Background
O'Learys operates multiple brands, markets, and restaurants with large volumes of local content, and the original solution was built headless on the Heartcore CMS - a choice that made sense given the needs at the time. As the business grew, particularly around its sports content covering roughly twenty sports and a large number of leagues and matches, the need arose for greater control over the editorial experience and the ability to build custom back-office functionality. Camelonta was commissioned to migrate the platform to Umbraco Cloud.
Solution
Before the migration, Umbraco Compose was also evaluated, but since O'Learys currently has primarily one external data source to manage, an additional orchestration layer was judged to add more complexity than necessary. The choice instead fell on Umbraco Cloud with its built-in capabilities, which provided a better foundation for a tailored editorial experience - particularly for the sports content, where a custom-built back-office extension is gradually replacing a temporary solution. The target setup is for external sports data to be retrieved via a dedicated Azure Function, enriched and classified using Azure AI, and presented to editors in an interface tailored to their workflow - with editors retaining full control over selection and publishing.
A major part of the migration involved switching the integration layer: the Heartcore frontend was built on GraphQL, while the new solution instead uses Umbraco's native REST/Content Delivery API. The rewrite was extensive but structured and repetitive, which made it possible to use AI to convert queries, models, and integration code - thereby lowering the cost of leaving the old architecture behind.
Impact
The result was a modern Umbraco Cloud solution that gives O'Learys full control over the editorial experience, with a scalable foundation for its content-heavy sports feed. By using AI to handle the extensive work of switching integration layers, the architecture could be chosen based on what was actually needed going forward - rather than what was cheapest to keep.
“We're really looking forward to working with Camelonta. After an extensive selection process, we're confident they're the right partner to take our digital platforms to the next level. Together, we'll create an even better experience for our guests - with a focus on driving more online conversions.”
