It’s Lolly Makes Its Stadia Play

It’s Lolly, the digital commerce specialist, is extending its corporate catering success by providing a comprehensive stadia proposition.

The company, which recently won the contract for a major UK football stadium, has appointed sector specialist Stephen Palmer to lead its end-to-end PoS and payments stadia offering.

Having spent the last 14 years providing IT installation, training and support into many of the largest stadia and arena operations across the UK, Palmer’s skills include wide-ranging knowledge of EPoS, project management and troubleshooting. In his previous roles he has led and assisted a huge range of projects, ranging from the installation of an estate of 16 racecourses, to casino ePOS installations in Australia and the UK. He has also worked on stadium/arena ePOS systems for international level venues for conferences and sports, including 20 current Premier League and EFL Championship clubs and a recent Champions League Final.

Stephen Palmer said: “When it comes to stadia, it is always about scale and getting it right. Scale brings its own challenges, including networking implications and speed of service – spectators want to get back to their seats swiftly to ensure they don’t miss the match. Stadium operators tend to find their systems peaking with high levels of service at half time. They need to know they are using a system that they can completely rely on.

“Stadiums can provide multiple refreshment offerings. One big venue can be full of different types of food outlet, each with their own unique requirements. From grab and go outlets, to season ticket fine dining, it is vitally important to consider a huge variety of factors to deliver the best overall stadia proposition.”

Peter Moore, CEO of It’s Lolly, added: “We are delighted to welcome Stephen to the team, and look forward to seeing how he will go on to develop our first-class stadia offering. He has excellent experience implementing vast stadia project.

“We have already won some large contracts, based on our unique and flexible proposition, and we are looking forward to winning many more. Lolly develops all our own IP in house, which means we are adaptable – something that is vital in today’s Covid-19 world. We build bespoke products for individual clients, and then develop these over time – to grow in conjunction with their needs and goals.”

Stephen Palmer: “It is great to be part of the Lolly team. Today, it’s a case of who can provide what in this difficult climate. Stadiums have had to adapt their business models, and will be asking their fans to do the same. Pre-seat ordering is the way forward – now far further ahead in the curve than any of us could have expected. We all need to adapt – not least the software providers.”