-kind 24,000 square-foot dining emporium.

This unique dining concept immerses visitors in an interactive “street food” destination featuring critically acclaimed chefs and restaurateurs. Since the food hall opened in 2021, visitors have been able to view, order and pay for their dining selections at interactive kiosks presenting menus and visuals from all stalls, eliminating the need to queue up to order, pay and wait for meals at different stalls.  

Over time, the Resorts World Food & Beverage team needed greater POS system flexibility to accommodate certain specifications for improving efficiency and satisfaction for both restaurateurs and diners. For example, the team wanted each restaurant to be able to change menus and prices and offer specials on the digital kiosks in real-time without requiring downtime that would impact other restaurants. 

Because not all food stalls have the same operating hours, the team wanted to dynamically remove menus of venues when outside of operating hours and then redisplay them when the venues were again open. They also wanted diners to relax at their tables during meal preparation and receive an SMS text when orders were ready for pick-up. For kitchen staff, the team wanted to be able to segment each food stall’s items from the consolidated orders and transmit to each kitchen only its own food items for preparation. 

These and other innovation desires – such as enabling kiosks to interact with gaming systems so diners can pay using Resorts World player points – prompted Bart Mahoney, Vice President of Food and Beverage for Resorts World Las Vegas, to replace the existing POS and kiosk system with the modern, flexible and scalable Agilysys InfoGenesis POS platform, IG Kiosks and related solutions.

Mr. Mahoney explained, “With our business growing and guest expectations evolving, it became clear that we needed a more robust and user-friendly system than the one we had. Agilysys InfoGenesis stood out as the ideal solution to streamline our processes, improve flexibility and provide a seamless experience for both our staff and guests.”

Mr. Mahoney continued, “We chose Agilysys because of its proven track record delivering reliable, cutting-edge technology solutions for the hospitality industry.  Agilysys offered the perfect blend of innovation, ease-of-use and flexibility, allowing us to configure the systems to cater to our unique operational needs. Their strong customer support and the deep industry expertise in their R&D and implementation teams made them the clear choice for us.”

Several guest benefits also factored into the decision. “Fast order-to-pick-up times, the convenience of being able to relax at a table with dining companions rather than wait in a queue while orders are being prepared, and flexible, personalized payment options that include room-charges and player points redemption all elevate our guest experience,” Mr. Mahoney added. “Agilysys was able to fulfill all of our requests for automating smooth, streamlined processes to reduce wait times, create memorable visits and make every interaction feel effortless.”

The IG Kiosks enable diners to select menu items, process payments and print receipts from an intuitive screen display that requires no training to use. Not only do the kiosks eliminate the need for each venue to invest in counter service staff, but they also ensure orders and payments are always accurate and eliminate queuing at each food stall for placing and picking up orders. Each venue can update menu items, prices and specials in real-time without impacting kiosk availability for the other venues, and diners can pay using player points, room charges, payroll deductions (if employed by Resorts World Las Vegas) and credit cards. For orders that consolidate items from multiple menus, automated multi-station routing splits out items by food stall before transmitting so that each Kitchen Display System (KDS) receives only items pertaining to that venue, speeding up order preparation.

In addition to the InfoGenesis POS platform and 34 IG Kiosks, the Resorts World F&B team also deployed Agilysys Pay for executing secure payments through the hospitality industry’s leading P2PE (point-to-point encrypted) and PCI-validated payment gateway; Agilysys Analyze for insights on demand patterns, diner volume and flow, fast- and slow-moving items that impact inventory and procurement decisions, food stall production metrics and table service metrics such as capacity utilization and turn times; and Agilysys Kitchen Display System (KDS) to optimize kitchen operations and food preparation through digital order management.

Ryan Carrier, Area Vice President, Gaming, for Agilysys observed, “It is exciting when a customer operates a venue with specific and complex business and guest experience requirements that challenge us to align our technology with their desires. Famous Foods Street Eats in Resorts World Las Vegas presented such an opportunity, and it has been gratifying to deliver capabilities and performance other providers could not. We are proud to be part of this exceptional celebration of food culture, where every guest can enjoy something extraordinary and unique.”

Tredence, a global data science and artificial intelligence (AI) solutions company, announced that it has achieved Amazon Web Services (AWS) Travel and Hospitality Competency status. This designation recognizes that Tredence has demonstrated deep experience in helping travel and hospitality customers transform their business from behind-the-scenes operational efficiencies to guest-facing customer experiences.

AWS's global travel and hospitality practice helps companies of every size and segment – including airlines, airports, ground transportation, travel services and sellers, restaurants, lodging, entertainment venues and casinos, cruise lines, and technology providers – to stay agile and accelerate innovation. AWS helps customers succeed by connecting them to partners with deep AWS experience, and a proven track record for delivering results.

Achieving the AWS Travel and Hospitality Competency differentiates Tredence as an AWS Partner with deep domain expertise in Data 360, Digital Customer Engagement, Technology Migration and Modernization, Smart Assets, and Analytics Consulting Services providing strategic guidance and deployment services.

"Tredence is proud to achieve AWS Travel and Hospitality Competency status," said Hutokshi Sethna, Head of Travel and Hospitality, Tredence Inc. "As the travel and hospitality sector evolves, leveraging data analytics for personalized customer engagement is more crucial than ever. Tredence is focused on enhancing analytics capabilities across the entire value chain, from customer acquisition to revenue growth management, by embedding AI at the core of every decision. Our team is dedicated to helping companies achieve their business transformation goals by leveraging the agility, breadth of services, and pace of innovation AWS provides."

