News Briefs

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.

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.

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.  

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. 

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.