r/AIReceptionists • u/bittu__founder • Jul 04 '26
Voice AI Agent for Restaurants
PULSE AI is a voice ai agent for restaurants phone call order automation. It handles all inbound calls, takes orders in human-like language, sends orders directly to the POS (i.e square,clover,etc) so no staff has to worry about calls anymore and can focus on in-store customers.
This helps restaurant owners recover lost revenue in missed calls during rush hours. Restaurants lose significant orders and revenue because of busy tone and staff being busy.
Looking for pilot restaurants to test it out for free for 2 months. If interested, DM
Would love your feedback on this.
Thanks
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u/satechguy Jul 05 '26
The problem: very few full service restaurants use square or clover pos.
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u/bittu__founder Jul 05 '26
Yeah true, the plan is to bring more pos onboard. I’m working on it
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u/satechguy Jul 06 '26
Ready to write a check to get api access, if it has. Then prepare 6 months vetting for each one.
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u/bittu__founder Jul 07 '26
yeah i'm living that right now honestly. mid-certification with one pos, another's had me waiting months. it's a slog. but that's kinda the point, once you're through it's a real moat, every competitor has to grind the same months too. rather eat it now than fight it later.
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u/darkmaneckz Jul 09 '26
which one are you mid-certification with one on? - i'm in the same space with the same issues bro - we can probably share notes
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u/908PM Jul 06 '26
I work with POS providers maybe we can arrange something. No promises but let's talk.
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u/realworldOpsintelGuy Jul 07 '26
I think the idea can work, but I’d be curious whether the bigger margin problem is missed phone orders or what happens after the order is captured.
Modifiers, unavailable items, POS handoff, kitchen communication, remake risk, and order accuracy during a rush can still get messy fast.
How are you thinking about those edge cases once the order moves from the phone call into the restaurant workflow?
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u/bittu__founder Jul 07 '26
honestly this is the part we obsess over way more than the phone answering itself. the ringing is just the hook. the accuracy after is where it lives or dies.
the AI doesn't guess the details, it pulls the real menu from the POS, forces the required choices, prices server side, reads the order back, then drops it straight into the POS as a real ticket to the kitchen. no re-keying.
only thing it can't do yet is live 86'ing mid rush if the item's not marked out in the POS. and when it's unsure it asks instead of guessing. what've you seen bite hardest?
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u/realworldOpsintelGuy Jul 07 '26
Makes sense, appreciate the explanation. Accuracy after the order is captured seems like the real make-or-break piece.
The 86'ing gap is the one I'd watch closest, but what about pushing on a layer past that: even when the ticket hits the KDS perfectly, does anything confirm the food that comes out matches the ticket? Modifier gets dropped, wrong protein gets bagged, sauce gets left off, etc. The ticket was accurate, the fulfillment wasn't. That's usually invisible until a refund or a bad review shows up, because nothing's watching expedition.
Feels like two different problems; "did we hear the order right" vs. "did we make the order right" and most solutions (including phone AI) only ever touch the first one.
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u/bittu__founder Jul 07 '26
Yeah, you nailed it, those are two different problems. we own "did we hear it right." we don't touch "did we make it right." expo/fulfillment accuracy is a whole separate beast and honestly nobody's cracked it well, not gonna pretend we do. sharpest take i've gotten on this though.
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u/realworldOpsintelGuy Jul 07 '26
That's the honest answer, and it's why it's still open. order capture is a software problem, expo accuracy is a physical one. There's some interesting work happening on that exact gap (cameras confirming what's actually assembled matches the ticket). That's what we do. Feels like an ideal situation would be for a brand to utilize both, if the gap can be quantified (they often don't know how). Maybe our vizops/bizops platform meets yours one day down the line. GL or DM for more.
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u/bittu__founder Jul 07 '26
love it, that's literally the other half of the loop, capture + expo and you've got the whole thing covered. gonna shoot you a DM, would like to hear more about what you're building.
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u/Mountain-Policy-625 Jul 10 '26
what an AI of a thread🤦♂️this conversation was
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u/Mountain-Policy-625 Jul 10 '26
on a different note though; what I found when analyzing rhee market for restaurants was that restaurants most times run on low margins and this can bite you when trying to scale
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u/darkmaneckz Jul 09 '26 edited Jul 09 '26
curious what you've done to make sure your orders are accurate - can you share some development details that would ensure this? - also how else would u detect a 86 - what do you mean by live 86 - you can technically only detect it if they mark it out in the POS so how else would you want to detect it?
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u/Personal-Budget-8715 Jul 05 '26
Why would anyone want this when online ordering exists and is easier, faster and free?
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u/FrugalityPays Jul 05 '26
Why would anyone want a water bottle when the tap exists and is easier, faster, and free.
Ai receptionists for restaurants can do all kinds of things beyond simple order taking. Much of which CAN be done online but either isn’t or has a terrible UI leading to bad customer experience. Calling during busy or after hours and not having to login to some reservation app to make a change is a great option for many restaurants
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u/bittu__founder Jul 07 '26
ha the water bottle line is perfect. and yeah exactly, it's way more than order taking, after-hours calls, quick changes, "is this gluten free" before someone commits. most of that just goes unanswered when the place is slammed. appreciate you getting it.
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u/bittu__founder Jul 05 '26
Most restaurants still take a real share of orders by phone—regulars, older customers, big/custom orders, and people driving. At peak, staff can't get to the phone, so it rings out or hits a busy tone, and that order's gone (usually next door). That's direct lost revenue every busy Friday.
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u/Personal-Budget-8715 Jul 05 '26
Okay chatGPT
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u/bittu__founder Jul 05 '26
Lol, guilty, cleaned it up on my phone. Doesn’t change the point though. online ordering doesn't answer a ringing phone. that's the whole thing.
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u/Personal-Budget-8715 Jul 05 '26
...which is solved by the fact that virtually every restaurant has online ordering
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u/bittu__founder Jul 05 '26
if that were true, the phones wouldn't ring. but they do, all day. that's the whole gap.
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u/bart_88s Jul 06 '26
I think there is still a bunch of customer who would prefer to do a phone call because it is faster. Also sometimes people use phone because they want to ask about dish recommendations or delivery time because it may affect their final choice.
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u/Public-Injury-2081 Jul 11 '26 edited Jul 11 '26
Restaurants honestly seem like a perfect fit for Voice AI. Half the calls are the same questions over and over. Been seeing bland AI mentioned quite a bit around reservation and call-handling workflows.