AWS is enabling scalable, flexible, and cost-effective solutions from startups to global enterprises. To support the seamless integration and deployment of these solutions, AWS established the AWS Competency Program to help customers identify Consulting and Technology AWS Partners with deep industry experience and expertise.

Tredence offers a suite of innovative AI solution accelerators tailored to meet the unique challenges of the Travel and Hospitality industry, leveraging AWS's robust platform. Our solution-oriented accelerators are designed to enhance operational efficiency, drive customer engagement, and unlock new revenue streams. As an AWS Advanced Tier Services Partner, Tredence has demonstrated a deep understanding of AWS services, ensuring the development of secure, scalable, and efficient solutions.

Tripleseat, an event management software for hotels, restaurants, and unique venues, is excited to announce a new integration with Amaze Insights, a dynamic reporting platform designed to streamline data from multiple sales and catering (S&C) platforms. This integration aims to enhance the ability of hotel brands, management companies, and individual properties to drive occupancy and revenue by providing a comprehensive view of their sales data in a single, easy-to-use platform.

With this new integration, Tripleseat customers in the hospitality industry can now seamlessly leverage Amaze Insights to pull key performance data from Tripleseat and multiple other platforms into one consolidated report. This integration will enable hotel professionals to track crucial metrics like booking pace, need-to-fill dates, and more, all from a single, intuitive dashboard. The partnership addresses the growing need for comprehensive, streamlined reporting tools that help hotels optimize operations and increase profitability.

"Tripleseat continues to lead the hospitality industry by offering our clients innovative solutions that simplify operations and improve performance," said Sam Dewey, Tripleseat’s Senior Vice President of Growth. "The integration with Amaze Insights demonstrates our commitment to providing hotels with the most effective tools to manage their events and operations, driving both efficiency and profitability. By bringing together powerful event management and insightful reporting, we are enabling our clients to make smarter, data-driven decisions."

"We’re thrilled to integrate Amaze Insights with Tripleseat," said Jaime Job, CEO of Amaze Insights. "Our mission is to provide hoteliers with a single-source view of their performance data, helping them make faster, better-informed decisions. The synergy between Amaze Insights' comprehensive reporting capabilities and Tripleseat’s powerful event management platform creates a solution that is both comprehensive and user-friendly for hotel teams. We look forward to seeing how this integration will empower hoteliers to drive growth and success.”

For hotel customers, this integration represents a significant opportunity to gain deeper visibility into their performance across various data points, from booking trends to revenue pacing. This will give them the ability to take quick, informed actions to meet business objectives. By combining the strengths of Tripleseat’s event management tools with the robust reporting capabilities of Amaze Insights, hotels will have more control over their event operations and be better positioned to succeed in an increasingly competitive market.

Cloudbeds, the premier hospitality management software platform, has today announced a preferred partnership with PXier, a leader in sales, catering, and spa management software solutions.

The agreement will provide Cloudbeds’ property management system (PMS) users with seamless access to PXier’s advanced suite of tools, allowing for tighter operational control and enhanced guest service capabilities.

PXier’s highly specialized sales, catering, and spa management modules will enable Cloudbeds customers to automate and streamline essential hospitality operations such as event management, catering logistics, and spa scheduling, ensuring a holistic and efficient workflow within a single ecosystem.

Richard Castle, COO of Cloudbeds, said: “Our collaboration with PXier aligns with our commitment to delivering highly scalable and flexible solutions to the hospitality sector. With this technical integration, we’ve made it possible for properties to manage complex operations, such as catering and spa services, all within the Cloudbeds ecosystem, empowering users to streamline workflows and deliver better guest experiences.”

Jay Manon, Chief Technology Officer at PXier, added: “By integrating our advanced Sales, Catering, and Spa Management systems with Cloudbeds’ PMS, we are unlocking new efficiencies for hospitality operators. Our API-first approach ensures that real-time data exchange between systems allows properties to stay agile and responsive to guest needs.”

Technical highlights of the partnership include:

• Seamless API integration: The partnership leverages Cloudbeds’ open API architecture, enabling real-time data synchronization between Cloudbeds’ PMS and PXier’s sales and catering software. This allows users to manage bookings, event setups, and catering requests directly through Cloudbeds, without the need for manual data entry or external software switching.
• Centralized event management: PXier’s event and catering systems are fully integrated into Cloudbeds’ centralized dashboard. This enables property managers to track and coordinate event bookings, resources, and room block allocations from a unified interface, ensuring accurate, up-to-date availability and pricing information across systems.
• Spa management automation: Through the integration, Cloudbeds users can leverage PXier’s spa scheduling and management tools, allowing seamless appointment booking, therapist scheduling, and spa package management. Real-time updates ensure that spa services are aligned with the guest booking experience, reducing double bookings and manual errors.
• Advanced reporting and analytics: Cloudbeds users will have access to PXier’s in-depth analytics and reporting tools, giving properties the ability to generate real-time reports on event performance, sales forecasts, catering profitability, and guest satisfaction metrics. This data helps properties make data-driven decisions, optimize resource allocation, and improve operational performance.
• Scalability and flexibility: Designed with scalability in mind, the integration allows properties of all sizes, from boutique hotels to large resorts, to adapt their operations efficiently. Cloudbeds and PXier’s partnership delivers a flexible infrastructure that supports complex event setups, large group bookings, and multi-venue management.

This partnership highlights Cloudbeds and PXier’s shared commitment to leveraging cutting-edge technology to streamline hospitality operations, reduce complexity, and enhance guest experiences.