Software and AI
An AI receptionist that answers the phone, takes the order and passes hard calls to your staff
We set up an AI receptionist that answers your business line when your staff can’t get to it. It takes pickup and delivery orders, answers questions about hours and services, and books appointments. It works only from the menu, hours and rules you give it, reads each order back before sending it, and transfers the caller to a person when a request falls outside those rules.
- Takes
- Orders, bookings, questions
- Your number
- Stays the same
- Starts with
- Missed and after-hours calls
- Hard calls go to
- A person on your team
Try it
Listen in on a sample call
Four calls to Demo Kitchen, a made-up pizzeria: a pickup order, a question it should not answer, a changed order and a catering request that goes to a person.
AI phone answering
Sample call
A written script, not a live call · nothing is recorded
Demo Kitchen is a made-up pizzeria
A pickup order with an add-on. The assistant prices every item from the menu, reads the order back, and sends it only after the caller says yes.
Line 1 of 11
Conversation
Assistant
Thanks for calling Demo Kitchen. You are speaking with an automated ordering assistant. Say "staff" at any time to reach a person. What can I get for you?
The order
Taking the order
Nothing on the order yet.
Subtotal before tax
$0.00
Behind the scenes · what the computer heard and did on this line
Stages on this turn
Outbound: reply to caller audio
- 01Call audioLiveKit, active on this turn
- 02Speech to textDeepgram, not used on this turn
- 03Language modelOpenAI, not used on this turn
- 04Text to speech, active on this turn
Reply text sent to text to speech
Thanks for calling Demo Kitchen. You are speaking with an automated ordering assistant. Say "staff" at any time to reach a person. What can I get for you?
The greeting is fixed text from the restaurant settings, not model output, so every caller hears that this is an automated assistant and how to reach a person.
Tool calls
No tool call on this turn.
Line 1 of 11. Assistant: Thanks for calling Demo Kitchen. You are speaking with an automated ordering assistant. Say "staff" at any time to reach a person. What can I get for you?
Want this working on your own site? Tell us how your business runs today.
Coverage
Calls the receptionist can take
Pickup and delivery orders
Items, sizes, add-ons and special instructions, priced from the same menu data as your online ordering page if you have one. It quotes a ready time from rules you set, such as a longer wait on Friday nights.
Questions callers ask every day
Hours, address, parking, delivery area, whether you cater. Answers come from a list you approve; anything else goes to a person.
Bookings
Reservations, appointments and estimate visits for contractors, written into a calendar it can connect to, such as Google Calendar, with a text confirmation to the caller.
Transfers and messages
A caller can ask for a person at any point. During open hours the call transfers to the number you choose. After hours the agent takes a message and texts it to you.
Safeguards
Checks built into each call
Order read-back
Before an order is sent, the agent repeats every item, modifier and the total, then waits for the caller to confirm.
Hand-off when unsure
If the agent can't match a request to the menu, hears the same correction twice, or the caller is unhappy, it is set to transfer the call or take a message.
Allergy questions go to staff
Allergy and ingredient questions go to a person. The agent is instructed never to tell a caller a dish is safe for them, and the call logs let you check.
Fixed menu and prices
Ticket items and prices come from your menu data, not the model, so an order can't include a dish or discount you don't offer.
Plain disclosure
The greeting tells callers they are talking to an automated assistant and how to reach a person.
Call logs
Each call is saved with a transcript, the order or booking it produced, and whether it was transferred. Audio recording is optional.
Limits
Where a person still does better
Speech recognition still mishears words on a bad cell connection or in a loud room, and names and street addresses are the hardest part. Hearing the order repeated gives the caller a chance to catch a mistake before the ticket prints.
Large catering orders, complaints and anything that needs judgment belong with a person, and the agent hands them off. It knows only what it has been given: if prices change and the menu data does not, it quotes the old price.
We recommend keeping card numbers out of the call. Callers pay at pickup or through a payment link sent by text.
