UC-11 RESTAURANTS
Restaurant phone system that answers reservations, takeout, and catering calls
A phone system for restaurants routes reservation, takeout, and catering calls with a menu, rings the host stand and the line together, and texts guests order-ready and booking confirmations from the restaurant number. Phoner runs it from the phones and tablets your staff already use, from $15 per user per month, with no hardware to mount by the register.
A phone ringing during the dinner rush is a table booked or a to-go order placed. When nobody can grab it, that revenue walks to the restaurant that answered.
Where a restaurant loses orders on the phone
Three ways the current setup quietly hands callers to somebody else.
Pain 01
The line rings during the dinner rush and nobody grabs it
At 7 PM the host is seating a four-top and the kitchen is buried. A guest calling to book or to place a to-go order gets endless ringing, hangs up, and orders from the place down the block. The busiest hour is exactly when the phone is least likely to be answered.
Pain 02
Catering and private-event calls go to a mailbox
A catering inquiry is a several-hundred-dollar order, sometimes a repeat corporate account. When that call lands in a voicemail box nobody checks until the next shift, the lead is cold and the event is booked elsewhere by the time anyone listens.
Pain 03
One number, one phone, and no way to answer from two spots
The single handset by the register cannot be in the host stand, the back office, and the manager's hand at once. Reservation calls, vendor calls, and order calls all fight for the same line, so guests get a busy signal on a Friday night.
Answer every guest, even in the weeds
Every outcome below is a switch you flip in the dashboard, not a project you scope.
A menu splits reservations, takeout, and catering
Guests press 1 for a reservation, 2 for takeout, 3 for catering and private events. The IVR phone menu sends each caller to the right person, so a table booking never sits behind a vendor asking about a delivery.
Ring the host stand and a backup at once
With call routing and ring groups, an order call rings the host stand and a second staff phone together, then rolls to a manager, so someone grabs it before the guest gives up during the rush.
Catering calls come back as text in seconds
When every hand is full, voicemail to text drops a catering inquiry as a transcript with the callback number on the manager's phone, so a high-value event lead gets a callback within minutes instead of tomorrow.
Text guests order-ready and booking confirmations
Send "your order is ready," reservation confirmations, and waitlist updates with business texting from the restaurant number, so guests recognize the sender and no server has to hand out a personal cell.
Closed hours, holidays, and the private-event line all need a greeting that still books the guest. Our after-hours voicemail scripts give you word-for-word greetings for the closed kitchen, the holiday, and the catering line so a late caller still leaves the detail you need.
How a real call plays out
Straight from the operator's call sheet, next to the math the decision maker actually runs.
It is 7:15 on a Friday and every table is full. A regular calls to place a $60 pickup order for the family. The menu answers, they press 2 for takeout, and the call rings the host stand and the expo tablet at the same time. The host is seating a party, so at the fourth ring it rolls to the assistant manager, who takes the order and texts back a 25-minute pickup time from the restaurant number. The guest never heard a busy signal, the kitchen got the ticket, and a $60 order that would have gone to the pizza place two doors down stayed in the till.
An average takeout ticket runs $25 to $45 and a catering order can top $400. A three-seat restaurant on the Team plan runs $87 a month. If the menu and ring groups save even one missed order a day during the rush, the phone system pays for itself several times over before you count a single catering booking.
See it answer for your team
Pick a number, build the menu, and run an incoming call through the switchboard. It takes about 20 seconds, right here.
01 · Pick your number
02 · Your phone menu
03 · Incoming call
Press a key to answer the menu yourself
Voicemail to text
transcribed · texted to you · 0:42
Call sheet
Today
This number can be yours in about 5 minutes.
Recording consent laws vary by state and country. You are responsible for lawful use.
Questions restaurants ask first
Yes. A shared number rings the host stand, a back-office phone, and the manager's cell at once, so whoever is free grabs the call. Everyone answers from the Phoner app on a phone or tablet you already have, with no extra handset by the register.
Yes. Number porting is free and we handle the carrier paperwork. Your listed number keeps ringing during the port, which usually takes one to two weeks, and a temporary number works instantly so no reservation or order call is ever lost.
Yes. Business texting sends order-ready alerts, reservation confirmations, and waitlist updates from the restaurant number, so guests know exactly who is texting. Replies land in the same shared inbox the whole front-of-house team can see.
What it costs, in plain numbers
Per user, month to month, unlimited US and Canada calling on every plan. Yearly billing saves about 20 percent.
Starter
$15
per user / mo yearly · $19 monthly
Team · Most popular
$29
per user / mo yearly · $35 monthly
Business
$59
per user / mo yearly · $69 monthly
Enterprise
Custom
Talk to sales · SSO
Most teams like yours pick Team at $29 per user per month for the phone menu, team routing, shared numbers, texting, and recording. The full business phone system cost breakdown lists every plan and add-on, including extra numbers at $5 per month.
Also on Phoner: Small business · Startups · Remote teams · Law firms · Real estate · Agencies · Contractors · Accounting firms · Insurance agencies · Property management · Car dealerships · Nonprofits
UC-11 RESTAURANTS · Your line is open
Answer the next call like a company
Pick a number, build your menu, and answer from the phone already in your pocket. Live in about 5 minutes, from $15 per user per month, no contracts.
No credit card to get started. Cancel any time.