What the agent handles
- Collects date, headcount and budget
- Sends menus and packages
- Books tastings and consultations
- Notes dietary and allergy needs
- Confirms final counts before events
Hospitality and food
AI receptionist for catering
Collects event dates, headcounts and dietary needs, sends menus, and books tastings and consultations for weddings, offices and private events.
CallerWe need lunch for thirty people at the office on Thursday. Is that enough notice?
CallerWe're getting married in June and want to set up a tasting.
CallerHalf our guests are vegetarian and a few need halal, can you handle that?
Where calls go
Sales and eventsChefOperationsAccounts
Warm transfer: When a client calls on event day because the food hasn't arrived or something's gone wrong, the agent warm-transfers to the operations lead.
What it books
Tastings, consultations and event orders
Why caterers miss calls, and what an AI receptionist changes
Catering enquiries tend to arrive when everyone who could answer them is busy. The owner is plating a two-hundred-guest wedding in a barn an hour out of town, the chef is prepping tomorrow's office lunches, and the sales lead is walking a venue with a couple. Spring and fall are the hardest: couples call to book tastings, offices start booking December holiday parties in October, and every Monday brings a pile of 'can you do lunch for thirty on Thursday?' requests. A voicemail box can't tell which of those has a deadline.
An AI receptionist for caterers takes each of those calls with the questions your sales person would ask: event date, start time, location, headcount, service style (drop-off, buffet, family style or plated), budget per guest, and dietary needs counted plate by plate, from vegetarian and halal to gluten-free and nut-free. It sends your menus and package sheets by text or email, books tastings and consultations into the schedule, and takes office orders against the notice you require.
It doesn't price an event from scratch or confirm a date your kitchen hasn't agreed to. Custom menus, rentals and staffing become a detailed request for your sales lead. On event day, when a client calls because the delivery van hasn't arrived or the guest count jumped by fifteen, the agent puts them through to your operations lead with a private summary first, and if that phone is off, the message goes out by text and email straight away.
Example call, start to finish
- CallerHi, we need lunch for about thirty people at our office on Thursday. Is that enough notice?
- AI receptionistIt is. We ask for forty-eight hours on office orders, so Thursday works. What time should it arrive, and where's the office?
- CallerNoon, at 155 Wellington Street West, fourth floor. Just sandwiches and salads, nothing fancy.
- AI receptionistOur Working Lunch package covers that. Are there any dietary needs I should note?
- CallerTwo vegetarians and one nut allergy. And it just turned into a retirement send-off, so it might be closer to forty-five people. Can you do a cake?
- AI receptionistForty-five is fine with this much notice. Cakes aren't on our menu, so I've asked Andrea, our sales lead, to call you about dessert trays. What's your name and the best number?
- CallerMark Sullivan, this number's good.
- AI receptionistThanks, Mark. I've booked the Working Lunch for forty-five, Thursday at noon, with two vegetarian and one nut-free plate marked. Andrea will call about dessert and the final count, and I'm texting you the confirmation and menu now.
After the call: Andrea gets a text and email with the order, the jump from thirty to forty-five, the dietary counts and the dessert question. The kitchen sees Thursday's order in the RealVoice schedule, Mark has his confirmation text, and the summary and recording are saved in the portal in case the headcount is questioned later.
How it fits your day
- Tasting season
- From January to May, couples call to book tastings. The agent books them on the days your chef runs tastings, after collecting the wedding date, venue and guest count.
- Monday office orders
- Weekly lunch and meeting orders are taken against your notice rules, with headcount, drop-off time, floor number and dietary counts written down.
- Event-day problems
- A client whose delivery is late or whose count changed gets your operations lead on the phone, already briefed on the event.
- Holiday party bookings
- October and November enquiries for December parties are answered when they come in, with your holiday packages sent by text or email.
Your software
Today it books tastings, consultations and event orders into the RealVoice schedule in the portal, stores each enquiry's summary and recording there, texts clients a confirmation, and sends a reminder text the day before each tasting or delivery. If your kitchen runs Caterease, Total Party Planner, Tripleseat or Curate, the team can set up a connection to it; custom integrations are quoted separately.
What a missed call costs
Catering is uneven: most calls are small, but the one you miss might be a wedding. A plated dinner for a hundred and twenty guests at around $90 a head is over $10,000 before bar and rentals, and couples usually ask three caterers for a tasting and go with whoever got back to them first. Losing two of those in one spring changes the whole season. The missed-call calculator on our homepage lets you test it with your own per-guest numbers.
Questions caterers ask
Can it quote a price for my event?
It gives the package and per-guest prices you've given it. Custom menus, rentals, staffing and travel are written up as a quote request for your sales lead, so nobody is promised a number you didn't set.
How does it handle dietary restrictions?
It asks for counts, not just labels: how many vegetarian, vegan, halal, gluten-free or nut-free plates, and any severe allergies. Those counts go on the order and in the note to your chef. It doesn't promise a dish is safe for an allergy unless your information says so.
Can clients call in final guest counts?
Yes. Final numbers phoned in before your cut-off are noted on the event and sent to your team. Changes after the cut-off go to your sales lead to approve.
What if a client calls on event day with a problem?
It warm-transfers to your operations lead with a short private summary of the event, the venue and what's wrong. If that phone isn't answered, the details go out by text and email right away and the client is told someone is being reached.
Can it answer while we're catering an event off-site?
That's when it earns its keep. Forward your line to it during events, or all the time, and new enquiries are taken and booked while your whole team is at the venue.
Will couples know they're talking to an AI?
It tells anyone who asks. Most couples want their date, guest count and tasting sorted, and it gets those done in one call.
Hear it as your own catering company's front desk
Request a free demo call and the agent will phone you, set up as a business like yours.