An AI booking line for your restaurant
The phone rings at 7.45pm on a Saturday and nobody can get to it. The agent answers, takes the table request properly, and it is waiting for you when service calms down.
The problem on a busy day
During service the people who could answer the phone are carrying plates. A call that rings out is a table that may go somewhere else, and the caller rarely leaves a voicemail. You cannot see how many you lose unless you count them: our guide on counting your own missed calls shows how, from your phone’s call log.
What the agent does
- Answers in your restaurant’s name when you cannot, using call forwarding from your own number.
- Takes table requests with the details you ask for (name, number, party size, date and time), and asks your pre-booking questions.
- Tells callers whether you are open right now and when you next open, from your timetable.
- Answers the questions you have saved (parking, dogs, private dining) in English, Portuguese, Spanish, French, German or Italian.
- Puts each request on your Bookings screen to confirm or decline. If you use Google Calendar, it can offer free times from it and write the booking when you confirm.
- Optional: if someone rings and hangs up without speaking, it can send them one text so they can rebook (off until you switch it on).
It answers only from the facts you save. If it does not know, it takes a message; it never invents prices, times or availability. If a caller asks whether it is an AI, it says so and never claims to be a person.
How a call can go
Agent: Good evening, The Harbour Kitchen, how can I help?
Caller: Hi, have you got a table for four tomorrow night, about eight?
Agent: I can take that request for you. Can I have your name and the best number to reach you?
Caller: Sam, 07700 900123.
Agent: Thanks Sam. Four people tomorrow at eight. Is anyone in the group celebrating, or any allergies we should know about?
Caller: No, all fine.
Agent: Lovely. The team confirms every booking, so you’ll hear back from us shortly. Anything else?
An illustration of how a call can go, written by us. It is not a recording of a customer’s call.
Setting it up
- Create a Receptionist workspace and give it your website. It can read the site into a draft of your business facts for you to check.
- Choose the starter pack for your kind of business. It adds the usual reasons people call, the questions to ask before a booking and FAQ questions with blank answers for you to fill in. It never overwrites what you wrote.
- Save your opening hours as a weekly timetable, with one daily break and your closed days.
- Keep your own number: dial the forwarding codes shown on screen on your own phone, then press “Test my forwarding”.
- Write an opening message that says it is an AI assistant (in the EU this has been required since 2 August 2026), then switch it on. Every call, booking request and message appears in the app, and a morning report arrives at 08:00 London time when there were calls.
What it does not do
- It does not confirm bookings on its own: you confirm or decline each one.
- It does not connect to table-booking systems such as reservation apps; requests wait on your Bookings screen or in your Google Calendar.
- It does not take card payments on the call. It can text a caller your own payment link if you switch that on.
- It does not put ordinary calls through to you while you are closed; it takes a message. Real emergencies go to your number if you save one.
What it costs
Receptionist: your first month is free with no card; then Solo £39 or Business £79 a month (exact allowances are confirmed before activation). Outbound calling: 21p per connected minute from prepaid credit, £7 free to start. Tax may be added where applicable.
Try it before you set anything up
On the FoxEra Calls homepage you can talk to one of our agents in your browser for 60 seconds. No account, no phone number, nothing to install.
Frequently asked questions
Will it double-book a table?
No booking is final until you confirm it on the Bookings screen. In calendar mode it only offers times that are free in your Google Calendar and inside your opening hours.
Do I need a new phone number?
No. You keep your number and your phone network forwards the calls you miss to the receptionist.
What if a caller wants to speak to a person?
It takes their name, number and reason so you can ring back. Real emergencies go through to the number you save.