NovaVoice for Restaurants
How Bella Cucina doubled their takeout capacity without adding a single staff member.
See the ResultsCASE STUDY
RESTAURANT
TAKEOUT & DELIVERY
Bella Cucina Italian Kitchen
A family-owned Italian restaurant with 45 seats, a busy takeout operation, and a phone that never stopped ringing during the dinner rush.
The Challenge
Bella Cucina's takeout business was growing fast — but their ability to handle phone orders wasn't keeping up. During peak hours (5-8 PM), the restaurant was receiving 30-40 takeout calls alongside a full dining room. The result was predictable: long hold times, rushed orders, frequent mistakes, and frustrated customers who gave up and ordered from a competitor instead.
38%
of takeout calls went unanswered during peak hours, with callers abandoning after 45+ seconds on hold
1 in 5
phone orders contained errors — wrong items, missing modifications, incorrect sizes — leading to remakes and refunds
$4,200
estimated monthly revenue lost from missed calls, order errors, and customers who switched to competitors
The owner, Maria, tried third-party delivery apps but the 30% commission fees were eating into already thin margins. She needed a way to handle more phone orders without the commission hit — and without pulling her staff away from the dining room during the busiest hours.
The Solution
We built a custom NovaVoice agent trained specifically on Bella Cucina's menu, pricing, daily specials, and ordering workflow — then integrated it directly into their existing order management system via API.
A Voice Agent That Actually Understands Food Orders
Restaurant phone orders are messy. Customers change their minds mid-sentence, add items after you've read back the order, ask about allergens, swap out sides, and request modifications that aren't on the menu. A generic AI agent can't handle this. Bella Cucina's NovaVoice agent was built from the ground up to handle the unpredictable, conversational reality of food ordering.
- Variable-Capable Voice Agent: The agent handles complex, multi-item orders with modifications at every level — "large Margherita with extra basil, a small Caesar with dressing on the side, and actually make that Margherita a medium instead." It tracks every variable (size, toppings, sides, dressings, cooking preferences) across every item in real time.
- Mid-Order Changes & Additions: Customers constantly change their minds. The agent gracefully handles "wait, can I switch that to penne instead of rigatoni?" or "oh, and add garlic bread" at any point in the conversation — without losing track of the rest of the order. It confirms changes back naturally: "Got it — I've switched your rigatoni to penne and added garlic bread. Your updated total is $47.50."
- Direct API Integration to Order Management: Every completed order is pushed directly into Bella Cucina's kitchen order management system in real time. No manual re-entry, no handwritten tickets, no miscommunication between the phone and the kitchen. The order appears on the kitchen display the moment the caller confirms — with accurate prep time estimates and pickup scheduling.
- Full Menu Intelligence: The agent knows every item, every price, every available modification, every daily special, and every allergen. It can answer "is the pesto gluten-free?" or "what's the soup today?" without escalating to a human. Menu changes are synced automatically — when the kitchen 86s an item, the agent knows immediately.
- Dynamic Pricing & Upselling: The agent accurately calculates pricing with all modifications, applies active promotions ("our family meal deal is $39.99 tonight — would you like to hear about it?"), and makes natural upsell suggestions based on the order ("would you like to add a side of garlic knots with that? They pair great with the marinara").
What a Typical Call Sounds Like
NovaVoice Agent
Thanks for calling Bella Cucina! I can help you place a takeout order. What can I get started for you?
Customer
Yeah, I'd like a large pepperoni pizza, a Caesar salad — make it a large — and uh, let me get the chicken parm.
NovaVoice Agent
Great choices! I've got a large pepperoni pizza, a large Caesar salad, and the chicken parmesan. The chicken parm comes with a side of spaghetti — would you like to keep that or swap it for a different side?
Customer
Can I do penne instead? And actually, add mushrooms to the pizza too.
NovaVoice Agent
Absolutely — I've switched your side to penne and added mushrooms to the large pepperoni pizza. That brings the pizza to $19.50. By the way, we have a tiramisu special tonight for $8.99 — want me to add one?
Customer
Oh yeah, throw one of those on. What's my total?
NovaVoice Agent
Your order total is $52.47 with tax. That's a large pepperoni and mushroom pizza, a large Caesar salad, chicken parm with penne, and a tiramisu. I've sent this to the kitchen — it'll be ready for pickup in about 25 minutes. Can I get a name for the order?
Order automatically pushed to kitchen display system via API — prep timer started, pickup slot reserved.
The Results
Within the first 60 days of going live, Bella Cucina saw measurable improvements across every takeout metric:
Missed Calls During Peak
38%
Under 2%
Virtually every call answered within 2 rings, even during the Friday night rush
Order Accuracy
80%
97.5%
Direct API integration eliminated manual transcription errors — orders go straight from caller to kitchen
Monthly Takeout Revenue
up
+34%
More calls answered + higher accuracy + smart upselling = significantly more takeout revenue per month
Average Order Value
up
+$8.40
Natural upselling suggestions (desserts, sides, specials) increased average ticket by 22% per order
"I was skeptical at first — how could an AI take a food order the way my staff does? But honestly, it handles the modifications and changes better than most of my team. It never forgets the extra basil. It never misheard 'penne' as 'pesto.' And when someone changes their mind three times, it doesn't get flustered. My cooks love it because the tickets are always right."
— Maria Rossi, Owner, Bella Cucina Italian Kitchen
The Restaurant Phone Problem — By the Numbers
$1,500/month
Revenue lost by restaurants missing just five calls per day — from unfilled reservations, lost catering inquiries, and takeout orders that went to a competitor.
69%
of all business inquiries still come through the phone. For restaurants, phone calls remain essential for reservations, catering, and complex or large group orders.
80%
of callers sent to voicemail hang up without leaving a message. When a hungry customer can't reach you, they don't wait — they order from whoever answers first.
391%
more conversions when businesses respond within one minute. For restaurants, every second of hold time increases the chance the caller hangs up and orders elsewhere.
85%
of callers who reach voicemail never call back. In the restaurant industry, a lost call at 6 PM on a Friday is a lost customer — potentially for life.
30%
commission charged by third-party delivery apps — eating into already thin restaurant margins. Handling phone orders directly preserves the full margin on every takeout sale.
Sources: BrightLocal 2025 Consumer Survey, Invoca 2024 Call Analytics, Industry research aggregated from 60M+ calls
Technical Implementation
Order Management Integration
NovaVoice connects to Bella Cucina's order management system via a real-time REST API. Completed orders are submitted with full item details, modifications, pricing, and estimated prep times. The kitchen sees the order on their display within seconds of the caller confirming.
Menu Sync
The agent's menu knowledge stays current via automated sync with the restaurant's menu database. Daily specials, 86'd items, seasonal changes, and price updates all propagate to the agent immediately — no manual retraining needed.
Stateful Conversation Engine
The agent maintains a running order state throughout the call — tracking items, modifications, additions, removals, and price changes. Mid-order changes don't break the flow. The agent can read back the full order at any point with accurate running totals.
Setup & Training
Full implementation took two weeks from kickoff to live calls. This included menu ingestion, API integration with their order management system, voice personality tuning, and a week of parallel testing where the agent handled calls alongside staff before going fully live.
Your Restaurant Deserves a Better Phone Experience
Restaurants lose up to $1,500/month from just five missed calls daily. NovaVoice handles your takeout orders perfectly — every time, every call, every night.