Richard Tallboy joins Sona as CIO Advisor

We are delighted to announced the appointment of Richard Tallboy as Chief Information Officer Advisor, a newly created executive advisory role designed to accelerate the our enterprise strategy and deepen its expertise across key areas of hospitality operations.

Richard brings more than two decades of senior technology leadership experience in hospitality, having held CIO and CTO roles across some of the UK’s most recognisable brands, including Pizza Express, Wagamama and The Restaurant Group. Most recently, as CIO at Côte, Richard played a pivotal role in architecting Sona’s hospitality vertical and championing the platform’s adoption at enterprise scale.

In his advisory capacity, Richard will work closely with Sona’s leadership team to drive value across product strategy and guide go-to-market execution. Leveraging on his experience in managing complex vendor relationships and building on his tenure on Oracle’s Customer Advisory Board, Richard will support in elevating Sona’s approach to enterprise implementations, strategic planning, business reviews and customer advisory board governance.

Alongside Richard’s appointment, Sona is launching CIO Snapshot, a new rapid diagnostic service designed for mid-market and enterprise organisations. The offering provides an independent assessment of a businesses’ tech infrastructure, stack rationalisation opportunities, and strategic roadmap development, helping operators make confident, evidence-based decisions at board level.

Hospitality leaders are under more pressure than ever to make the right technology decisions, particularly as AI becomes embedded across operations.

Richard Tallboy, Sona's CIO Advisor

Richard further adds “I’m delighted to be joining Sona at such an exciting moment in its journey. The pace of growth, the calibre of hospitality brands Sona partners with, and the company’s clear ambition around technology and AI make this a compelling opportunity. I’m looking forward to working with the team to continue building technology that genuinely supports operators and helps them navigate what’s next for the industry.”

Many hospitality businesses don’t have the luxury of an in-house CIO and therefore lack a clear tech roadmap, and a practical plan for how to get from A to B.

Steffen Wulff Petersen, Sona’s Co-Founder & CEO

Steffen continues: “Richard has not only done this across Pizza Express, Wagamama and Cote as CIO, but has also helped Hawksmoor, Flat Iron and NWTC as a fractional CIO. Bringing Richard into Sona allows us to offer his CIO expertise to hospitality businesses on a much broader scale and at a much lower cost..”

We hope this will help the hospitality industry leverage the benefits of technology and AI faster, at a time where efficiencies are badly needed across the industry. We couldn’t be any more excited about the impact Richard will have on Sona.

Richard’s appointment further strengthens Sona’s commitment to partnering with hospitality leaders to deliver enterprise-grade technology that is both practical and operationally grounded.

➡️ Want to see what Sona can do for your operations? Let’s get some time in the diary to chat about your 2026 goals and see where tech can make a difference.