AI Phone Answering for Restaurants: Hours, Menus, Allergens

AI phone answering for restaurants means an automated assistant picks up your phone line, talks to callers in natural speech, and answers the routine questions so your host stand isn't tied to the phone at 7:30 on a Friday. Talksy answers calls, WhatsApp and Telegram from the information you provide: hours, menu, policies and links. It doesn't replace your reservation system or POS. It makes sure the people calling get answered and pointed to them.

Which restaurant calls can an AI answer?

Here's a rough split of what a neighborhood restaurant hears on the phone in a week, and what an assistant can do with each:

It handles fully:

• Hours, kitchen closing time, holiday hours.
• Location, parking, public transport, accessibility.
• "Do you have vegan / gluten-free options?" from your menu.
• Price range, dress code, corkage, kids' menu, high chairs.
• "Do you take walk-ins?" and how long waits usually are on weekends, if you're happy to say.

It starts, then hands to your systems or staff:

• Reservations: shares your booking link and your large-party policy.
• Takeout and delivery: shares your ordering link or delivery partners.
• Private events: explains spaces and minimums and, on WhatsApp or Telegram, collects date, party size and contact details.

It leaves to people:

• Complaints, lost property, a guest's order in progress.
• Anything about whether a dish is safe for a specific allergy.

How should the assistant handle allergen questions?

Carefully, and with your exact wording. In the US, the FDA recognizes nine major food allergens: milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soybeans and sesame. In the UK, Food Standards Agency guidance lists 14 allergens food businesses must tell customers about, and for food sold at a distance, such as by phone, allergen information must be available both before the order is completed and when it's delivered.

An AI assistant is a reasonable way to share the information you publish, and a bad way to make safety judgments. A sensible instruction:

When asked about allergens, tell the caller which dishes on our allergen chart contain that allergen. Always add: "Our kitchen handles nuts, gluten and sesame, so we can't guarantee any dish is free from traces. If you have an allergy, please tell your server when you order so the kitchen can advise." Never say a dish is safe for someone with an allergy.

Illustrative example, not a real call.

Assistant: Hi, thanks for calling Olive & Ash. I'm the restaurant's automated assistant. How can I help?

Caller: My daughter has a sesame allergy. Is the chicken shawarma okay?

Assistant: Our chicken shawarma is served with tahini sauce, which contains sesame, so it isn't suitable as it comes. Our kitchen uses sesame throughout, so we can't guarantee any dish is free from traces. Please tell your server about the allergy when you order, and the kitchen will advise on what they can prepare.

Caller: Okay. Are you open Sunday?

Assistant: Yes, Sunday from noon to 9 pm, with the kitchen taking last orders at 8:30.

Keep the allergen information current. If the menu changes, update the assistant the same day.

Where does the menu information live?

On phone calls, Talksy's assistant answers from its written instructions; it doesn't search uploaded documents during a call. So the instructions should hold the things callers ask about: hours, a condensed menu with prices, dietary notes, allergen rules, links and policies.

On WhatsApp and Telegram, it can also search documents you upload (PDF, CSV or TXT, up to 10 MB each). Upload your full menu, your allergen chart, your private-dining pack and your drinks list. For a restaurant with seasonal menus, the PDF you already send to the printer usually works.

Do restaurants need WhatsApp as well as the phone?

It depends on your guests. Tourists and international visitors often message rather than call, and messaging suits private-event inquiries, where the conversation (date, party size, menu choices) is worth having in writing. Every WhatsApp and Telegram conversation is saved in your Talksy dashboard so your events manager can pick it up. Talksy reads text messages, not photos or voice notes.

If you do connect WhatsApp, note that Meta bills WhatsApp messages to your own Meta account. Since October 1, 2026, Meta gives each business number 1,000 free service messages a month and charges for service messages beyond that. Our WhatsApp setup guide explains the Meta side.

How do you set it up before Friday?

1. Start a 14-day free trial (no card).
2. Create an assistant. Paste in hours, address, parking, a short menu with prices, dietary options, allergen policy, reservation and ordering links, and your event basics.
3. Buy a local number in the Channels tab. US and Canadian numbers are available instantly: see US and Canada.
4. During service, forward your restaurant line to the Talksy number, or set your carrier to forward when the line is busy or unanswered.
5. Call it and ask the five questions your host hears most, plus an allergen question. Adjust.

What does it cost a restaurant?

There are no overage charges. A small restaurant that forwards only overflow calls can often start on Starter; a busy one sending every call to the assistant should begin on Growth and check the call count and voice minutes in analytics. Restaurant groups typically use one assistant per location on Scale. See pricing.

What's the limit of AI phone answering for restaurants?

It answers questions; it doesn't run your front of house. Today Talksy can't book a table into your reservation system, take a phone order into your POS, process payments or transfer a caller to the host stand. If your phone is mostly takeout orders, a dedicated restaurant ordering line is a better tool. If it's mostly "are you open, where do I park, do you have gluten-free pasta," an assistant takes most of that load off your host stand. More options are compared in never miss a call: after-hours answering options.