Imagine a situation where a virtual team member of yours will present your customers with a detailed menu, reserve a table for them on their special occasions, process the menu order, and help your customers with overall support. This sounds like the best of all options, right? But how would you implement that? The answer is restaurant chatbots.
Restaurant chatbots are AI-powered bots that are implemented to streamline conversations between customers and the concerned restaurants. Apart from the aforementioned tasks, restaurant chatbots will help in placing orders, sharing the status of order deliveries, and answering order-related questions.
There is a list of top restaurant chains and premium dining that have implemented chatbots and AI agents, such as Domino's, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell, to name a few. For more such information on restaurant chatbots and their benefits, uses, and examples, read the sections below.
How are restaurant chatbots used?
As discussed above, there are numerous ways in which restaurants use chatbots, such as placing orders, tracking deliveries, reserving tables, and so on. The segment below will discuss the top 9 uses of restaurant chatbots for your reference.
1. Order placement and tracking
Restaurants may utilize AI chatbots to take orders and provide real-time status updates, ranging from preparation to delivery.
2. Table bookings
Customers can simply reserve a table at your restaurant using your chatbot, which will automatically check table availability and send a confirmation. It can also handle virtual waiting lists.
3. Customer support
Restaurant-bots make it possible for businesses, to provide real-time answers to commonly asked questions about the menu, working hours, address, and reservation policy. They even reply in alternative languages, so your business will reach a larger portion of society.
4. Reordering
Some chatbots have the capacity to take notes and remember information about their users, so regular consumers may reorder what they love eating easily with a few clicks.
5. Loyalty programs
The customer can view their loyalty points, redeem rewards, and learn about your promotions using the chatbot.
6. Promotional messages
Restaurant chatbots can push customized offers, promotions, and discounts to customers based on past orders.
7. Surveys and reviews
After a visit or order, chatbots can ask customers to rate their experience, provide feedback, and review them.
8. Staff assistance
By responding to standard questions, chatbots free up your staff to focus on more important matters and connect consumers with an actual agent if necessary.
9. Menu support
Chatbots are capable of suggesting dishes based on what consumers previously enjoyed and providing information on ingredients and allergens.
Benefits of restaurant chatbots
Chatbot implementation benefits companies and organizations in many ways, including lowering total costs, streamlining the process, increasing knowledge on a specific subject, and many more. Similarly, implementing a restaurant chatbot will benefit you in a lot of ways that are discussed in the section below.
1. Operational streamlining
This is one of the primary benefits, wherein restaurant chatbots take up the majority of the task of client interactions, thereby freeing up the executives to focus on something that is more crucial and meaningful.
We all agree that on the majority of the days, customers often have questions that are simple but important to them, like menu items, delivery status, or operating hours. These do not require human intervention and can be effectively managed by a chatbot. In cases like these, restaurant chatbots take over the conversations and respond to their queries.
2. Happy dining experience
The final goal of chatbots used in restaurants is to provide a smooth dining experience. Through answering brief and precise questions, enabling simple payment, and providing customized suggestions, chatbots are responsible for providing an incredible and unforgettable experience to the customer.
3. Customer interaction
Restaurant chatbots are conversational interfaces powered by natural language processing (NLP), allowing customers to place orders, book tables, and ask questions in a human-like manner. This interactive and personalized communication style enhances user engagement and helps build stronger customer-restaurant relationships by delivering faster service and tailored experiences.
4. Saves time, money, and effort
Chatbots are 24/7 messaging platforms that answer all of the questions from customers. If they cannot answer a question, it will be forwarded to the concerned staff member or department. Consequently, they cut down the number of questions that employees spend their time on. Also, customers do not have to look up the restaurant's contact information, call them, and inquire. They can get to know everything in one text message, enhancing customer satisfaction and saving effort and time.
5. Personalized experience
Restaurant chatbots can give you information about your clients. What type of client are you dealing with, and what are they looking for regarding diet and previous orders? For example, dietary advice or options could be suited to someone vegan. With targeted menus being displayed, the information generates more targeted recommendations. Considering the above-mentioned uses of chatbots, some of the top facts regarding AI chatbot uses are tabulated below.
