Customer Support and Voice AI
AI receptionist for small business: calls, bookings and handoffs
What an AI receptionist does on a real call, the rules that apply, a sample greeting and a pass/fail checklist to launch one safely.
Inbound
AI Voice Booking Agent for Restaurants & Food
Table reservations booked, moved and cancelled by phone inside your covers and party-size rules, even mid-service.
During service nobody has a free hand for the phone, and a diner who cannot get through books a table elsewhere. This agent answers your reservations number, checks your platform for the time and party size, and books, moves or cancels tables inside your rules. Allergen questions are answered only from your published menu, and large parties go to your manager.
- Takes table bookings by phone even in the middle of service
- Books into the same platform as your online reservations
- Answers allergen questions only from your published menu
$6,900
20–30 working days
Optional maintenance $345/mo
What it is
AI Voice Booking Agent for Restaurants & Food answers your reservations number and handles tables: it checks your reservation platform for the time and party size, books inside your rules, moves or cancels existing bookings, and answers allergen questions only from your published menu.
Why businesses buy it
A ringing phone during the dinner rush is a choice between the guest at the table and the one trying to book. Either way someone waits, and missed calls become empty covers. This agent takes reservation calls so your host can stay on the floor. Bookings land in the same platform as web reservations, so there are no clashes, and large-party requests reach your manager with the details collected. The Scope Card sets out the flows, systems and testing in writing before you order.
Problems this solves
Hosts juggle the reservations phone while greeting guests at the door
The agent answers your reservations number and checks your reservation platform for the requested time and party size. Hosts can stay with the guests standing in front of them.
Large parties get booked into sittings the kitchen cannot cope with
Bookings are made inside the rules you set, such as party size limits for each sitting. Requests outside those rules are passed to a member of staff instead of being accepted.
Guests who need to change a booking cannot get through
Existing bookings can be moved or cancelled on the call in your reservation platform. A cancelled table then shows as free for the next caller to book.
Diners asking about allergens before booking get vague replies
The agent answers allergen questions only from your published menu. When the menu is silent on something, the caller is passed to staff, so nobody receives a guess.
A good fit if
Most calls to your number are people wanting a table, changing a time or cancelling, and they come in while the floor is busiest.
Your reservations already live in an online platform with API access, so a phone booking can land where walk-ins and web bookings do.
You have clear table rules: largest party taken by phone, seating times, how long a table is held.
Diners often ask an allergen or dietary question before they commit to booking, and your menu already answers it.
Not the right fit if
Your line gets every kind of call, from directions to takeaway orders, and you want them all handled. AI Voice Receptionist for Restaurants & Food, is the broader build.
Most of your orders arrive on WhatsApp. See WhatsApp AI Order Agent.
You need replies written for your online reviews, which happens in text, not on calls. See AI Review Response Agent for Restaurants & Food.
You want reservations, review replies, social posts and WhatsApp orders together. The AI Restaurant Stack, bundles the core AI Voice Booking Agent with those three, rather than this edition.
How it works
- The caller asks for a table. The agent takes the date, time and number of guests, then checks your reservation platform for what is actually free.
- Your seating rules decide the answer. If the time is full, it offers the nearest open slots. If the party is bigger than you take by phone, it passes the request to the manager instead of squeezing it in.
- The booking is confirmed out loud. Name, contact number, time and party size are read back before the reservation is written to your platform.
- Changes and cancellations are handled the same way. The agent finds the booking by name and number, moves or cancels it inside your rules, and frees the table for someone else.
- Menu questions get menu answers. Allergen and dietary questions are answered from the published menu you supply, and anything the menu does not cover goes to staff.
- Every call leaves a record. Transcript, summary and outcome are saved, so the manager can see which tables came in by phone during service.
What you provide within 72 hours
Your portal lists these the moment you order. Delivery starts the working day after everything is in and your access is checked.
- A telephony account in the restaurant's name, such as Twilio, Vonage or Exotel, with the reservations number to use, forward or port.
- API access to your reservation platform, plus access to the second system you want connected.
- Your table rules: seating times, largest party bookable by phone, how long a table is held for late arrivals.
- Your current published menu, including allergen and dietary information.
- Opening hours, and the numbers to transfer to for the manager and for private dining.
- Your chosen voice and language, and the call-recording notice callers should hear.
- Admin access and API keys for both connected systems, never sent by email.
- One person who can approve the flows and the test calls.
- An API key for your own AI model account (for example OpenAI or Google Gemini), created for this build with a spending limit.
The 72-hour rule. Send everything on your checklist, including access, within 72 hours of ordering so your build starts on time.
Timeline
Start
Intake checked, table rules and seating times agreed.
Weeks 1–2
Reservation, change and cancellation flows built on the Restaurants & Food template.
Week 3
Reservation platform and second system connected and tested with live slots.
Weeks 3–4
Fifty test calls, including full sittings, large parties and allergen questions.
