Faced with declining same-store sales and a possible acquisition, Papa Johns has a new tool in its arsenal that promises a “major transformation of its digital ordering experience” in a partnership with tech giant Google. The aim is to “deliver speed, accuracy and real-time personalization to its 150 million-plus customers worldwide,” according to a press release.
The AI-powered technology should go live at Papa Johns stores nationwide by the end of 2026.
Papa Johns, which saw its North American same-store sales drop 2.7% in the most recent quarter, is the first partner for Google Cloud’s newly expanded AI solution, called the Food Ordering agent, which should help the pizza brand reduce friction across customer touch points. The Food Ordering agent is a part of Google’s Gemini Enterprise for Customer Experience, a solution designed to bring commerce and customer service together on an intelligence backbone.
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The Food Ordering agent has had success already at drive-thru restaurants. The omnichannel platform enables brands to use voice AI agents across mobile apps, websites, telephones, kiosks and in-car systems. By serving as Google Cloud’s launch customer for these new capabilities, Papa Johns said it’s “establishing a new industry benchmark for the ‘agentic’ customer experience.”
It will be particularly helpful for digital customers trying to determine how much pizza to order for groups, according to Papa Johns Chief Digital Officer Kevin Vasconi.
“Let’s say you have to order pizza for your kid’s soccer team, and you need to figure out how much to get, preferences, food allergies, etc.,” Vasconi said at a press conference, according to media reports. “The AI agent is built to walk you through all of that. It might ask, ‘How many people are on the soccer team?’ and then come back with suggestions. Because of the conversational nature of it, you can add food allergies or say that someone doesn’t like mushrooms, and it won’t include those ingredients. It takes the stress out of ordering.”
In the press release, Vasconi said the AI agent will let Papa Johns “deliver a more seamless experience across our assets and owned channels, better connect with our customers, and support greater efficiency across our operations by leveraging data and AI.”
He added, “We’re using Google Cloud’s Food Ordering agent to reimagine what’s possible for our customers. This isn’t just an app update; it’s a fundamental shift in how our customers interact with our brand digitally, making it faster, smarter and more seamless than ever before.”
With Food Ordering agent, Papa Johns says it has developed key features to improve the customer experience, including:
- Increasing sales through seamless offer navigation: The “Intelligent Deal Wizard” functions as a personal concierge that automatically applies the best value combinations and reduces cart abandonment. This could improve brand loyalty and accelerate the checkout process by removing the need for customers to leave the app to hunt for better promo codes.
- Automating complex orders with precision: The “Advanced Voice & Group Ordering” feature captures revenue from complicated, multi-person orders that traditionally required human intervention. The system “handles natural language nuances and real-time modifications with ease, ensuring order accuracy even for the most complex requests.”
- Seamless, no-tap reordering flow: The agent identifies Papa Rewards loyalty customers and proactively asks whether they want to reorder their most recent orders.
“The retail industry is entering the era of agentic commerce, where AI is an engine for business value,” said Carrie Tharp, vice president of global solutions and industries at Google Cloud. “By being the first to deploy our omnichannel Food Ordering agent, Papa Johns is moving beyond the chatbot era to create a fluid, intelligent experience that meets hungry customers wherever they are, whether they are in their car, on an app, or at a kiosk.”
