Japanese Steakhouse Builds Community with Phone Answering Tool

Client Spotlight:

Teppan Steakhouse

Teppan Steakhouse automatically answers over 800 calls a month with Popmenu Answering

A family-owned Japanese staple in Oxnard, CA, Teppan Steakhouse is motivated to build a community around their staff and customers. A key way they do this is by having a dynamic online menu that features dish photos and reviews under every menu item—giving guests the social validation they crave when looking to make a dining decision. When diners interact with the menu by loving a dish or leaving a review, the dynamic menu captures their contact information, adding to the restaurant's growing list of guests they can remarket to and build relationships with.

With this technology, Teppan generates significant growth in business demand...along with a boost to an already large volume of phone calls. While a good problem to have, the Teppan team felt overwhelmed, having to constantly answer the phones on top of other duties — and potential guests were left irritated as the line was always busy, often sending their calls to voicemail.

Enter Popmenu Answering, an AI-powered phone assistant that can respond to guest inquiries using information from the restaurant’s website or can reply with custom responses, creating additional opportunities to promote events or special dishes. In just 5 months, Answering fielded over 4,000 phone calls with 25% being sent a link to make a reservation. With Popmenu Answering, guests found the answers they were looking for and Teppan was able to drive revenue-generating action without pulling employees from on-premise guests.

Using technology, Teppan Steakhouse solves a real pain point for their guests and staff, and can build their community with confidence knowing both their team and customers are being taken care of.

“Answering came at a great time. Everyone on our team is doing more than one job and were getting called for some of the most simple questions that could have been found had guests looked at our website. Answering being there to filter those questions and make sure the calls that do come through are genuine needs, it makes answering the phone more worthwhile.”

video.

810

monthly answers

Over 35

hours saved from phone calls

25%

of calls asking for reservations

22%

of calls asking to place an order

Popmenu + Genius: one menu, one ordering flow, fewer manual updates

What initially drew Nick, along with marketing director Brennan Best, to Popmenu was its seamless integration with Great Basin’s POS system Genius. Prior to Popmenu, any menu or website changes were manual and time-consuming: menus changing two to four times a year and updates across locations via various technologies, all online orders were routed through third parties, cutting into the restaurants’ profits. After choosing Popmenu, the team has saved significant time: instantaneous website changes across all channels, online orders go directly from the Popmenu platform into the Genius POS, and guests’ orders are fulfilled with less room for error.

In the months following the launch, Great Basin has seen an average month-over-month 11% increase in online ordering gross payment value (GPV), which is the total amount processed during transactions. During that period, they’ve also gained more than 1,000 new guest contacts (a 9% increase)—and those new followers have driven almost 75% of their orders. With Popmenu, Great Basin is capturing guest information so they can stay top of mind and continue to build a loyal customer base.

“The ability [as a result of the Popmenu integration] for our customers to order directly from our website, and for that to be less expensive for them without the additional markups for third-party delivery, has been a gamechanger for us and has really improved the experience for our guests.”

-Brennan Best
Marketing Director of Great Basin Brewing Company

Stronger communications or better SEOhappier guests

For Great Basin, technology isn’t just about efficiency–it’s about staying connected with their guests and their community. So when they had to navigate between several scattered and disparate communications tools, they weren’t able to get their message across in the meaningful, consistent way that aligns with their values.

The Popmenu platform has enabled Great Basin to unify their messaging, while still allowing each location to have its own unique voice. Within the platform, they’ve been able to customize the look and feel of each location’s landing page to convey the fact that each restaurant has a different personality.

“It's always been important for us to listen to our community, while also conveying our brand’s narrative to our community as well. The Popmenu platform has been super helpful because not only does it allow us to receive feedback from our guests, but it also enables us to respond directly to those guests.”

-Brennan Best
Marketing Director of Great Basin Brewing Company

The brewery’s SEO has also improved since integrating with Popmenu, as their website’s event inquiry page for guests looking to host onsite parties has seen a surge in traffic. Soon after Great Basin made the switch to Popmenu, location managers were trying to understand why they were seeing unprecedented levels of interest in events. As a result, they are currently booked with private parties through mid-2026.

“Popmenu’s built-in marketing tools have replaced several standalone systems, saving costs and creating consistent messaging. We were able to cut a few hundred dollars a month by consolidating tools, and now our messaging – emails, events, promotions – all run through one seamless system.”

-Nick Meyer
Director of Operations and Owner of Great Basin Brewing Company

Smooth and supported implementation

As any restaurant team can attest to, rolling out new technology across multiple locations can be daunting and challenging. But Nick, Brennan, and the entire Great Basin staff credit both Popmenu’s onboarding process and its client service reps for a smooth transition. Even launching the integration during one of Great Basin’s busiest seasons didn’t slow things down.

“We had everything running in about a week across four locations – it was one of the easiest integrations we’ve done. We even went live right before summer events, and it didn’t faze the team at all. Once everything was set, we were off and running.”

-Nick Meyer
Director of Operations and Owner of Great Basin Brewing Company

For more tips, follow Popmenu.

Want a closer look at how automation can bring in more orders while saving you time and money? Book a 20-minute, no-pressure demo with Popmenu.

We’ve got your back. Every. Day.

Japanese Steakhouse Builds Community with Phone Answering Tool

Teppan Steakhouse automatically answers over 800 calls a month with Popmenu Answering

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Nevada brewery saves time, grows direct online ordering, and unifies multi-location operations with Popmenu and Genius.

Popmenu + Genius: one menu, one ordering flow, fewer manual updates

Stronger communications or better SEOhappier guests

Smooth and supported implementation

For more tips, follow Popmenu.

We’ve got your back. Every. Day.

For more tips, follow Popmenu.

We’ve got your back. Every. Day.