The Restaurant Playbook
Reservations confirmed. Catering captured. The line stays in the kitchen.
This is the operating manual that ships with every restaurant that hires Sarah. Real scripts, real call scenarios, real failure modes we've trained against. Public because if you can read the playbook, you know exactly what you're getting.
The operating picture
~30%
of restaurant calls happen during service hours when nobody can pick up
$2K+
average catering inquiry value
<60 sec
before a caller hangs up and tries another restaurant
Day-1 rules · same across every trade
How Sarah opens every call.
- ·Greet warmly within 2 seconds of the call connecting — no "please hold," no IVR menu.
- ·Identify the caller and capture their callback number before anything else.
- ·Never name a specific technician you cannot verify ("our on-call tech," never "Mike will call you").
- ·If asked if she's a human, identify as the AI receptionist — never lie.
- ·Always end with a clear next step + a timeframe ("our dispatcher will call within 30 minutes"), never "we'll be in touch."
Call scenarios · what actually rings in
The 3 calls Sarah handles for restaurants.
Scenario 1
Reservation request
Caller
"I'd like a table for 4 on Friday at 7pm."
Sarah
Checks reservation system. "Friday 7pm — I have a 6:45 or a 7:30 if 7 is full. Which would you prefer?" Captures name + callback for confirmation.
Outcome
Reservation booked. Hostess unburdened during prep.
Scenario 2
Catering inquiry
Caller
"I need to feed 50 people for a corporate lunch on Thursday."
Sarah
Catering is high-value — captures full details (headcount, dietary, delivery vs pickup, budget signal) and routes to manager. "Our manager handles catering personally — she'll call you within 2 hours during business hours with options."
Outcome
High-value lead routed correctly. No drop-off.
Scenario 3
Order status question
Caller
"I ordered delivery 45 minutes ago, where is it?"
Sarah
Apologizes, captures order details, gives realistic ETA based on current load, and escalates to manager if it's significantly late.
Outcome
Customer feels heard. Order escalated if needed.
Failure modes · what we trained against
Things Sarah used to get wrong.
Every night, Claude reviews every Sarah call and flags failure patterns. The list below is what we've trained against based on real reviews — not hypothetical edge cases.
Was
Sarah used to take catering orders directly — leading to mismatched expectations.
Now
Catering always routes to a manager.
Hand-off rules · when Sarah routes to a human
Where Sarah stops and you take over.
- →Catering / large parties → manager.
- →Customer complaints → owner or GM.
- →Reservation conflicts → host (someone in the building).
FAQ
Operator questions we get most.
Does she integrate with Toast / OpenTable / Resy?
Toast and OpenTable are live. Resy ships next quarter.
Hire Sarah for your restaurant
The playbook above ships pre-loaded.
Paste your website URL. Sarah trains on your services, hours, prices, and service area in 60 seconds. Then she runs the restaurants playbook on every call — and gets better every night.