In today’s world, fast food restaurants have become an integral part of our lives, and we rely on them for quick and hassle-free meals. However, the traditional method of placing delivery orders over the phone can be challenging for both customers and front-of-house staff. The staff responsible for taking these orders have to handle a large volume of calls, often resulting in missed orders or incorrect information. This can lead to unsatisfied customers and a decrease in restaurant revenue.

At VOICEplug AI, we are constantly evolving the Voice AI to meet the rising expectations and demands of the restaurant operators and their staff. VOICEplug AI has been rewriting the script on how Voice AI technology is perceived and embraced by the Front of House (FOH) staff within restaurants. In recent years, although the culinary landscape has undergone a transformative shift with Voice AI technology pioneers such as VOICEplug AI gracefully integrating itself into the fabric of restaurant operations, garnering unprecedented acceptance and reverence from the Front of House (FOH) staff. At the same time, challenges like reduced operating hours, high staff turnover and the great resignation have been endangering the very ethos of food service industry.

In this blog, we will explore the daily challenges faced by front-of-house staff and how VOICEplug AI with by the introduction of Voice AI technology can revolutionize the process of order capture, ensuring a seamless delivery experience for customers.

1. Handling High Call Volume: Handling high call volume can be a daunting task, especially during peak hours. Front-of-house staff often face a flurry of phone calls, making it challenging to manage multiple orders simultaneously. However, there is a solution to this problem. By introducing a Voice AI powered phone ordering system, you can ensure that every call is answered on the first ring, without any missed calls or lost orders. By using Voice AI technology, the system can tirelessly pick up every call, providing an efficient and streamlined ordering experience for customers. This not only saves time and reduces the workload for front-of-house staff, but it also enhances the overall customer experience. Customers can quickly and easily place their orders without the frustration of being put on hold or waiting for a staff member to become available.
2. Avoiding Communication Errors: Effective communication is a critical component of any restaurant, particularly when it comes to taking orders over the phone. Unfortunately, human error is always a possibility, which can lead to inaccurate or incomplete orders. However, by implementing a Voice AI powered phone ordering system, restaurants can significantly reduce the risk of errors. With Voice AI, the customer’s order can be captured accurately and with great detail. The system captures all necessary information upfront, including delivery address, contact number, and special requests. This helps ensure complete and error-free orders, preventing any misunderstanding or confusion that can arise during traditional phone ordering. Additionally, the Voice AI system is capable of suggesting addresses and remembering previous orders for repeat customers, further streamlining the ordering process. These features not only enhance accuracy but also improve the overall customer experience by saving time and reducing frustration.
3. Bridging Language Barriers: Breaking down language barriers is a crucial aspect of ensuring that everyone can be understood and have their needs met. Language barriers can pose a significant hurdle in accurately capturing orders, but with the advent of Voice AI, restaurants can now use these tools to ensure that language is no longer a barrier to providing excellent customer service. Voice AI Assistant is programmed to be always patient, polite, friendly, and uses simple language to ensure that customers can understand and be understood. Additionally, Voice AI can ask clarifying questions to ensure order details are captured correctly, making sure that customers receive exactly what they want. Voice AI Assistant should be capable of understanding every dialect across Northern America. This means that no matter where a customer comes from or what their native language is, they can communicate with ease and have their needs met. By using these tools, restaurants can become more inclusive and accessible to all customers, regardless of language barriers.
4. Optimizing Time Management: Time management is a crucial aspect of any restaurant, and front-of-house staff can often find themselves overwhelmed with the competing demands of capturing orders promptly and providing excellent customer service to those dining in the restaurant. By offloading mundane tasks such as memorizing call scripts and pre-prepared responses to the phone ordering system, FOH staff can now focus their attention on the customers within the restaurant premise. The use of Voice AI powered phone ordering systems can greatly benefit restaurants that rely on front-of-house staff for order-taking. By allowing FOH staff to focus on providing excellent customer service, rather than menial tasks, restaurants can improve customer satisfaction and ultimately increase revenue.
5. Overcoming Noisy Environments: Overcoming noisy environments can be a difficult task, especially in bustling restaurant settings where background noise can hinder effective communication. While creating a designated quiet area for taking orders or investing in noise-cancelling headsets may improve call clarity, these solutions come with a downside of wasting space and increasing costs. By using Voice AI Assistant, restaurants can eliminate the need for designated quiet areas or noise-cancelling headsets, saving space and reducing costs.
