“AI creates frustration for a lot of people who are new to it,” Kent says. She works as a systems analyst alongside an AI receptionist. “I’ve gotten used to it, but… [I’m] I’m still annoyed. ”
Crush Pizza is one of many small restaurants across New England and the United States that uses AI to take orders and answer other calls. This is an initiative that will help reduce costs and staff amid low profit margins, rising food and labor costs, and ongoing labor shortages following the pandemic. These techniques have encountered resistance from: Some customers say they are not getting the service they were used to.
Tony Nasser, who implemented the AI response system at both Massachusetts-based Crush Pizza stores and another New Hampshire chain, Mickey’s NY Pizza, said many customers were “surprised” and some were “isolated” after the change.
Nasser signed on with Roman AI, an Austin, Texas-based voice AI startup, in 2024. Roman AI is one of more than 1,000 similar startups representing a multi-billion dollar market in automation services.
“As time went on, we got fewer and fewer customer complaints about it,” Nasser said.
To him, the criticisms of the technology pale in comparison to its benefits, which include handling at least 1,000 calls a month at each store. Roman said the system is 98.6 percent accurate. Medical research shows that human receptionists typically have 94% data entry accuracy.
“I can’t imagine going back and answering the phone like I did Friday night,” he says.
According to Roman’s data, restaurants like his can increase call revenue by 26% by using AI instead of humans.
In addition to Nasser’s stores, Roman Software also launched during the same period at three of the 12 locations of Nick’s Place, a primarily mom-and-pop pizza chain scattered across the North Shore and southeastern New Hampshire. Owner Kosta Alexandrou said the decision was made to switch to artificial receptionists in 2024, when many of the counter employees graduate from high school and move on.
Alexandrou and Naser said they do most of their business through online ordering, reflecting an industry trend that shows more customers. I’ve moved away from Phone calls are on the rise as mobile ordering and delivery apps become mainstream. Still, missed calls remain a major source of revenue loss for restaurants, especially those offering takeout, as some customers resist digital food service and the lack of human interaction.
stephen clarke The president and CEO of the Massachusetts Restaurant Association said that telephone answering tools are probably the most widely adopted form of AI in the restaurant industry, particularly in neighborhood pizza parlors. Franchisees such as Chipotle and Domino’s Pizza have been using similar services since 2018, he said, adding that it’s no surprise that these services continue to gain traction in New England, where nine out of 10 restaurants in Massachusetts and New Hampshire are small businesses, as the cost of these services has come down.
Mom-and-pop stores using AI have proven to be a testing ground for the effectiveness of the technology in small market scenarios and consumer acceptance of these tools. Nasser said he feels that even though major chains are phasing out human receptionists, local stores are being held to different standards.
“You can’t call a lot of these big fast-food chains, so why do customers get upset when a small mom-and-pop place tries to be a little bit more technologically advanced or a little bit more efficient?” Nasser said.
A report released in October by customer analytics platform Qualtrics
Out of over 1,700 total Google reviews for all of Nasser’s restaurants, only 20 mention AI or robot phones, but the majority of those that do leave one- and two-star ratings.
Meredith Harvey of Hampstead, N.H., said she didn’t mind talking to the AI agent and found it easy to use when she ordered plain, unmarinated grilled chicken at Mickey’s NY Pizza in Derry, N.H., two weeks ago. She later became angry when she learned that she had been given home-marinated chicken.
Apparently, the restaurant wasn’t giving her what she wanted, but the AI didn’t inform her and she didn’t get a refund, she said. Like Kent, she has yet to order from a restaurant since the incident.
But for owners, the technology has so far been a major win, generating revenue and freedom in the tenuous world of local business.
Alexandrou said he now worries less about what’s going on in the store, even going home early on Halloween last year, the store’s busiest night of the year, something he said was unthinkable before integrating AI.
“Don’t worry about my food pride, but like my technology pride…every time a new technology comes out, I try to help everyone,” he said. “People don’t realize this isn’t just about franchises.”
Christian Wiens, founder and CEO of Loman AI, said his company has grown 15 times in the last year, attracting small businesses that regularly leak revenue through missed calls and can’t afford to support them anymore.
“If anyone says that phones aren’t a problem in restaurants, that’s a complete lie,” Alexandrou says. “[AI is] He saved me from a predicament. ”
For Nasser and Alexandrou, AI can help repurpose employees in the kitchen and other areas. Fending off another criticism he’s seen online about his business, that it’s letting AI take away jobs, Nasser said the past year has been so strong, thanks in part to technology upgrades, that he now employs more people than before he started using AI.
“We think of it like we’re paying our employees, but we’re paying them less,” Alexandrou said. Since introducing AI, the company has reduced the number of people it employs to handle calls.
Wiens said Roman’s customers will save about $2,500 per month per store in labor costs. He said 66% of Roman’s restaurant customers have reduced labor costs through attrition, which equates to approximately one shift per day. 34% are maintaining the same staffing levels, but the majority report that they may reduce their workforce.
Roman’s AI agent increases order value by 16% through upsells, and also records every call and collects large amounts of data, allowing restaurants to personalize interactions for repeat customers, Wiens said.
some industry experts He said as the technology continues to improve, customer complaints will fade and it will become more widespread.
“People are resisting because what’s currently in place is shoddy,” says Boston Venture Studio’s Paul English, co-founder of travel search engine Kayak and startup producer of consumer apps. “Bots are going to be better than humans, and soon people will say, ‘That’s great if you answer my questions right away.'”
Contact Brian Hecht at bryan.hecht@globe.com. Follow him on Instagram @bhechtjournalism.
