The Melting Pot is a casual dining franchise of fondue restaurants based out of Tampa, Florida. They have more than 90 locations across the United States and Canada.
Challenges
Staff overwhelmed during peak operating hours and an inability to answer calls after hours, leading to missed booking calls and lost revenue opportunities.
Solution
An always available AI agent that is scalable across each location and equipped to drive revenue by ensuring booking calls are not missed.
Result
$250k generated from after hours bookings, as well as 68% automation of all reservation calls.
Challenge
The Melting Pot faced several operational challenges, most notably with reservation management. Restaurant staff were overwhelmed during peak operating hours, leading to missed booking calls and lost revenue opportunities. This problem was exacerbated outside of business hours, with further bookings missed.
They needed an AI agent to be always available, scalable across each location, and equipped to drive revenue by ensuring booking calls were not missed. The solution also needed to reduce the burden on staff by handling routine guest requests with a welcoming experience.
The selected partner would need to integrate with OpenTable, a significant driver of reservations for the Melting Pot.
"We felt like we were losing revenue opportunities due to missed booking calls and needed a solution. PolyAI is a recommended vendor of OpenTable and, thanks to the quality of their technology and dedication of their team , they validated our assumption and worked to find a solution that would help."
Solution
Looking to cement its place as an early technology adopter in the restaurant space, the Melting Pot partnered with PolyAI to implement an AI agent to transform their operations. Available at all times, including after hours, the PolyAI agent, named Judy, has significantly enhanced the Melting Pot’s operating model to never miss a call and ensure each interaction provides an engaging brand experience.
Guests can now create, edit, or cancel reservations, as well as make a booking deposit, all with the PolyAI agent. These capabilities have generated additional revenue opportunities for the Melting Pot that would have previously been missed due to unanswered phone calls.
The PolyAI agent can also answer routine questions from customers, including restaurant location, opening hours, and menu options. This further removes workload strain from restaurant staff, and gives them the time back to focus on providing the perfect night out for guests.
What’s more, the PolyAI agent can promote and provide information on OpenTable experiences, including menus for special occasions, wine pairings, and the ability to request specific table locations. This integration provides an even more seamless and rich experience for guests.
Results
Revenue generated from after hours bookings
Automation of all reservation calls
Of calls removed from front desk staff
The implementation of the PolyAI agent has led to remarkable improvements in the Melting Pot’s operations and guest experiences. During the first 6 months of site rollout, $250k of revenue was generated from after hours bookings, opportunities that might have previously been missed. Additionally, the AI agent automates 68% of all reservation-related calls, maximizing revenue generation by empowering customers to make reservations and have their questions answered. In fact, over half of all calls made to restaurants are answered by the PolyAI agent.
Overall, the PolyAI agent has generated significant cost savings for the Melting Pot and increased the efficiency of the table booking process. It has been welcomed by guests and staff alike, especially by front-of-house employees who can more fully focus on creating satisfying restaurant experiences. The teams also know that, if a call does come through, it will likely be a high value interaction (e.g. large group booking) instead of a routine request that didn’t need their attention.
“Locations can go live with a branded, pre-trained voice assistant extremely quickly which, for our restaurants, means less time working on technology and more time delivering the perfect night out for our guests."
OpenTable Partnership
The Melting Pot was the first restaurant to go live for new bookings with the PolyAI and OpenTable partnership. This has expanded to include cancellations, rescheduling, and confirming bookings, as well as experiences through OpenTable. The result of this partnership has been both an increase and simplification of the table booking process for both the Melting Pot and OpenTable.
More information on the PolyAI & OpenTable partnership can be found here.
