The AI receptionist answers a restaurant's phone and WhatsApp. It takes collection orders from the menu, books tables from the floor plan, and hands complaints, refunds and allergy questions to a manager for a callback, while staff follow orders and bookings on one dashboard. Built for a café in South Africa, it is in testing before it goes live there.
01 The customer's WhatsApp chat
02 The managers' WhatsApp group
NEW TAKEAWAY T-004
Name: Sam
Phone: +27 82 ••• ••12
Via: WhatsApp
2 x Chicken burger — R190.00
1 x Steak sandwich — R145.00
Total: R335.00 (pay on collection)
Collection: 18:45–18:55 18:15
03 The dashboard's Orders tab
To enter in the POS (1)
T-004 New WhatsApp
Collect 18:45–18:55 ordered 18:15
Sam +27 82 ••• ••12
R335.00 pay on collection Entered in POS
Illustrative — not customer data.
Platform record · 2026
01 Features
The receptionist answers the restaurant's phone and WhatsApp. It takes collection orders, books tables, answers questions on the menu, prices and opening hours, and asks a manager to call back on six kinds of request. Staff follow the orders and bookings on one dashboard.
F—01
Speech in, speech out
The receptionist answers the phone in English. It listens to the caller and answers aloud, in a British-English voice.
F—02
Text messages only
Customers message the restaurant on WhatsApp, and the receptionist answers in the chat, in text.
F—03
Priced from the menu
The receptionist takes the order from the menu and reads it back with the total. Prices are calculated by the system from the menu, not by the AI.
F—04
From the floor plan
The receptionist checks the floor plan, books a table and tells the customer which one.
F—05
Six reasons for a callback
Some requests need a person. For these, the receptionist posts a callback request to the managers' WhatsApp group, so a manager can call the customer back.
F—06
Five tabs
Staff follow the floor, the orders and the bookings on one dashboard. Once an order is keyed into the till, they tap “Entered in POS”.
02 How it works
A call or a WhatsApp message reaches the receptionist. Orders and bookings come out as notices in the managers' WhatsApp group and as entries on the staff dashboard, and staff key each order into the till.
Answered in English: the receptionist listens and answers aloud.
Text only. Voice notes and photos get a request to type or call, and group chats are ignored.
Answers questions on the menu, prices and opening hours, takes collection orders and books tables from the floor plan.
Order and booking notices and callback requests are posted to the managers' WhatsApp group.
Orders and bookings appear on the staff dashboard, with a chime for new orders.
Staff key each order into the till and tap “Entered in POS”. The receptionist has no link to the till.
03 Guardrails
Prices come from the menu, orders stop at the kitchen's cut-off, and six kinds of request get a manager's callback. The rows below say where the receptionist's job ends and the staff's begins.
Calculated by the system from the menu, not by the AI.
No orders are taken after the kitchen's cut-off.
Complaints, refunds, very large parties, allergy questions, market-price dishes and anyone who asks for a person go to a manager as a callback request.
On WhatsApp it reads text. Voice notes and photos get a polite request to type or call.
Ignored.
Staff key each order into the till and confirm it with “Entered in POS” on the Orders tab.
Orders and bookings are stored on the computer the receptionist runs on, at the restaurant.
04 Questions
One computer at the restaurant, dashboard included. The orders and bookings it takes are stored on that computer.
English. On the phone it listens to the caller and answers aloud in a British-English voice; on WhatsApp it reads and writes text.
Not yet; staff key orders into the till today, then tap “Entered in POS” on the dashboard. The receptionist comes to Alpha POS, Alpha’s own point of sale, later as an add-on.
They go to a manager. The receptionist posts a callback request to the managers' WhatsApp group, so a manager can call the customer back. Refunds, very large parties, dishes sold at market price and anyone who asks for a person go the same way.
No. Orders are for collection, and the customer pays on collection. There is no delivery and no payment online.
Not yet. It was built for a café in South Africa and is in testing before it goes live there. A real phone call has not been tested yet.
05 Book a walkthrough
The AI receptionist is in testing. Tell us about your restaurant: how orders and bookings reach you today, and what you use as a till. You will get a reply within one business day.