AI Answering Service Brings Huge Time Savings
The Deck Saves Over 290 Hours On the Phone with Popmenu AI Answering
Originally opened as a “locals only” spot for Laguna Beach residents, The Deck has been providing excellent customer service, delicious food, and an unmatched waterfront view since 2013. With a wealth of industry experience and knowledge, John Nye, owner of The Deck, created the eatery with an understanding that putting people first is the key to successfully running a restaurant.
However, as the industry reignited and guests started returning en masse, phone lines became overwhelmed with simple questions, and John’s team found it difficult to act on this philosophy—having to choose between sending calls to voicemail or ignoring on-premise guests while they answered phones. This lead to missed revenue opportunities, as 42% of diners surveyed by Popmenu say they will move on to another restaurant if they call to make a reservation and get a voicemail. That’s why they took advantage of Popmenu Answering.
John knew that reducing the number of phone calls his team had to answer was a win-win for both his staff and his customers. By having guests speak with the AI assistant first, the team is confident that when a call comes through, it is someone who needs further assistance as they had already exhausted all of the options with Answering. If the team isn’t able to pick up and the guest has to leave a voicemail, the AI transcribes messages and ranks them in the Popmenu dashboard to ensure The Deck can return priority calls quickly.
This experience serves as a stark contrast to what the team at Driftwood Kitchen, sister restaurant to The Deck, was dealing with.
“We don’t have Driftwood on Answering and we’re still getting emails from people that are frustrated they can’t get through. We haven’t had any of that at The Deck since we’ve implemented Answering.”
A key benefit for the Laguna Beach eatery is that Answering is managed from the same dashboard as their website, so it can pull answers to questions from their Google Business Profile integration or they can create custom responses to common questions themselves. They can also direct guests to their online menu or send them a link to make a reservation at their sister restaurant, depending on the question they ask.
“I love the ability to send people the links to help them, help themselves. Sending them the link to that reservation or the menu so they can put in that special request and put in their credit card removes the user error that can come up with those opportunities.”
In the last 30 days, Popmenu Answering has fielded over 1,100 calls for an average of 30 seconds per call, saving The Deck almost 10 hours of time that would be spent on the phone. By partnering with Popmenu, The Deck is able to thrive as a local favorite spot while finding new ways to continue to put people first.
Stats
35,000
Total calls
291
Total hours saved from phone calls
40%
of calls sending reservation links*
*The Deck does not take reservations. AI Answering informs callers of the reservation policy and offers reservation links to their next-door sister concept: Driftwood Kitchen.
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