Meet Christine De Wendel | Co-Founder and U.S. CEO, sunday

We had the good fortune of connecting with Christine De Wendel and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Christine, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
Prior to launching sunday, my thought process wasn’t “I want to start a company,” it was “this system shouldn’t still be broken.” I’d spent years scaling large tech companies (Zalando and ManoMano in Europe) and saw how technology could dramatically improve everyday experiences when it was applied thoughtfully. At the same time, I was spending a lot of time in restaurants and kept coming back to the same moment as a guest: everything about dining had evolved, except paying the bill.

When my co-founder (Victor Lugger, an esteemed restaurateur of Europe’s Big Mamma restaurant group) raised the idea of fixing the guest payment process, it immediately resonated. This was a universal pain point. It wasn’t a niche problem–it affects guests, servers, and operators at nearly every restaurant.

Concurrently, I had reached a point in my career where I wanted to build something of my own, shaped by my values and experience. By the time I started sunday, I had the operational experience, confidence, and perspective to build deliberately and with empathy. Starting my own business felt less like a risk and more like a natural next step, an opportunity to apply everything I’d learned to solve a real problem in a meaningful way.

What should our readers know about your business?
sunday was built around a very simple idea: paying at a restaurant shouldn’t be the worst part of the meal. We’re a hospitality-first payment platform, built by restaurateurs, designed to remove friction at the exact moment where service often breaks down: checkout. By making payment faster and more flexible, we help restaurants turn tables more smoothly, increase tips, and give staff more time to focus on guests rather than card machines. What excites me most right now is seeing our technology in action at more than 50 restaurants across Los Angeles, a city with one of the most dynamic and demanding dining scenes in the world, where operators truly value both efficiency and experience.

My path to building sunday wasn’t linear or easy. I spent much of my career scaling large tech platforms in Europe, including Zalando and ManoMano, learning how to grow teams and systems at scale. But entrepreneurship didn’t start for me until later–I became a founder in my forties, as a mother of three.

The idea for sunday came from real-world frustration, shared by my co-founder and longtime friend Victor a restaurateur who experienced this problem every day. What gave me confidence was how universal the pain point was and how meaningful the solution could be for an industry under constant pressure.

Building the company has come with challenges: balancing speed with quality, scaling without losing empathy, and earning trust in an industry that doesn’t have time for experimental technology. I’ve learned that the best products are built close to the people who use them, and that leadership is less about vision statements and more about listening, clarity, and follow-through.

What I want people to know about sunday, and about me, is that we care deeply about hospitality. We believe technology should support human connection, not replace it. Our story is one of intention, empathy, and building something practical that genuinely makes people’s lives easier–one meal, one service, one restaurant at a time.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Of course, I’m obsessed with the LA restaurant scene. We’ve recently partnered with incredible spots like Gracias Madre, Cafe Gratitude, zinqué, and L’Antica Pizzeria–spots I always hit while I’m in town.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I’d love to give credit to two people who have shaped my journey in very different but equally important ways.

First is one of my co-founders, Victor Lugger. Victor comes from hospitality, and his instinct for what actually works on the restaurant floor is what makes sunday what it is. Building alongside someone who truly understands the industry, and who pushes for simplicity and practicality every day, has been invaluable.

I also owe a huge amount to my father. From a young age, he instilled in me the belief that entrepreneurship is one of the most powerful ways to build a meaningful and independent career. That mindset stayed with me, and later in life, he was also the one who encouraged me to seriously consider the startup path. That value continues to shape how I think about work, leadership, and even what I hope to pass on at home today.

Website: http://sundayapp.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sundayapp_/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sundaytech/

Twitter: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sundaytech/

Image Credits
Photo credit: sunday