Top 5 restaurant chatbots
Several restaurant chatbots stand out for their efficiency and functionality. For instance, the Domino's chatbot can be used within Facebook Messenger, whereas the McDonald's chatbot can automate orders via WhatsApp and Messenger.
The sections below will discuss the top 5 restaurant chatbot examples and their key features.
1. Domino's
Domino's has developed a wide-ranging chatbot platform known as Dom that allows its customers to order and track orders through various channels like Facebook Messenger, Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and SMS.
Domino's chatbot platform is a perfect illustration of the advantages that are generated when various technologies are combined to advance customer convenience by offering a variety of paths for ordering and tracking appropriate for consumer requirements.
Characteristics
- The "Easy Order" feature allows customers to easily order new orders for their favorite or regular dishes. Google Assistant, Alexa, Facebook Messenger, and SMS can be utilized to achieve this.
- Customers are also able to find and order from Domino's whole menu through the Facebook Messenger bot without leaving the app at all.
2. Starbucks
Starbucks chatbot, "My Starbucks Barista," can be integrated as a mobile application in an attempt to offer customers easier and more convenient ordering. It is a natural language understanding chatbot whereby customers can order verbally or in text and pay using associated cards or gift cards.
Key Features
- The Starbucks chatbot enables users to personalize and place their orders.
- The chatbot integrates perfectly into the Starbucks Rewards program.
- Users are given customized drink suggestions based on their tastes.
3. Pizza Hut
The Pizza Hut AI chatbot, Hutty, was introduced as an interactive chatbot mascot during March Madness and other major sporting events, acting as a fan engagement tool. It was primarily used on social media (like Twitter/X) and digital campaigns to add personality and interact with sports fans. Hutty extends that second-screen experience by responding to key plays, offering fun facts, and building on the buzz from opening tip-off until the final buzzer.
Characteristics
- While Pizza Hut provides the fuel for watch parties, Hutty brings fans together online, so every game becomes more social.
- Be it offering promotional coupons or sharing in the emotional peaks of the tournament, Hutty brings the entire experience closer to being interactive and engaging.
4. Taco Bell
In March 2016, Taco Bell and Slack teamed up to introduce "TacoBot," a food-ordering chatbot from the company's messaging application. Apart from providing menu suggestions and answering questions, TacoBot captures the snarky, witty attitude that Taco Bell customers have come to love.
Characteristics
- Takes specific meal orders and keeps track of them, even if they are sent in a different message.
- With the help of Wit.ai, it is able to understand a wide range of user input and natural language ordering behavior.
5. McDonald's
McDonald's has launched an AI-powered chatbot named "Ask Pickl," developed in collaboration with Google Cloud, to support restaurant operations and help employees.
The chatbot is capable of understanding and responding to natural language-based queries, making it simple for employees to use in seeking rapid assistance during working hours. Using Google Distributed Cloud, "Ask Pickles" operates smoothly in each restaurant, thus facilitating quick data processing and low latency.
Characteristics
- Through instant solutions to the common operational issues, Ask Pickles cuts down downtime and allows employees to focus more on customer service.
- By talking to Ask Pickles, McDonald's can determine recurring issues in the experiences of their employees so that they can keep refining their training materials and operational procedures.
Top 5 restaurant chatbot building platforms
Discussed below are the top 5 chatbot-building platforms for restaurants for your reference.
1. Copilot.live
Copilot.live is an upscale chatbot platform that provides current and potential customers with a customized and interactive experience. It can be used to develop AI agents that simulate human dialogue. Its most striking attribute is its flexibility, its capability to divert the direction of conversation according to the user's intent.
Copilot.live offers services like order placing and order tracking, proposing a detailed menu list, and simultaneously providing an overall update about the eternity of the restaurant and the dishes available.
Apart from that, with the help of Copilot.live, you can help your clients book their tables and offer a customized menu.
Key features
- Copilot.live offers multilingual support and works flawlessly in over 50 languages globally.
- Its appearance and tone can be programmed according to the client it is communicating with.
