Google Cloud is helping pizza maker Papa John’s improve its ordering and delivery experience using AI.

Through the partnership, Papa John’s has created an innovation team, named PJX, that will leverage Google Cloud’s AI, data analytics and machine-learning (ML) capabilities to provide a more frictionless and consistent experience for customers both inside its restaurants and throughout its digital channels.

Papa John’s expects to drive success through increased order frequency, higher-value orders, reduced customer service costs, improved customer satisfaction via a chatbot powered by Google Cloud’s technology, and a better pizza experience.

“At Papa John’s, our aspiration is to be the best pizza makers in the business,” said Todd Penegor, CEO of Papa John’s. “Being the best means we are crafting great pizza and providing every single customer a superior experience along every part of their journey, from ordering, to delivery, to our loyalty programme. Our partnership with Google Cloud will enable us to take personalisation to the next level. We’re not just reacting to orders, we’re anticipating our customers’ needs and proactively providing tailored recommendations and offers. This isn’t just about convenience, it’s about creating a truly joyful and personalised pizza experience that builds lasting loyalty.”

PJX will focus on using Google Cloud’s AI to improve customer support, drive personalisation and build proactive experiences from click to crust.

Using Google BigQuery, Vertex AI and Gemini, Papa John’s will proactively suggest orders through push notifications or email, based on learned customer preferences and anticipated needs for upcoming occasions such as birthdays or sporting events. By applying Google’s generative AI models against its data, Papa John’s can help optimise loyalty programme rewards and benefits. In addition, the pizza maker will be equipped with real-time personalisation that dynamically adjusts the web site and app experience for users, such as presenting unique discount codes or advertisements based on previous orders, customer preferences, location and more.

Using Google Cloud’s AI, Papa John’s will be able to predict customer ordering patterns to provide relevant promotions and ordering shortcuts. This also includes AI-driven marketing campaigns that can deliver personalised offers, content and timing based on preferences.

Papa John’s plans to build an AI-powered chatbot that can handle common customer inquiries, seamlessly escalating complex issues to live agents. The pizza maker will also incorporate AI-powered voice ordering via the app to further enhance convenience.

Papa John’s will transition to a Google Cloud-based point-of-sale (PoS) system that lays the foundation for AI-driven dispatching, route optimisation and intelligent automation of key restaurant processes.

“Throughout its history, Papa John’s has been at the forefront of technology innovation, and its innovation team understands that AI has the power to transform the customer experience into something truly special,” said Matt Renner, president for global revenue at Google Cloud (cloud.google.com). “Google Cloud’s portfolio of data, analytics and AI capabilities is helping Papa John’s deliver proactive, hyper-personalised service that goes above and beyond for its customers, building relationships that will keep customers coming back for more.”

Kevin Vasconi, chief digital and technology officer at Papa John’s, added: “PJX will bring together teams from Papa John’s and Google Cloud to elevate the experience of Papa John’s customers at nearly every touchpoint, from the moment they first crave pizza and engage with Papa John’s, all the way to enjoying the first bite of their pizza order.”

Papa John’s (www.PapaJohns.com) opened its doors in 1984 and is co-headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, and Louisville, Kentucky. It is the world’s third-largest pizza delivery company with more than 6000 restaurants in 50 countries and territories.