Unanswered phone calls could be costing your restaurant a fortune. Worse yet, you may not even realize just how much opportunity you’re missing. According to a recent article from Nation’s Restaurant News (NRN), 40% of all restaurant calls go unanswered, and it’s costing the industry $20 billion in lost revenue every year.
That’s why a growing number of restaurants are turning to AI phone answering services for help. Not only are AI phone answering services for restaurants becoming increasingly sophisticated and intuitive, they’re also becoming more widely available and affordable.
“A good automated restaurant phone system can help you boost revenue, attract repeat business, and raise employee morale,” says Back of House operations expert David Wisdom. “And best of all, it’s very easy to set up and customize for your business.”
What Exactly Is AI Phone Answering and What Can It Do For Your Restaurant?
A few months ago, the Back of House team caught up with Rebecca Evanhoe, Conversation Design Strategist for AI phone answering service Slang.AI. Rebecca told us how AI voice answering services can drive growth, improve the customer experience for your guests, and boost your marketing efforts.
“It books reservations, it can change your reservation, and it can cancel a reservation. It can help people who are running late and it can answer any question about the restaurant,” Rebecca explained. “It handles a lot of the basic things a host can do so the host is a lot more free to be present in person.”
This freedom is incredibly valuable both for the customer experience and the employee experience.
Restaurant voice AI is also becoming easier to set up, customize, and maintain even for small operations. Most of the leading AI phone answering services are also designed to work directly with your POS system as well as your ordering, delivery and reservations systems.
“With Slang, for example, you can get set up really quickly and have it answer questions specifically about your restaurant,” Rebecca noted. “And we integrate with reservation providers like Open Table, SevenRooms, and Yelp. And we’re always adding more integrations.”
So how can restaurant voice AI help your business?
3 Ways To Streamline Your Operation Using AI Phone Answering for Your Restaurant
“For busy restaurants, adding a reliable automated restaurant phone system can have a positive ripple effect,” David explains. “Once you stop missing calls and the phone stops ringing off the hook, the experience improves for everybody — your staff, the customer on the phone, and the guest in your restaurant.”
Here are just a few ways that restaurant voice AI can make a big difference for your business.
1. Stop Missing Calls
Missed calls equal missed opportunity. Regardless of whether you’re missing calls because your restaurant is closed, because you’re on the other line, or because your staff is just too busy to pick up the constantly ringing phone, it’s an absolute revenue-killer.
Any time you don’t answer the phone, you’re leaving money on the table. Not only that, but you’re alienating potential customers — people who might have made reservations with just a little help, who might have spent money in your establishment, who might even have become repeat customers.
In contrast, restaurant voice AI is available to your customers 24/7. Calls never fall through the cracks, and there’s tangible proof that this is a potential boon for your bottom line.
How much more could your restaurant be making just by eliminating those missed calls? During a recent chat with Ryan Sullivan, Head of Marketing for the AI-powered voice answering service Sadie, we learned that his customers recoup an average of $76,000 in otherwise missed revenue per year just by adding AI voice answering.
2. Eliminate Customer Wait Times
If you’re still answering the phones manually, then you may have an operational bottleneck that costs both you and your customers precious minutes every day.
For one thing, nobody likes to be put on hold. You may be diminishing the customer experience right from the outset by making them wait to talk to somebody. You may even lose frustrated customers who simply decide they’d rather call elsewhere than wait to place an order or make a reservation.
Not only that, but every minute you place a customer on hold is a minute later that your kitchen receives an order and a minute later that this order is ready for delivery. Those minutes add up to lower efficiency and reduced customer satisfaction.
With AI voice answering, there are no wait times. Nobody is ever placed on hold. The leading AI phone answering services can handle all calls simultaneously. They can answer customer questions with nuance, and process requests for deliveries and reservations.
And with most AI phone answering services for restaurants, you can also easily request to be transferred to a human staff member. This means everything moves a little more swiftly for your customers and your kitchen.
3. Improve Staff Morale
According to a recent NRN article, the food service industry continues to run at an annual turnover rate of 80%. This means restaurants are often short-staffed during busy shifts. It also means that restaurants are often spending a fortune onboarding and training new employees who may not be around for very long.
“On the other hand, you can train your AI phone answering service to provide accurate information, speak politely to your customers, and follow proper procedures,” David says, “and you know it won’t call in sick or quit just minutes before a busy shift.”
Meanwhile, it also takes a major burden off of your staff. In busy restaurants, a constantly ringing phone can be a major source of stress and distraction as hosts, bartenders, and managers do their best to accommodate dine-in customers. Handing this task off to AI can relieve some of the tension when your busy restaurant feels like a pressure cooker. And it can save an enormous amount of time and money on labor.
In fact, Rebecca from Slang.AI highlighted a recent customer case study. In just two months of using AI phone answering, the Chicago-based restaurant group DineAmic Hospitality reported that the new system had fielded more than 30,000 calls, saving the group more than 750 hours of staff labor while converting more than $105,000 in reservations.
Implementing Voice AI in Your Restaurant
Wondering if restaurant voice AI makes sense for your restaurant? Check out some of our favorite AI phone systems to find the best fit for your business.
About Back of House
Back of House helps restaurant operators discover, evaluate, and implement technology solutions that improve operations and profitability. Through expert resources, industry insights, and technology guidance, Back of House connects restaurants with the tools they need to build smarter, more efficient businesses.
