Restaurant AI
Order & Reservation System

The system handles: reservation requests (capturing party size, date, time, and special requests, then confirming availability or offering alternatives), menu questions (hours, dietary restrictions, current specials, allergen information), catering inquiry intake (capturing event date, guest count, service type, and budget to route to the catering sales team with a complete brief), order status questions (for restaurants with online ordering, querying the POS for order status and providing an estimated time), general inquiries (location, parking, dress code, gift cards), and follow-up with no-shows or recently completed reservations to request reviews or offer rebooking.

When a reservation request arrives via SMS, email, or social DM, the AI extracts the key booking details — requested date, time, party size, and any special occasion or dietary notes. It checks availability in the connected reservation system (OpenTable, Resy, or a calendar) and responds with a confirmation if the requested time is available, or offers the nearest available alternative times if the requested slot is full. Special requests (birthday cakes, high chairs, wheelchair accessibility) are captured and noted on the reservation. Confirmed reservations trigger automated reminders at 24 hours and 2 hours before the seating.

Catering inquiries often arrive as open-ended questions — 'I'm looking for catering for my company event' — that require gathering detailed information before a quote can be provided. The AI conducts a structured intake via SMS or email conversation: event date and time, estimated guest count, event location, service format (drop-off, buffet, plated dinner, cocktail reception), dietary considerations, and budget range. Once the intake is complete, the catering manager receives a Slack notification with the full inquiry brief and the guest's contact information — allowing them to respond with a qualified quote rather than starting from scratch.

GoHighLevel's unified inbox aggregates messages from all connected channels — SMS, email, Facebook Messenger, Instagram DM, and Google Business Profile chat — into a single interface. When the AI auto-responds to a guest inquiry, the response is sent through the same channel the guest used (SMS reply to an SMS, DM reply to a DM). Staff members can monitor the unified inbox to review all AI conversations and intervene on any inquiry that requires a human response. No switching between apps is required.

The system is designed for inquiry management and reservation handling rather than direct order processing — which requires integration with a full POS and payment processing system. For restaurants with an existing online ordering platform (Toast, Square, Otter, Slice), the AI can field order status inquiries by querying the connected platform for order status and providing updates. It can also guide guests to the restaurant's online ordering link when they express intent to order.

Negative guest messages — a complaint about a past experience, a poor review on social media, a request for a refund — are routed immediately to a designated manager via Slack alert rather than being handled by the AI. The AI sends a brief acknowledgment to the guest ('We received your message and a manager will be in touch shortly') to confirm the message was received and set expectations for human follow-up. This prevents the AI from making commitments on refunds, comps, or service recovery that require manager authority.

A basic setup handling reservation requests, hours and menu questions, and catering inquiry intake takes 5 to 7 business days. The work involves connecting GoHighLevel to all active messaging channels, building the intent classification prompts for the specific restaurant's most common inquiry types, configuring the reservation system integration, and testing all response flows. Training the AI on the restaurant's specific menu, policies, pricing, and FAQs is done at onboarding and can be updated as the menu changes seasonally.