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The AI phone receptionist for restaurants & cafés.
Friday service and a ringing phone do not mix. Ringmere answers your calls, books tables against your live availability, takes delivery and collection orders from your real menu, and reads every order back before it reaches the kitchen.
Hear it first: ring our own AI receptionist on 07888 870150, or try it in your browser.
The missed-call problem
Sound familiar?
- Reservation calls ringing out mid-service
- Order calls interrupting the counter at the busiest hour
- Callers who want a table one week and a takeaway the next
Every one of those is a booking walking to a competitor. Ringmere answers before it does.
How Ringmere helps restaurants & cafés
Answer, book, and hand you the rest.
Answers your calls, 24/7
First-ring pickup, evenings and weekends included, so callers get a real answer instead of voicemail.
Takes reservations and orders
Books tables against live availability, and takes delivery or collection orders priced from your real menu, on the same call.
Escalates what matters
Urgent, clinical or unhappy callers go to your team immediately, with full context.
It answers messages too: on Growth and Pro, customers can WhatsApp or text your business and the same receptionist replies, books and takes orders, and it drafts a reply to every customer email for you to send.
Ringmere also answers the phone for takeaways and hotels, B&Bs & guesthouses.
Call by call
Every call a restaurant gets.
A restaurant line carries two kinds of call, often at the same hour: people who want a table, and people who want food at their door. You choose whether Ringmere takes reservations, orders, or both. This is what it does with each.
| The call | What Ringmere does |
|---|---|
| “Have you got a table for four on Friday at half seven?” | Checks real table availability against your opening hours and the number of tables you set, offers times that are free, and books it with the caller’s name, number and party size. |
| Moving or cancelling a reservation | Finds the booking from the number they are calling from and moves it to a free time or cancels it, so the table goes back on sale. |
| A collection order in the middle of service | Takes the items from your real menu at your prices, reads the order and the total back once, and tells the caller when it will be ready. |
| A delivery order | Checks the postcode against your delivery radius before taking the address, quotes your fee and any minimum, and offers collection warmly if it is out of range. |
| “Can I add garlic bread to my order?” | Finds the caller’s live order, adds only the new item and confirms the new total. The kitchen ticket reprints marked as a change. |
| An allergy or dietary question | Never answered with a guarantee. Passed to your team with the caller’s number. |
| A party of twelve, a private hire, or a complaint about last night | Taken with the caller’s details and passed to you, so a person handles it. |
An example call
Written to show how a call goes, using sample services and prices; not a recording.
Caller: Hi, can I order a delivery? My postcode’s LS6 2AB.
Ringmere: Let me check. Yes, we deliver there: delivery is £2.50 and takes about 45 minutes. What would you like?
Caller: Two margheritas and a regular fries, please.
Ringmere: Two Margherita pizzas at £9.50 each and regular fries at £3.20, plus £2.50 delivery: that’s £24.70. What’s the full address, and a name for the order?
Caller: 18 Hyde Park Road, and it’s Tom.
Ringmere: Thanks, Tom. Two Margheritas and regular fries to 18 Hyde Park Road, £24.70 in total. Shall I place that?
Caller: Yes please.
Ringmere: Done. It’ll be with you in about 45 minutes. Enjoy your evening.
Your services, your words
It only ever offers what you approve.
Import your services and prices in seconds, from your website or from a PDF, spreadsheet or photo of your price list. Ringmere quotes exactly what you configure, never a made-up price or a promise you can’t keep.
Questions from restaurants & cafés
Good to know.
Can it take both reservations and orders?
Where do the menu and prices come from?
How do delivery orders work?
Will it answer allergy questions?
Can it take bookings for big groups and birthdays?
Where do phone orders go?
What does an AI receptionist cost for a restaurant or takeaway?
Is Ringmere an answering service for restaurants & cafés?
What Ringmere does on any UK phone line, what it costs and how it compares with the other UK AI receptionists is on one page: AI receptionist UK.
Guides for restaurants & cafés
Practical reads for your business.
Friday-night phones: reservations and takeaway orders without the chaos
The phone rings hardest exactly when nobody can answer it: mid-service. Here is how restaurants stop choosing between the customer at the counter and the one on the line.
Read moreHow to never miss a business call, without hiring
Every missed call is a booking that might not ring back. Here is what each fix really costs, how to stop missing client calls, and what works trade by trade, without hiring a full-time receptionist.
Read moreWhat an AI receptionist actually costs in the UK
A plan that books on the call costs about £30 to £120 a month for most small businesses, but the headline price is only half the story. Here is what six providers really cost at your call volume, and what to check before you buy.
Read moreStop losing tables and orders.
Ring 07888 870150 to hear our own AI receptionist answer, then put Ringmere on your line with a 7-day free trial you can cancel anytime.