Wingstop is changing its technology leadership structure to include both digital and marketing functions as it looks to continue its digital growth.
The chicken-wing chain on Tuesday announced three personnel changes that make up the restructuring:
- Chief Technology Officer Stacy Peterson is now EVP, chief digital and technology officer.
- Marisa Carona, formerly VP of strategy and chief of staff to the CEO, was promoted to SVP, chief growth officer.
- Stevie Benjamin, formerly VP of media, was promoted to SVP of digital marketing.
The new arrangement puts more support behind one-to-one marketing as a lever for driving digital business. It takes a cue from tech companies, which often combine marketing and digital roles together into a "MarTech" team, said Wingstop CEO Charlie Morrison in a statement.
"With this, we'll have two distinct, agile and collaborative teams that focus on varying levels of communication to our guests," he said. "One which will lead 'micro,' one-to-one communication, and one which will lead 'macro,' one-to-many communication."
The "macro" team is presumably the chain's traditional marketing department led by CMO Christina Clarke, while the new team led by Peterson will focus on the "micro"—i.e., marketing tailored to individual customers.
Peterson's expanded role will involve leveraging first-party ordering data to engage guests. Wingstop said it has a database of 25 million digital customers to draw from.
As SVP of digital marketing, Benjamin will be particularly focused on shaping the chain's one-to-one marketing. The former media strategist for MillerCoors and Target joined Wingstop earlier this year.
Peterson has been with Wingstop since 2013, and Carona since 2015.
The Dallas-based chain is coming off a quarter of record same-store sales growth and systemwide sales of $589.7 million. Nearly 65% of those sales came through digital channels, and Wingstop's goal is to turn 100% of them to digital.
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