“AI is causing frustration for a lot of people who are not used to it,” Kent said, who works alongside AI receptionists in his job as a systems analyst. “I’m very used to it. However, (I’m) still frustrated.”
Crush Pizza is one of many small restaurants across New England and the country taking orders and answering other calls using AI, an initiative that helps reduce costs and staff amid low profit margins after the pandemic, inflated food and labor costsAnd persistent labor shortages. These technologies have encountered resistance from some customers who reported not being able to get the service they are accustomed to.
Tony Naser, who has deployed AI response systems at his two Massachusetts-based Crush Pizza locations and at another chain, Mickey’s NY Pizza in New Hampshire, said many customers were “surprised” and some “unmoved” after the change.
Naser signed with Austin, Texas-based voice AI startup in 2024 IA Lomanone of more than 100 cents similar startups representing a multi-billion dollar market in automated service.
“As time goes on, we get fewer and fewer customer complaints about this,” Naser said.
For him, criticism of the technology pales in comparison to its benefits, which include handling at least a thousand calls per month in each of his stores. Loman said the system has an accuracy rate of 98.6 percent. Human Receptionists Usually Score 94 percent accuracy in data entry, according to health care research.
“We can’t imagine coming back on a Friday night and answering the phone,” he said.
According to Loman’s data, restaurants like his can increase their phone revenue by 26% by using AI rather than using humans.
In addition to Naser’s stores, Loman’s software was launched during the same period at three of the 12 locations of Nick’s Place, a largely family-owned pizza chain that dots the North Shore and southeastern New Hampshire. Owner Costa Alexandrou said the decision to move to artificial receptionists was made in 2024, when many of his counter employees had graduated from high school and moved away.
Alexandrou and Naser said they do the majority of their business through online ordering, echoing industry trends which show many customers moved away from call as ordering and delivery mobile apps have become dominant. Yet Missed Phone Calls Remain a major source of loss of income for restaurants, especially those serving takeout, as some customers resist digital dine-in service and his lack of human interaction.
Stephen Clark, president and CEO of the Massachusetts Restaurant Association, said phone answering tools are probably the most widely adopted form of AI in the restaurant industry, particularly by neighborhood pizzerias. Franchises such as Chipotle And Domino’s have used similar services since 2018, but the spread continues in New England, where 9 out of 10 restaurants are small businesses in Massachusetts And New Hampshiremakes sense as the cost of these services has fallen, he added.
Mom-and-pop stores using AI have proven to be a testing ground for the effectiveness of the technology in small-market scenarios and for consumer acceptance of these tools. Naser said he thinks local stores are held to different standards, even though more and more big chains phase out human receptionists.
“You can’t call a lot of these big chains fast food. So why do customers get upset when a small mom-and-pop store wants to try to get a little technological advancement or be a little more efficient?” » said Naser.
An October report from customer analytics platform Qualtrics widespread feeling that consumers still prefer human interaction over AI tools.
Of more than 1,700 total Google reviews across all Naser restaurants, only 20 mention AI or robot phones, although the majority of those who did left one or two stars.
Meredith Harvey, of Hampstead NH, said she didn’t mind speaking with an AI agent, and even found it easy to use when she ordered plain, unmarinated grilled chicken two weeks ago at Mickey’s NY Pizza in Derry, NH. It was only later, when she discovered at home that she had been given marinated chicken, that she was annoyed.
Apparently the restaurant didn’t serve what she wanted, she said, but the AI never informed her and she was not refunded. Like Kent, she has yet to order from the restaurant since the incident.
However, for owners, technology has so far been a major step forward in generating income and freedom in the small world of local commerce.
Alexandrou said he now worries less about what happens in his stores and even went home early on Halloween last year on one of the busiest nights of the year at his store, something he said would have been unthinkable before integrating AI.
“No matter my food pride, but like my technology pride…I try to help everyone as new technology comes out,” he said. “People don’t realize that this stuff isn’t just for franchises.”
Christian Wiens, founder and CEO of Loman AI, said his business grew 15-fold last year, attracting small businesses that regularly lost revenue due to missed phone calls and couldn’t afford additional help.
“If anyone tells you the phone isn’t a problem at their restaurant, that’s a complete lie,” Alexandrou said. “(AI) saves the day.”
For Naser and Alexandrou, AI helps them reassign employees to the kitchen and other areas. Responding to another criticism he had seen online about his company – that he was letting AI eliminate jobs – Naser said his past year had been so good, in part because of the technology upgrade, that he now employs more people than before he started using it.
“I look at it like paying an employee, but it’s also cheaper than an employee,” said Alexandrou, who has been hiring fewer people to work the phones since adopting AI.
Wiens said Loman’s customers save about $2,500 per store per month in labor costs. He said 66 percent of Loman’s restaurant customers are reducing labor costs through staff reductions, a decrease of about one shift per day. Thirty-four percent are maintaining the same staffing levels, although the vast majority indicated they may reduce their workforce.
Loman’s AI agents increase order value by 16% through upselling and also record all calls to collect large amounts of data so restaurants can personalize interactions for repeat customers, Wiens said.
Some industry experts said customer complaints would disappear and universal adoption would set in as technology continues to improve.
“People are resisting because the ones being deployed today are crap,” Paul English, co-founder of the travel search engine. Kayak and producer of consumer application startups Boston Venture Studiosaid. “Robots will be better than humans, and pretty soon people will say, ‘You know what, as long as I answer my question quickly, that’s great.’ »
Bryan Hecht can be contacted at bryan.hecht@globe.com. Follow him on Instagram @bhechtjournalisme.