News Briefs

Leveraging Loadmill's advanced AI technology, Papa Johns will further improve its software testing approach. 

Beyond automating repetitive tasks, Loadmill empowers the team to construct a robust, interconnected testing framework encompassing their entire ecosystem. 

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By expansively testing digital ordering platforms, store technologies, dispatch applications, and related systems, Loadmill will help ensure a flawless customer experience, accelerate development, and drive innovation, ultimately enabling faster delivery of new features.

Accelerating Innovation 

"Partnering with Loadmill is a pivotal step in Papa Johns journey to deliver a better experience for our customers," says Joshua Sullivan, Senior Director of Digital Engineering at Papa Johns. "Loadmill's AI-powered API testing will significantly accelerate our ability to delight customers with innovative features and products while maintaining the highest quality standards."

"At Loadmill, we're dedicated to delivering seamless digital experiences, and we're honored to embark on this journey with Papa Johns," says Ido Cohen, CEO of Loadmill. "Our team is eager to help Papa Johns continue its legacy as a digital pioneer as the company evolves its software testing and reaches even higher levels of customer satisfaction."

The ultimate goal of this partnership is to enhance the customer experience. By integrating Loadmill's AI-driven API testing platform, Papa Johns can ensure that their digital platforms are always running smoothly and efficiently. This means that updates can be deployed faster, creating a superior user experience for Papa Johns customers. 

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.  

DNA Payments' Pay at Reception, Pay at Counter and Pay at Table solutions are now available on Oracle Cloud Marketplace and can be deployed on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI). 

Oracle Cloud Marketplace is a centralised repository of enterprise applications offered by Oracle and Oracle partners.

The Pay at Reception solution enables high-level business benefits for the hospitality sector. Oracle Payment Interface (OPI) communicates with axept PRO payment devices over the merchant's local area network through a secured HTTPS connection. The OPI service connects to the premise-based Oracle Property Management System (PMS). 

The Pay at Counter and Pay at Table solutions enable a range of benefits for hotels, hospitality, food and beverage, and quick serve retail (QSR) businesses. DNA Payments' axept  PRO is integrated with Oracle Simphony to deliver Pay at Counter, which will allow payments to be accepted at the counter or bar using its payment terminals for QSR and retail concession outlets and enable sales, sale plus gratuity, refunds and more.

• 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

Pay at Table allows customers to pay at their table without going to a counter. The server logs on to a payment terminal and retrieves the bill. Before asking for payment, the server may print the itemised bill or ask the customer to confirm.

The axept  PRO Split Check Calculator helps customers determine which portion of the bill they wish to pay. Customers can also enter a gratuity added to the payment amount before the transaction is processed. A receipt is printed, and the amount paid is passed to the Oracle Simphony system, which then deducts the amount paid from the outstanding balance.

Sonesta International Hotels Corporation (Sonesta) today announced the appointment of Christopher Trick as Chief Marketing & Performance Officer. In this new role, he will lead the company’s greater marketing and revenue focused efforts, underscoring Sonesta’s continued growth and maturity as an organization.

“We congratulate Christopher Trick on his new role as Chief Marketing & Performance Officer, a key position that marks an exciting new chapter for Sonesta,” said John Murray, CEO of Sonesta. “Chris is known industry-wide for his energetic and enthusiastic leadership, collaborative spirit, and data-driven yet creative approach. We are confident that in this new position on our leadership team, he will continue to successfully execute his strategic and competitive vision for the company, further amplifying Sonesta’s presence through innovative marketing solutions.”

Mr. Trick assumes this new role after four successful years as Sonesta SVP and Chief Marketing Officer, managing brand marketing & media (B2C & B2B), e-Commerce, product development, public relations, field marketing, distribution and channel management services. For more than 20 years, he has helped hospitality companies grow their business footprints. He is a specialist in customer experience, acquisition and retention, consumer engagement, brand strategy and all aspects of hospitality marketing. Under his leadership, earlier this year Sonesta relaunched Sonesta.com as a single storefront for all 13 brands and rolled out the award-winning Sonesta Travel Pass program across the Red Lion legacy brands in March.

Prior to joining Sonesta, Mr. Trick worked in various roles including marketing, brands, sales, distribution, revenue management and loyalty at Red Lion Hotels Corporation, Realogy, Marriott International, Wyndham Hotel Group, La Quinta and IHG.

Grubhub is expanding its Campus Dining business to more than 60 schools . Grubhub Campus Dining is the higher-ed-focused part of Grubhub's business that serves college students and directly integrates mobile ordering into campus meal plans. 

With these new additions, Grubhub now reaches half a million new students and serves a total of more than 4.5 million students.

New campus partners include the University of Alabama at Birmingham, the University of Tampa, the University of Missouri, Howard University and Tulane University. With the addition of these campuses, Grubhub now works with more than 360 universities, up 21 percent from last year.

Automated Delivery with Robots 

Grubhub partners with Cartken, Kiwibot and Starship to provide robot delivery on college campuses and is expanding to nearly a dozen more schools this semester. New additions include the University of Mississippi, Prairie View A&M University, Howard University, the University of New Mexico and the University of Houston.

Robot delivery is currently found on more than 20 campuses—including The Ohio State University, the University of Arizona, the University of Notre Dame and the University of North Dakota—where hundreds of thousands of orders have been delivered via robots to date.

Amazon's Just Walk Out Technology

Ursinus College, the University of Virginia and Lindenwood University are deploying Amazon's Just Walk Out technology on campuses this fall. Ahead of last year's fall semester, Grubhub brought Amazon's Just Walk Out technology to its campus partners to enhance the dining experience. This technology allows users to shop at campus convenience stores and skip the checkout line. At the same time, payment is automatically deducted from their meal plan, declining account balance, or other linked Grubhub payment methods. Schools that have already adopted this technology include Stevens Institute of Technology, Montclair State University and Loyola University Maryland.

Sustainable Solutions 

Grubhub partners with Topanga.io, a reusable packaging management platform, to bring a sustainable dining solution to its campus partners. Through Topanga.io's ReusePass program, students can select reusable packaging at checkout and have their meals packaged in a reusable container, utilizing Topanga.io's track-and-trace technology.

Virginia Tech and the State University of New York at New Paltz are deploying this technology this semester. Schools that already use this technology include California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, The Ohio State University, Colorado State University, Boston University, The University of Delaware and Brandeis University.

Grubhub Campus Dining
With Grubhub Campus Dining, campuses can choose the solution that works best for them—whether it's mobile integration, on- or off-campus ordering, or both. Students can easily find both on- and off-campus dining options and view their available balance on their campus homepage within the Grubhub mobile app. These solutions help campuses increase the value of their dining services by providing students with more flexibility in how and when they use their dining plans.

And for even greater value, students whose schools are partnered with Grubhub are eligible to receive Grubhub+ Student for free. That means $0 delivery fees and lower service fees on eligible orders, 5 percent back in Grubhub+ credit on off-campus pickup orders, exclusive deals and more.