Exploring Options for Placing Phone Orders to Quick Service Restaurants
In the fast-paced world of Quick Service Restaurants (QSRs), efficiency and customer satisfaction are paramount. One critical aspect of the customer experience is the ordering process. According to Mintel, 57% of customers still prefer to place orders over the phone. Today, customers have multiple options for placing phone orders: AI-driven natural language ordering systems, in-store phone orders handled by restaurant staff, and phone ordering via a centralized call center. Each method has its own set of advantages and disadvantages, which we will explore in this article. Restaurants must weigh these options carefully, considering their specific needs and the expectations of their customers to select the most suitable approach. OrderPerfect.ai offers a hybrid model combining AI efficiency with human oversight to offer the best of both worlds, with its class-leading AI Voice Ordering Solution and fully staffed call-centers located in rural America, ensuring high-quality service while maintaining operational efficiency.
What is Natural Language Ordering?
Natural Language Ordering represents the latest advancement in artificial intelligence for the restaurant industry, significantly improving upon past experiences with automated phone systems. Presented to customers as virtual ordering assistants, voice AI can handle countless conversations simultaneously, each with a personalized, friendly touch similar to interacting with a real team member.
This technology merges the convenience and speed of online ordering with the customized, high-quality experience of traditional drive-thru and phone orders. Voice AI streamlines the order-taking process, ensuring precise and efficient handling. As major QSR brands worldwide hurry to adopt conversational AI, it is quickly transforming the restaurant landscape.
AI-Driven Natural Language Ordering
Advantages:
24/7 Availability: AI systems can take orders any time of day, providing customers with round-the-clock service.
Consistency: AI ensures a consistent ordering experience, free from human error and variations in service quality.
Scalability: AI systems can handle multiple calls simultaneously, eliminating wait times during peak hours.
Cost-Efficiency: Over time, AI systems can be more cost-effective than employing additional staff, as they do not require breaks, training, or benefits. A major advantage is that AI systems eliminate the need to increase staff during peak hours.
Disadvantages:
Technical Issues: Outdated technologies, poor implementation, and mismanaged rollout of AI systems may result in technical glitches, degrading the customer experience if not managed properly.
Limited Understanding: Outdated AI technologies have struggled with accents, dialects, or background noise, sometimes causing frustration for customers. OrderPerfect.ai technology is built on a set of AI tools developed by OrderPerfect called Platform 42. Platform 42 forms the backbone of the OrderPerfect solution and serves to mitigate common issues like “AI hallucinations” and latency while simplifying POS integrations and overall management of the solution.
Lack of Human Touch: Some customers prefer the personal interaction that comes with speaking to a human, which outdated AI solutions cannot replicate. However, recent advances in GenAI/LLM technologies are more humanlike and can actually IMPROVE the guest experience because of their innate ability to speak fluently and conversationally. What’s more, GenAI NLO solutions never get tired, are always patient, and can “remember” previous orders and preferences of the customer in order to upsell.
In-Store Phone Orders by Restaurant Staff
Advantages:
Personalized Service: Human staff can provide a personalized touch, answer questions, and make recommendations, enhancing the customer experience.
Adaptability: Staff can easily handle complex or unusual orders and adapt to the specific needs of each customer.
Immediate Feedback: Customers can immediately clarify their orders and get instant feedback from the staff, reducing the chances of errors.
Disadvantages:
Limited Capacity: During peak times, in-store staff may struggle to handle both in-person and phone orders, leading to longer wait times and potential service bottlenecks.
Human Error: Mistakes in taking orders can occur, resulting in incorrect orders and dissatisfied customers.
Resource Intensive: Allocating staff to handle phone orders can divert them from other critical tasks, affecting overall efficiency.
Phone Ordering via a Centralized Call Center
Advantages:
Specialized Service: Call center agents are trained specifically for order-taking, which can improve accuracy and efficiency.
Scalability: Call centers can handle high volumes of calls, especially during peak times, without affecting in-store operations.
Cost Management: Centralized call centers can reduce the burden on in-store staff, potentially lowering labor costs by optimizing staffing needs.
Disadvantages:
Less Personal: While better than AI, centralized call centers still lack the personal touch of in-store staff who are familiar with regular customers and local preferences.
Communication Barriers: There might be communication challenges if call center agents are located in different regions with varying accents or languages.
Potential Delays: Depending on the integration between the call center and the restaurant, there could be delays in transmitting orders, impacting service speed.
Conclusion
Choosing the right method for handling phone orders in Quick Service Restaurants depends on various factors including volume, customer preferences, and operational priorities.
AI-driven natural language ordering offers consistency and scalability but may fall short in understanding complex human interactions. OrderPerfect is the latest in AI natural language technology that is continually improving, and with the optional escalation to a rural US based call center will be able handle extremely complex human interactions.
In-store phone orders by restaurant staff provide a personalized experience but can strain resources and lead to human errors. OrderPerfect will answer the incoming phone calls immediately and without human error allowing staff to concentrate efforts on the in store patrons to ensure greater levels of service.
Centralized call centers balance efficiency and accuracy but might lack the personal touch and immediate feedback of in-store interactions, and with the slim margins in the restaurant business could prove cost prohibitive. A call center may also create other challenges such as opposing time zones, and potential communication issues. OrderPerfect is able to solve these problems with its hybrid model that offers best in class natural language AI as the first line call resolution and optional escalation to rural American call centers.
Restaurants must weigh these options carefully, considering their specific needs and the expectations of their customers to select the most suitable approach. OrderPerfect.ai offers a hybrid model combining AI efficiency with human oversight to offer the best of both worlds, its class-leading AI Voice Ordering Solution and fully staffed call-centers located in rural America, ensuring high-quality service while maintaining operational efficiency.