- It enables human-sounding and human-like interaction
- It can escalate conversations to real human representatives in case of need.
2. Tidio
Tidio's AI agent, also known as Lyro AI, helps its clients automate chat, email, and social conversations in 12 different languages. Intelligent help desk software and self-service capabilities can also optimize workflows. Tidio provides top-notch customer care, whether you manage 1,000 customer chats or 10,000 a day.
Each Tidio product is a great performer, but combined, they revolutionize your support. With Lyro AI, you can convert visitors into paying customers through automation to deliver personalized support at scale from onboarding through issue resolution in minutes.
Key features
- Integrates seamlessly with your tech stack and Eases multilingual support
- Simple to install, set up, and customize yourself
- Forward tricky issues to your staff through Tidio or your support desk, and utilize in-depth analytics to optimize your support.
3. ChatFuel
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The chatbot for ChatFuel, also known as Fuely AI, will help you improve your WhatsApp business number and use a WhatsApp AI bot for your company. Fuely AI schedules appointments, makes product recommendations, and responds to feedback.
Fuely AI is a burn-out-free, super-efficient chatbot that is accessible 24/7. It is a receptive chatbot that is capable of sending numerous messages and simultaneously adapts itself to customer requests.
Key features
- It also updates order status, including returns, refunds, and complaint resolution, which are also shared.
- Utilize WhatsApp's full potential with a dependable service.
- Use an AI bot from WhatsApp for your online store.
4. Zoho SalesIQ
Zoho SalesIQ provides your sales, marketing, and support teams with digital customer engagement solutions to communicate with every site visitor at each step of the customer journey.
This one-stop live chat and analytics platform encourages proactive engagement with customers, allowing you to start the right conversation at the perfect time. By implementing Zoho SalesIQ, you can add in-app chat support and avail all the other advantages of Zoho SalesIQ for your mobile app.
Key features
- Intelligent engagement tools to redefine your customer experience, and fast and effective lead capture and qualification
- Timely and effective lead nurturing and omnichannel customer engagement
- Round-the-clock customer support and analytics for data-driven decisions.
5. TARS
Launch year: 2015
TARS chatbots will assist your customers in placing orders in minutes without waiting in queues to be connected with your delivery executive. TARS is a no-code AI agent builder chatbot platform. It helps create smart automation workflows, which improve the customer experience and help your team streamline the process. Using the TARS chatbot, you can improve customer service through friendly and personalized communication, which will drive an increase in total sales.
Key features
- The bot provides orders with a list of food items to select from, i.e., Starters, Main Course, Dessert & Drinks, etc.
- It boosts your income by allowing you to reach more people.
- It enhances your brand image among your desired market.
How to create a restaurant chatbot?
The 4 simple steps you must follow to create your restaurant chatbot at Copilot.live are discussed below.
Step 1: Visit the official website and sign up for free
The first step will require visiting the official Copilot website on the Google search engine results page (SERP). Here’s the link for you: https://www.Copilot.live/.
Step 2: Name and design your chatbot
Here's the interesting part. Once you log in, you'll see a tab with multiple menus on the Copilot dashboard. You can create a persona by setting your chatbot's basic identity and personality under the configuration menu. The Inbox page shows details of the chatbot's conversations with customers.
Step 3: Train your chatbot
Now that your chatbot is ready, go to the data source menu and add data as needed. Remember, this data is what your chatbot will use to answer customer questions, so be very careful about what you feed it.
Step 4: Test and deploy
Your restaurant chatbot is now ready. But to prevent any more problems, we recommend testing it by installing it in your app and WhatsApp, wherever you intend to install it. Before installing it, don't forget to enable the "Fresh Chat Inbox" feature of Copilot.live, because this feature will enable your chatbot to transition smoothly from a gadget to a human being.
Conclusion
At a time when timely, personalized, and effective customer service is imperative and nearly a requirement of the hour, restaurant chatbots give companies a competitive advantage. Restaurant chatbots are not a passing trend but a business strategy to enhance productivity, customer satisfaction, and company success with new technology.
