How Hawksmoor turned 42,000 missed calls into booked revenue with PolyAI
Hawksmoor is one of Britain's most celebrated restaurant groups, a 14-site, 20-year-old institution built on ethically sourced beef, sustainable seafood, and a hospitality culture that takes pride in every guest interaction.
For a brand known for its warmth and attention to detail, the phone has always been more than a booking channel. It is often the first point of contact a guest has with Hawksmoor, and for elderly customers especially, it remains the preferred way to reserve, emphasizing the importance of getting the first impression right every time.
Challenge
During peak service, staff were overwhelmed and couldn’t always answer calls, leaving around 42,000 unanswered each year, with no visibility into what callers needed.
Solution
An always-on voice agent, integrated directly with OpenTable, that answers every call across all 14 sites and gives callers access to live availability around the clock.
Result
80,000 covers booked, and a 20% missed call rate reduced to zero, with conversion through the agent running ahead of what in-restaurant teams were achieving.
The challenge
Missing 42,000 calls a year
Hawksmoor's calls were being routed directly into individual restaurants and answered by the same teams running the floor. On a busy Friday or Saturday night, with guests to greet and tables to attend to, calls were left unanswered.
At peak times, Hawksmoor was missing as many as 1,300 calls a week. Across a full year, that came to around 42,000 unanswered calls, 20% of total call volume. After-hours callers struggled even more, landing in a voicemail that may or may not have been picked up the following morning.
What made it harder to solve was the uncertainty around what those missed calls represented. Without visibility into call topics, Hawksmoor was working blind.
We weren't sure if people were calling to make reservations, if people were calling for private dining, or if it was just for general FAQs. We were really blind to what that 20% was.
The team wanted to start exploring AI as a potential solution. There were two key criteria that any vendor needed to satisfy for this to be successful: the solution had to integrate with OpenTable, and the agent's voice quality had to meet the brand's standards.
The solution
Meeting guest demand with PolyAI
Hawksmoor chose PolyAI for two reasons: native OpenTable integration and voice quality. PolyAI connected directly to Hawksmoor's in-house availability, giving every caller access to the same table inventory a reservationist would see. Across all vendors they evaluated, PolyAI's ability to hold a natural conversation stood out.
Implementation followed a staggered rollout across the estate to protect quality at every stage. The PolyAI team handled the technical build, reviewed system logic, and remained on hand to answer questions for each additional site. Thanks to PolyAI’s Agent Studio , the Hawksmoor team can make updates, add menu items, and handle last-minute closures independently.
As a group that competes on warmth and personalization, getting the voice right mattered as much as the technology. The team worked closely with PolyAI to tune the agent's voice to align with Hawksmoor's tone. Today, many customers don't even realize they're conversing with an AI agent.
The deployment gave Hawksmoor a view into demand they'd never had before. A custom excess demand dashboard shows where callers ring when no availability is online, helping the team decide whether to open earlier sittings or add slots. The Smart Analyst tool showed exactly how many callers dropped out when card details were requested, informing a decision to remove that requirement for parties of two to four.
The quality of the voice agent was miles above any other solutions we looked at in the market in terms of how it was sounding on the phone.
The results
Answering every call
With PolyAI, every call is now answered. The 20% missed call rate has dropped to zero, and guests who previously hit voicemail at 10 pm or rang into a busy restaurant on a Saturday shift now reach the agent immediately.
Together, PolyAI and Hawksmoor have achieved:
calls answered every month
covers booked since July 2025
guest satisfaction score
PolyAI has overtaken standard telephony as Hawksmoor's leading bookings source by channel, and is approaching parity with the OpenTable network. Conversion through the agent sits at 11–12%, ahead of the 8–9% conversion recorded when calls were handled in-restaurant.
In-house teams have benefited too. Phones on the floor have largely gone quiet, though when a call does come through, like a large party or a special request, staff know it warrants their full attention. Reservations managers previously pulled between calls and guests can now invest properly in Hawksmoor's wider customer experience program.
Taking away the mundane tasks and leaving me with the in-restaurant experience, talking to guests, learning their stories, that's the most amazing part of this job. PolyAI really does help me have more of that.
Continuing to improve the PolyAI experience
The immediate next step is launching PolyAI across Hawksmoor's US restaurants in New York and Chicago. It's a market Hawksmoor has approached carefully, conscious that brand, tone, and customer expectations all carry different nuances stateside.
An integration with the OpenTable guestbook API is also in the works. The agent will be able to pull up a caller's guest profile by phone number, surfacing preferences, visit history, and notes, so that even an AI-handled call can reflect the kind of memory and personalization that have defined Hawksmoor's hospitality for two decades.
I would absolutely recommend PolyAI to other restaurants; it's been a game-changer for us. Every call is getting answered, and we've seen the benefits in terms of conversion and revenue. As AI becomes more commonplace, it's a solution that works for both the business and the customer.
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