Each call has a running cost: phone minutes, transcription, model use and the voice are billed by usage, so a busy line costs more than a quiet one. The proposal estimates it from your call volume. If the agent or a provider is down, the line can fall back to ringing your staff.
Options
Voicemail, an answering service or an AI receptionist
| Voicemail | Answering service | AI receptionist | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Takes a full order | VoicemailNo | Answering serviceDepends on the service and its script | AI receptionistYes, from your menu data |
| Books into your calendar | VoicemailNo | Answering serviceSome services | AI receptionistYes, if the calendar has an API |
| Several callers at once | VoicemailEach one leaves a message | Answering serviceDepends on staffing | AI receptionistYes, up to the limit of your phone line plan |
| Unusual requests | VoicemailWait for a callback | Answering serviceAn operator decides | AI receptionistHanded to your staff |
| How it is billed | VoicemailIncluded with the phone line | Answering serviceUsually per minute or per call | AI receptionistSetup, then usage per minute |
Setup
Going live on missed calls first
- 01
Collect what your staff know
Your menu with prices and modifiers, hours, delivery area, policies, and the questions your staff answer on every shift.
- 02
Write the rules and connect the order path
We turn that into the agent's instructions and connect where orders go: your register system (POS) if it accepts orders from outside software, otherwise a kitchen printer, a tablet, a text or an email.
- 03
Test calls
We call it, then your staff do: odd orders, changes mid-order, background noise, questions it shouldn't answer. Anything it gets wrong becomes a new rule or a hand-off.
- 04
Start with overflow
At first the agent answers only the calls staff miss and the calls after closing, so you can read real call logs before giving it more.
- 05
Review and widen
We go through the logs with you, adjust the rules and wording, and route more calls to the agent when you are ready.
Under the hood
What happens between the ring and the ticket
The technical name for this is an AI voice agent. Your number forwards to a phone line connected to LiveKit, a service that runs live voice calls over the internet. As the caller talks, Deepgram, a speech-to-text service, turns their words into text.
That text goes to an OpenAI language model, the same kind of AI that powers ChatGPT, along with your menu, prices, hours and house rules. The model decides the reply, and it can only take the actions we give it: add an item, check whether you are open, offer a time slot, or transfer the call.
A text-to-speech voice speaks the reply after a short pause. Once the caller confirms the order, it goes to your POS, a kitchen printer, or a text or email to staff.
Questions
Your number, your POS and order mistakes
What is an AI receptionist?
It is software that answers your phone in a natural-sounding voice, understands what the caller asks, and replies from the information you have given it. It can take an order or book a visit, and it hands the call to a person when it should. Callers hear up front that they are talking to an automated assistant.
Can we keep our current phone number?
Yes. Your phone carrier forwards calls to the agent: all of them, only the ones nobody picks up, or only after hours. Customers dial the same number they always have.
Does it connect to our POS?
If your POS accepts orders through an API, a connection outside software can use, orders go straight in as tickets. Some POS makers limit that access to approved partners, so we check first. Otherwise orders print in the kitchen or arrive on a tablet. Our POS systems page covers setups that keep phone, web and counter orders together.
What happens when the agent gets an order wrong?
Staff fix the ticket as they would for any phone order. The call log shows what the caller said and what the agent heard, so we can tell a mishearing from a menu gap and fix the cause.
Can the agent take more than one call at a time?
Yes. Each call runs as its own session, so a second caller doesn't hit a busy signal while the first is ordering. How many calls can run at once is set by your phone line plan.
Does it work for businesses other than restaurants?
Yes. It can book estimate visits for home service companies and take ride requests for medical transportation companies. For rides it is set up to ask only about trip logistics, not diagnoses or insurance numbers, and each trip goes to dispatch to confirm.
Next step
List the calls you want the agent to take
Include your menu, the questions your staff answer every shift and where orders should end up. We reply with how the agent would handle each one and an estimate of its running cost.