Restaurant Case Study: AI Receptionist for Reservations and Catering
How a busy neighborhood restaurant stopped losing Friday-night reservations and catering inquiries to a ringing phone nobody could reach, with an AI receptionist that books, quotes and hands off.
Overview
The client is a 90-seat Mediterranean restaurant in Los Angeles with a small catering side that the owner wanted to grow. During service, the phone rang at the host stand and went unanswered a third of the time. Reservations went to competitors; catering inquiries, which are worth far more than a table, went to voicemail and often never got a call back.
Gain Rhino installed an AI receptionist on the restaurant's line and website chat. It takes reservations against the live floor plan, answers the questions that make up most calls (hours, parking, dietary options, private dining), and captures catering inquiries with event date, headcount and budget into the CRM, then hands them to the owner with a summary. The host stand hears only the calls that need a person.
Research
We logged two weeks of calls: about 60 a day, peaking during dinner service, with 34 percent unanswered. About one in twelve calls was a catering or private-event inquiry. Of those that reached voicemail, fewer than half were ever called back, and the average callback was two days later.
We connected the reservation system so the AI books against real availability and honors the same rules as the host (party size limits, holiday policies). Common questions were answered from a short knowledge base the manager keeps current. Catering inquiries get their own intake with the questions the owner needs to quote, and an automatic acknowledgment with the owner's name so the customer knows a person is on it.
Result
Every call is now answered, reservations are booked without anyone leaving the floor, and catering inquiries reach the owner with the details needed to quote the same day. The host stand is calmer on Friday nights.
By the numbers (first 90 days):
- Calls answered100%, up from about 66%
- Reservations booked by the AI1,140
- Catering inquiries captured with full detailsabout 3x the prior quarter
- Catering inquiries called back within one business day100%, up from under half
- Calls reaching the host standdown about 70%
Client identity withheld at their request. Figures reflect the first 90 days after launch.