Week 4
You listen back, then two rounds of changes.
Go-live
Reservations line goes live, recorded handoff, support starts.
| Option | Delivery time | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | 20–30 working days | $6,900 |
| Express | 15–25 working days | $7,950 |
| Rush | 10–20 working days | $8,950 |
What you receive at handover
- The booking agent live on your reservations number
- A restaurant booking intent library and call flow templates built on your table rules
- A connection to your reservation platform and one other agreed system
- A test report from restaurant booking test calls, with transcripts
- An admin guide and a recorded handoff session
- 30 days of post-launch support
Expected benefits and how to measure them
- Can help capture reservations during the busiest parts of service.
- Helps keep each sitting within the limits you set.
- Makes changing a booking easier for guests.
- Phone reservations taken during service
- Filter your reservation platform by source and booking time. Compare the month before launch with the month after.
- Bookings moved or cancelled by phone
- Count changes made by the agent in your reservation platform each month.
- Missed calls on the reservations line
- Compare your phone system's report for four weeks before and after launch.
Before you start: Export a month of missed calls on the reservations line, split by service times. Note how many tables are booked by phone each week.
These are things to track, not promised results. Outcomes depend on your data, your team and your market.
Running costs
The build is a one-time price. Running it means call minutes billed in your own accounts, about $0.13 to $0.31 per minute all in for the voice platform, AI model and telephony, plus number rental. A table booking is usually a short call, so the monthly bill tends to follow how many covers you take by phone.
AI usage during build and testing also goes through your own accounts.
Ask about running costsCustom requirements
A sixth call flow, such as catering enquiries, or a third connected system like your POS, sits outside the Scope Card. Add a note at checkout for a written Change Quote; nothing extra starts until you accept it.
Request a custom versionKeep it running
Monthly maintenance covers monitoring, fixes, updates and change hours to load a new menu, change seating times or add a holiday closure. It begins once the 30 days of support end and can be cancelled any month.
$345/mo (5% of the build price a month, includes 3 change hours)
Optional. Starts after the post-launch support period. Cancel any month.
How maintenance worksHow this compares
| Do it yourself with a SaaS tool | Hire a custom agency | Upmark Labs | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | A reservations answering service often charges per cover or per month | A custom phone build is quoted after discovery | Ours is one fixed price, shown on this page before you buy |
| Table availability | A human operator may take a message for you to confirm | Depends on the integration agreed | Ours books against your reservation platform during the call |
| Allergen answers | An operator reads from whatever script you sent | Depends on the brief | Ours answers only from your published menu and hands off the rest |
| Delivery | A few days to brief | Usually several weeks | Ours has a fixed delivery time shown before you buy, with faster options |
Questions about this product
What happens when a diner asks for a table we cannot fit?
The agent offers the nearest open times from your reservation platform, earlier or later that day or another date. If none suit, it can take the caller's details for the manager. For parties bigger than your phone limit, it never books on its own; it collects the date and numbers and transfers or messages your manager.
Can the restaurant booking agent take deposits for large parties?
No. Taking card payments over the phone is outside this build. A large-party request is collected and handed to your manager, who arranges any deposit the usual way. If your reservation platform sends its own deposit link after a booking is created, that keeps working exactly as it does for web bookings today.
Does AI Voice Booking Agent for Restaurants & Food answer menu questions?
Yes, but only from the published menu you supply. If a caller asks whether a dish contains nuts and your menu lists it, the agent says so. If the menu does not say, it tells the caller plainly and passes the question to staff. It never guesses about ingredients or how the kitchen prepares a dish.
Will phone bookings clash with online bookings?
They should not, because the agent reads and writes the same reservation platform your website bookings use. A table booked online a minute earlier is already gone when the agent checks. That depends on your platform offering API access, which is why we confirm it as one of your two connected systems at intake.
Can it also take takeaway orders by phone?
It can, if you use one of the five call flows for it. The Restaurants & Food template includes order taking: items, quantities, name, number and pickup time are read back and logged where you choose. If orders are most of your calls rather than tables, the broader AI Voice Receptionist for Restaurants & Food usually suits better.
How soon can the reservations line be live?
The delivery panel on this page shows the timeline for each speed, fixed before you order. Your table rules, menu and reservation platform access need to arrive within 72 hours of ordering, and late items push the date back. Before launch we run fifty test calls, including mid-service rushes and large-party requests, and you get two rounds of changes.
What does a restaurant spend each month on the booking line?
Only call minutes in your own accounts: roughly $0.13 to $0.31 a minute all in, plus number rental. A quick table booking uses a minute or two, so costs rise with the number of phone covers, not with a flat fee. We charge nothing per booking. Monthly maintenance is optional.
Guides on this topic
All guides Fill the tables the phone used to lose.
Order AI Voice Booking Agent for Restaurants & Food.
Works well with
Reviews & Reputation
AI Review Response Agent
Drafts on-brand replies to Google and platform reviews for approval.