6. Multitasking with Multiple Calls: Multitasking can be a valuable skill, but it can also be overwhelming and lead to burnout. This is especially true in fast-paced industries like the fast-food restaurant industry, where staff are often asked to handle multiple tasks simultaneously. When it comes to taking multiple calls, it can be challenging to stay focused and organized, particularly when the restaurant is understaffed. Voice AI Assistant acts as an ally to the staff, allowing them to avoid the stress of multitasking with multiple calls. It’s important to acknowledge the labor shortage and high staff turnover in the restaurant industry. Putting further pressure on staff to multitask can lead to burnout and a decline in productivity. By utilizing voice AI technology, restaurants can provide a more efficient and less stressful work environment for their staff, ultimately benefiting both the employees and the restaurant as a whole.
7. Handling Customizations with Care: Customizations can be a great way to improve customer loyalty, but it’s important to handle them with care. When confirming custom orders, it’s crucial to use clear and concise phrasing to prevent mistakes. Ensuring that you keep track of allergens, food preferences, usual orders, drinks to go with, personalized suggestions, and sharing information about combos and seasonal promos can go a long way in improving customer loyalty. This can also lead to an increase in average check size, brand recall, and upselling opportunities. Voice AI technology is capable of delivering a personalized experience to every customer calling the restaurant to place an order. With the ability to handle standard customer inquiries and provide exceptional service, it’s a great way to improve customer satisfaction. By using technology to streamline the ordering process and provide personalized recommendations, restaurants can create a more positive and memorable experience for their customers. Restaurant operators can also identify trends and patterns in customer orders, allowing them to make data-driven decisions to improve their operations and menu offerings.
8. Streamlining Payment Processing: Streamlining payment processing is a crucial aspect of running a successful restaurant. One of the main challenges that restaurant operators face is ensuring secure procedures and accurate record-keeping when verifying and processing payments over the phone. It is essential to have proper protocols in place to avoid any fraudulent activities or data breaches. Another challenge that restaurant operators face is the risk of human error when capturing card data to process payments. With Voice AI Assistant restaurants can implement secure and efficient payment processing methods to streamline transactions over the phone. This may include using a digital payment platform, requesting card details over the phone or remembering the last card details for a repeat customer. Thus taking off the burden from the FOH staff at the same time ensuring the credit card security and privacy of the customers. Customers can easily place their order and make payments without waiting for long periods on hold or standing in lines.
9. Efficiently Managing Busy Delivery Schedules and handling peak hours: Coordinating delivery and take-out orders alongside in-house dining service can create logistical challenges, potentially leading to delays. Creating a delivery schedule that aligns with in-house dining service can optimize order processing and minimize delays. Voice AI technology undoubtedly has a significant impact on the food industry, particularly in streamlining the ordering process. When a customer places an order, the Voice AI Assistant captures the order information and sends it to the Point of Sale (POS) system. This seamless integration ensures that there are no delays or mistakes in relaying the order information to the Kitchen Display System (KDS) and the Back of House (BOH) staff. As a result, the BOH staff can quickly start working on the order, reducing wait times for customers and improving overall efficiency. Additionally, voice AI technology can help reduce errors caused by miscommunication between staff members, which can be particularly helpful in busy environments with high levels of background noise.
10. Providing Excellent Customer Service: Overwhelmed, tired staff or new staff can find it difficult to manage the high influx of customers during peak hours. FOH staff is required to take delivery/ take-out orders, manage challenging customers and at the same time ensure excellent customer service for the walk-in customers. This can become quite tiring and mundane for the staff, especially if the restaurant is short staffed or the staff scheduling is not organized. Voice AI Assistant is a powerful tool that modern restaurants can use to their advantage. By using Voice AI, restaurants can ensure that their customers are served with the best practices, including upselling and cross-selling, which can ultimately lead to increased sales and revenue. Another advantage of Voice AI is that it can help restaurants reduce their labor requirements for order taking, which can help lower the cost per order. Additionally, Voice AI is easily scalable, which means that it can automatically scale up during peak hours, ensuring that customers are always served quickly and efficiently.

In conclusion, the use of Voice AI technology in capturing delivery orders via phone can have a significant impact on the fast-food industry. Despite the challenges faced by front-of-house staff in this process, they can overcome them by implementing Voice AI technology. Thereby, allowing front-of-house staff to continue being the unsung heroes of the fast-food industry. With the use of Voice AI, fast food restaurants can take their customer service to the next level, satisfying their customers and growing their restaurant.

VOICEplug AI can help transform your restaurant into a well-oiled machine. Our technology will assist your staff in streamlining day-to-day tasks, freeing up more time for them to focus on delivering excellent customer service. And with happier, more productive staff, you’ll be able to provide your customers with an even better experience. Contact us today!