AI Ordering Systems: The Smart Pick Amongst So Many Options

From digital board menus and kiosks to super-efficient point of sale (POS) systems, many modern technological advancements have changed how restaurant owners do business today. The best of these kill three birds with one stone. They: 

• Help you tackle some of your most stressful challenges like finding reliable front desk staff and ways to drive more revenue
• Empower employees to be more productive and focus on the to-dos that will have the biggest impact
• Result in more positive, memorable customer experiences that earn you repeat customers

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Types of ordering systems: What are your options?

All AI ordering systems serve the same basic purpose—they use tech to make it easier for customers to order from you. However, there are some differences in how the different types of systems use applications like voice AI, speech recognition, automation, and customer-facing features used to take orders.

AI voice ordering systems

Modern voice ordering uses AI to understand verbal customer orders and process them via integrations with a restaurant's in-house POS system. 

Pros: 

• AI voice ordering systems can handle more than one order at a time, meaning customers can get their food faster. 
• Because AI never sleeps (or gets too busy like your employees sometimes do), it’s always available when customers are ready to order. 
• AI voice assistants can collect data on your customers’ preferences and how they change over time, which can help you improve your menu or make other positive changes. 

Cons: 

• Many customers prefer to talk to a living, breathing human, so interacting directly with an AI voice assistant can be  a big turnoff. Translation: Even if a customer moves ahead with placing an order today, they may not order from you again.  
• Even though natural language processing (NLP) has gotten better in recent history, Voice AI can still struggle to understand speech with background noise, strong accents, and the like. This can leave customers frustrated and also mean more inaccurate orders. 
• Many companies have created AI-centric systems simply because AI is a hot topic right now. However, inour experience, the tech is ready to handle 75% of the most common use cases (e.g., it can struggle to understand complicated orders and substitutions).  

Human phone ordering systems + AI

As the name implies, this type of phone ordering system gives you access to a dynamic duo of professionally-trained human agents and the best that AI tech currently has to offer. Instead of leaving artificial intelligence to do all the work (before the technology is ready), this type of solution uses AI as a copilot. In other words, it supports human agents behind the scenes, helping them to ensure accurate orders and work more efficiently. 

Pros: 

• Your customers still get the experience of talking to a friendly and professional agent who can recommend menu items, offer tasty upsells, and handle special requests like substitutions.
• By outsourcing to a service like Tarro, you can enjoy a 5% to 10% reduction in labor costs and feel a lot less pressure to hire more staff. 
• Especially if you only have one phone line or two, an AI + human phone ordering solution will be able to handle far more calls simultaneously than you can—no more missed orders!

Cons:

• If you’ve been used to taking all orders yourself, it can be an adjustment to hand that task off (which is why it’s so important to choose a partner you trust). 

Besides kiosks, AI-first, and AI-powered human ordering systems, there are other system types. For instance, some restaurants allow customers to order via mobile apps or chatbots that leverage AI technology in various ways. 

There are predictive ordering systems that use machine learning to predict what customers will order based on past data. And solutions that automatically optimize delivery routes to cut down on delivery times, lower fuel costs, and boost customer satisfaction.

Artificial intelligence definitely has its benefits when used wisely. But before we get into how to make the most of it, let’s dig a little deeper into the benefits. 

What the right AI ordering system can do for you 

1. Earn you more orders and more revenue

When managing the ordering process in-house, there are many ways to miss out on revenue. You lose customers if you’re unable to answer calls while on the other line, packing takeout orders, or doing other work. Plus, if a customer catches your front desk staff on a day when they’re overwhelmed and can’t provide the usual A+ service, they may not order from you again. 

A good ordering system eliminates those problems and boosts your sales as a result. In fact, one restaurant saw a 40% increase in phone orders, going from 100,000 orders to an average of 140,000 monthly.  

2. End staffing headaches 

An ordering system that’s affordable and delivers a stellar experience to customers solves the headache that is hiring and retaining employees. It also frees up your current employees to work on other things, like making sure guests in the restaurant have a good dining experience and receive fast service. 

For instance, one of the toughest tasks for the owner of Manadrin House was finding experienced front desk staff. For a while, it seemed he couldn’t win. It was hard to find people interested in working the front desk anyway. But the people who were interested either: 

• Didn’t have English fluent enough to help customers  
• Or weren’t experieced enough to handle taking orders and other tasks efficiently

Things only turned around when the previous owner of the restaurant suggested a phone ordering solution they trusted. With staffing worries finally out of the way, the owner, Mr. Jiang, felt a weight lift off of his shoulders. Besides eliminating the hassle of finding, hiring, and managing staff, Mr. Jiang also avoided the expenses of front desk hiring. 

3. Keep people coming back with stellar customer experiences 

Especially if they use artificial intelligence in a balanced way, food ordering systems can dramatically improve order accuracy. 

Thanks to advanced AI technology, Tarro Phone Ordering consistently hits an industry-best accuracy rate of 99.5%. And, of course, fewer incorrect orders mean happier customers.

The same goes for speed improvements. The ability to take and process an unlimited number of phone orders at the same time, means that the kitchen can also prepare several orders at a time. When wait times for pickup and delivery drop, customer satisfaction does the opposite—it skyrockets. 

Watch out for shiny object syndrome

If you’re after the benefits above, what will help you make a smart choice when picking an AI ordering system? 

Not getting caught up in the hype surrounding AI. 

As it’s become more mainstream over the last couple of years, many companies have put it on a pedestal like it’s a perfect, cure-all solution. While it’s definitely helpful, overreliance on it (or using it in the wrong ways) won’t do you any good. 

The technology is still young, so it can’t consistently deliver experiences that are on par with the excellent customer service you want to offer. This is a big downside of AI-only systems with no humans involved. 

Though artificial intelligence will likely get better as time goes on, currently, the best way to use it in the restaurant industry is to assist real people with handling phone orders. This is how Tarro Phone Ordering works. 

NLP and natural language understanding (NLU) technology work in the background to make placing the order easier for the agent, but callers still get the seamless experience of speaking with a real human. Specifically, a real human who’s knowledgeable about your menu, can accommodate special requests, make recommendations, and even handle general inquiries or complaints.   

This increased convenience and improved customer experience translate into real business results for restaurants. To date, we’ve worked with thousands of restaurants to increase revenue anywhere from 5% to 20% on average.  

Transforming tech and benefits into better margins and improved profits

Technological advances like AI ordering systems will continue to revolutionize the restaurant industry. But with a people-first approach to adopting the right tech for the right purpose, owners can use these new platforms and systems to revolutionize their bottom line.

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To learn more about how our own human-centered, AI-assisted phone ordering system is lightening the load for owners just like you, check us out today at Tarro.com.

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