AI receptionist · Coffee shop

Live

AI receptionist for coffee shops

Catering, room-hire and menu questions answered on your web chat and email while the bar is three deep. It quotes only from your card, and a person confirms every date.

Start a free 30-day pilot Talk to the live demo

Runs on the Restaurants and catering job description of the AI inbound sales manager. Web chat and email today; phone is planned.

Unistaff · Coffee shop

Counter

Job descriptionRestaurants & catering

ChannelsWeb chat / Email

PricesFrom your card only

DatesConfirmed by a person

StatusLive · free 30-day pilot

In one paragraph

What does an AI receptionist do at a coffee shop?

An AI receptionist for a coffee shop answers the catering, room-hire and menu questions that arrive on your web chat and email, at any hour. It says it is the café's AI assistant, collects the seven facts an event needs, quotes only a starting price from your card and records the request for you to confirm. It starts with a free 30-day pilot.

How much does it cost?

The first 30 days are a free pilot: one AI inbound sales manager for one company on web chat and email, no payment and no card, stop at any time. After it, one flat monthly fee per AI employee is agreed on the pilot review. Messages and minutes are unmetered, and no list price is published.

Start a free pilot Pricing

The path of one enquiry

Five steps from a message on your site to a confirmed booking. The AI works the first four; a person owns the last one and anything handed over on the way.

01
Message arrives
On the web chat on your site or at the email address set up for the pilot
02
First reply
In the customer's language; it says it is the café's AI assistant
03
Seven facts
Date and time, guests, place, service style, diet, contact, deadline — one question at a time
04
Request recorded
A starting price from your card, the request on the lead with what is missing
05
You confirm
The date, the final quote and anything handed over

Never by itself

Confirming a date or a table on its own, quoting a number outside your card, taking card details in chat, signing or changing an event order, promising an allergen-free kitchen.

A Trainee’s reply waits for the owner’s approval; after 3 minutes without an answer the customer gets a holding line and the conversation is escalated. A Junior sends on its own from the price list.

What arrives at a coffee shop desk

The mix below is an illustration of this kind of desk. The timing column shows why replies slip: a lot of it lands while the room is busy or after everyone has gone home.

Office catering for 20 people and up

Weekday mornings

Private hire of the back room

Evenings, weekends

A group over eight for Saturday brunch

Friday afternoons

Hours before a long weekend

The week before

Oat milk, allergens, dogs, wifi, power outlets

All day

Takeout and pre-order questions

Mornings

Wholesale beans for an office nearby

Anytime

A complaint about this morning's order

Same day

What it takes on, what stays with a person

Read the person column as the job that remains, and staff for that job rather than for the whole desk. Every row follows the restaurants and catering job description as it runs today.

Task	AI receptionist	Person
First reply to a catering enquiry	AI receptionistAnswers on web chat or email, says it is the café's AI assistant and asks for the event facts one question at a time	PersonReads the request on the lead
Repeat questions — hours, milk, allergens, dogs, wifi	AI receptionistAnswers from the menu, hours and house rules in your knowledge folder; a missing fact gets “I will check with the team”	PersonKeeps the folder current
A price for a tray or a hire	AI receptionistNames only a “starting at” figure from your approved card; a number outside it is stopped before sending	PersonSets the final number
Room hire or a group over eight	AI receptionistRecords date, time, guests, occasion and contact as a request; the terms come from a person	PersonChecks the diary and confirms
Allergies	AI receptionistRecords them as a note for the kitchen and promises no allergen-free kitchen; symptoms get 911 and a person	PersonThe kitchen decides what it can serve
A wholesale enquiry	AI receptionistCollects the contact and what they need, then hands it over	PersonDecides whether to take the account
A complaint or “can I speak to the manager”	AI receptionistHands it to a person with a summary; it lands in the cabinet with an email copy	PersonAnswers it personally

Where it hands over

Complaints, a request for the manager, delivery status, card payments, signing or changing an event order, and any date the diary has not confirmed.

What the owner keeps

The diary, the final quote and every complaint.

A Saturday-night catering enquiry, step by step

An example of one enquiry on the restaurants-and-catering job description. As a Trainee every reply waits for your approval, and after 3 minutes without an answer the customer gets a holding line and the conversation is escalated; at Junior level it sends on its own from your card.

