Are you still serving?
Asked at the exact moment the kitchen is busiest and nobody can reach a phone.
For restaurants & cafés
The table tent is a channel
Most restaurant questions arrive when nobody is free to answer them: is the kitchen still open, do you have anything gluten free, can we get a table for six.
A phone that rings during service, and a DM inbox nobody sees until closing.
- 7 of 10 jobs on the pass finish without a person
- Seven days without a card
- Full refund on any plan, 30 days
-
Are you still doing food? And is anything on the menu gluten free?
-
Kitchen runs until 10. Four mains are marked gluten free on tonight’s menu, including the sea bass and the aubergine.
read the published allergen matrix, not a guess -
Cross contamination is a problem for her, she’s coeliac
-
That is a question for the kitchen rather than me, and I would rather you had it right. Putting you through to the floor manager now.
refused, and escalated, because this one has to be right
Recognise these
The questions you actually get
Not a category list. These are the messages that arrive, and the reason each one is harder than it looks.
Do you have anything gluten free?
An allergen question wearing a casual disguise. It has to be answered from the matrix, not from memory.
Table for six at eight, tonight?
A booking that is worth taking now and worthless tomorrow morning.
Do you deliver to this postcode?
Two questions in one: do you go there, and what does it cost.
Is there parking, and can we bring a pram?
Trivial to answer, and the reason a family picks somewhere else when nobody replies.
Can you do a cake for a birthday on Saturday?
A high-value request that usually needs a person, and always needs capturing.
What is on today?
Changes daily, which is precisely why a page written last month gets it wrong.
The timing problem
They arrive when you are least able to answer
- Wednesday and Thursday
The weekend gets booked. Enquiries about tables, groups and set menus land while the floor is quiet.
- Friday and Saturday, 7pm to 9pm
The most enquiries arrive in the two hours when every member of staff is on the floor.
Nobody free - After close
Instagram and WhatsApp fill up. Nobody opens them until the morning, and a share of those people have already booked elsewhere.
Nobody free - Sunday and Monday
The quiet days, when a person finally answers three days of messages that no longer matter.
What it does about it 01 02 03 04
Built around how restaurants & cafés actually work
A QR code on the table instead of an app
Each outlet gets its own link, so a guest scans, asks about a dish and orders in the same conversation. Nothing to install and nothing to sign up for, which is the difference between a guest using it and a guest ignoring it.
A QR code per locationThe booking taken after the question, not before
People decide in that order. A booking form asks for a commitment before the question about the terrace or the highchair has been answered, which is why they leave the form.
Books the appointmentMenu answers with the source attached
Ingredients, portions, what is on today, answered from what you publish, with a link back to it. Checkable rather than improvised.
Shows where the answer came fromOrders completed in the thread
The guest who asks whether you deliver to their road can place the order in the same message, while they still want dinner.
Takes the order Before the capability Never Never Never
What it will not do, and why
Every trade has a line an agent must not cross, and the reason is usually law, insurance or a licence rather than good manners. This is configured before anything else.
Improvise an allergen answer
Fourteen allergens have to be declared in the UK under the 2021 labelling rules, and the American list runs to nine since sesame was added. An agent that guesses is a liability with a chat window, so ours answers from the matrix you publish and hands over the moment the question goes beyond it.
Confirm a table it cannot see
A double-booked eight top on a Saturday costs more than the enquiry was worth. It holds and confirms only against real availability.
Promise a delivery time the kitchen has not agreed
Every minute it invents is a complaint your staff have to absorb at the door.
What changes
What comes off the pass
Every row is a job somebody does today. The bar is counted from the rows, so it says exactly as much as the table does and no more.
7of 10 finish without a person
- 7 end to end
- 1 drafted, signed off
- 2 kept with a person
- Answer opening hours, kitchen times and last orders Agent, end to end
- Answer what is on the menu today Agent, end to end
- Answer allergen questions from the published matrix Agent, end to end
- Take a table booking Agent, end to end
- Answer delivery area, cost and parking Agent, end to end
- Take an order from a table QR code Agent, end to end
- Capture a function or large-party enquiry Agent, end to end
- Quote for a private hire or a set menu Agent drafts, person signs off
- Anything a coeliac or severe allergy guest asks Stays with a person
- Handle a complaint about a meal Stays with a person
Where it answers
One agent, the channels you already use
- Website widgetWhere the booking intent already is.
- Table QRPer outlet, so the agent knows which kitchen it is answering for.
- Instagram DMWhere a restaurant is actually discovered, and where the overnight messages pile up.
- WhatsAppHow groups and regulars book in most markets outside the UK and US.
- Voice & phoneThe line that rings out at 8pm on a Saturday.
What it plugs into
Connected to what you already run
- Website widgetOn the site, and on a per-outlet QR link.
- WhatsApp, Instagram, MessengerOne agent across all three, answering the same way.
- VoiceA number that answers when the floor cannot.
- WebhooksPush a booking or an order into whatever you already run the floor on.
Everything listed is live today. See the full list.
Live agents
Not in your trade yet, and you can still try one
We would rather say so than borrow a customer from a different trade. These are live and you can talk to any of them right now, then judge whether the same thing would answer your enquiries.
See the live agents→ The setup for this job
Booking Agent is this agent, configured
Your CX Agent, set up to take bookings.
An AI agent that answers questions about your services and books the appointment in the same conversation, around the clock.
See Booking Agent→What it can do for you
Each of these is something a customer of yours gets, rather than a feature you switch on. Where it comes from is marked, so you can see what arrives with the agent and what needs a channel or your store connected.
Comes with this channel
- A QR code per location
outlet QRConnection A link per location. The agent knows which branch it is answering for from the code that was scanned. A guest scans at the table and the agent knows which branch it is answering for.
Comes with your agent
- Takes the order
capture_orderTool call Called once the customer has decided. It collects the items, the delivery details and the contact, then writes the order rather than handing over a form. Finishes the sale inside the conversation rather than sending someone to a form they will not fill in. - Books the appointment
book_appointmentTool call Called after the question blocking the booking is answered. It reads real availability, offers slots and writes the booking. Offers real slots and books them, after answering the question that was holding the booking up. - Points people to the right branch
store_locatorTool call Called on a "where are you" or "which branch" question, and answers for the location being asked about. Answers for the location the customer is asking about instead of the head office.
Other trades running this
Before you commit
What people in your trade ask us
Our menu changes every week. Does it keep up?
It reads your published menu and re-reads it on a schedule, so a change on the page is a change in the answers. If you publish the day’s specials, it can answer on those too.
We have four sites with different menus and hours.
Each site gets its own QR link and the agent answers for that one. A guest scanning in Chattogram does not get the Dhaka opening hours.
Can it actually take the booking, or does it just collect a name?
It takes the booking, against real availability, and writes the guest into your customer records. Large parties and private hire are captured and passed to a person, because those need a conversation.
What happens with an allergy question we have not published an answer to?
It says it does not have that and puts the guest through to a person. It will not fill the gap with a plausible guess, which is the only acceptable behaviour here.
Does the guest need to download anything?
No. A QR code opens a conversation in the browser. That is the whole reason it gets used at a table.
Start with your own website
Paste your URL and OU Chat trains on your own pages, so the first answers it gives are about your business rather than a template. Seven days without a card, $29/mo after that, and a full refund on any plan within 30 days if it is not right.
Build your agent→