Sat 22:07
The message arrives
“Coffee and pastries for 30 people, Thursday morning, one nut allergy.” The first reply says it is the café's AI assistant and asks one question: at the café or delivered, and to which address.
Sat 22:10
The seven facts
Date and time, guests, place, service style, dietary needs, a contact and the deadline for a decision, asked one at a time and never twice. The nut allergy goes on the lead as a note for the kitchen.
Sat 22:14
A starting price, from your card
It names the “starting at” figure your catering card gives for that headcount and says a person will confirm the date and the final quote. Nothing is booked yet.
Sun 07:40
A person confirms
Whoever opens the shop finds the request on the lead with every fact and what is still missing, checks Thursday against the diary and confirms.

Text-first: what about phone calls?

The AI receptionist plans compared on the pricing page (Dialzara, Rosie, Goodcall, Smith.ai) answer the phone first. This one is text-first: it works on the web chat on your site and on email to a dedicated address, both set up with you for the pilot. Phone and SMS are planned as a separate desk.

The practical read: if a good share of your enquiries already arrive in writing, a text-first desk covers them today. If the desk lives on the phone, keep calls with a person or an answering service, and point the repeat questions to the chat on your site.

Web chat on your site

Live

The widget goes on your site with you or your webmaster during pilot setup. Replies come in the customer's language, and the chat keeps an AI badge.

Email to a dedicated address

Live

Set up for your pilot. Answered from the same knowledge folder, with the same price check and handover rules as the chat.

Handover alerts

Live

Each handover lands in the cabinet with a summary, and an email copy goes to the handover contact agreed for the pilot.

Leads as CSV

Live

Leads carry the qualification answers and what is still missing. If you stop, the leads and the knowledge folder stay with you.

Phone answering and SMS

Planned

Planned as a separate desk. Until then, phone enquiries stay with a person or your answering service.

Calendar booking

Planned

Until a calendar is connected, a booking is a request with the details written down, and a person confirms the time.

Instagram, WhatsApp, Telegram

Planned

On the roadmap. A link from your profile to the page that carries the web chat is the bridge until then.

Every connection with its status: integrations

What the written enquiries cost you now

The table is the site’s cost model run on this desk. Ten hours a week is the assumption to change first: it stands for the time a café spends on written enquiries, well short of a full front-desk shift.

Read it as hours. The share left over carries judgement — the exception, the upset customer, the decision — and it still needs a person, who now spends the shift on those hours instead of retyping the same answers.

Run your own numbers How pricing works

Enquiry hours on the desk10 per week

Loaded hourly cost$35

Share the AI answers (assumption)70%

Hours those enquiries take7 per week

Cost of those hours, per month$1,061

Unistaff pilot, first 30 days$0

Model: hours and share are assumptions, $35/h sits near the BLS median total compensation (March 2026)

C$3,870

In-house receptionist in Ottawa, per month, before benefits

Job Bank Canada, NOC 14101: median $20/h plus CPP, EI and vacation pay

$29–800

AI receptionist plans for small business, per month, most with minute or call caps

Dialzara, Rosie, Goodcall and Smith.ai price pages, USD, checked 2026-10-31

The Unistaff pilot, 30 days

One AI inbound sales manager, web chat and email, no card

What you write before it starts

The Unistaff team reads your website into a five-section knowledge folder draft. You add the lines below, approve it with your price list, hours, contacts and “never” rules, and the AI reads that folder on every reply.

The catering card: tray sizes, “starting at” prices, minimum order, lead time and what travels well.

Room-hire and group rules — hours, deposit, what is included, what is off the table.

The allergen answer you already give, written down once.

Holiday and long-weekend hours for the next quarter.

The “never” rules and the handover contact who gets complaints and confirmations.

Before release it sits an exam of twelve cases from the trade, each run three times, then works 30 days of probation as a Trainee whose replies you approve. Every sitting of the demo employees is in the exam log.

AI receptionist for a coffee shop: questions

It takes the request and a person confirms it. It collects the date and time, guests, place, service style, dietary needs, a contact and the deadline, names only a starting price from your card and records the request on the lead. It never signs or changes an event order and never takes card details in chat.

No. It works on web chat on your site and email to a dedicated address. Phone and SMS are planned as a separate desk; until then, calls stay with whoever answers them today.

The Unistaff team reads your website into a draft knowledge folder; you add the catering card, hours and “never” rules and approve it. Before release it sits an exam of twelve restaurant-and-catering cases, each run three times, then works 30 days of probation.

Yes. The first message says it is the AI assistant of your café, the chat keeps an AI badge, and it confirms when asked. Typing HUMAN hands the conversation to a person at once.

The language the customer wrote in, from the same knowledge folder. For a bilingual city, keep the catering card and the house rules in both languages.

It goes to a person. The conversation lands in the cabinet with a summary, an email copy goes to your handover contact, and the customer is told a person is taking over.