Next Level Brands Hospitality is on a mission to elevate Tampa Bay’s culinary landscape through its three concepts, and they’re looking beyond the menu to make that happen. In addition to fantastic meals, their restaurants—Boulon Brasserie, Forbici Modern Italian, and Union New American—create spaces for their guests to gather, connect, and build memories. How does Next Level Brands Hospitality deliver that experience? By letting technology handle the tasks that otherwise take their staff away from guests.
Next Level Brands knew managing that volume of calls wasn’t sustainable for their staff and certainly not for their bottom line. That’s why they brought on Popmenu’s AI Answering, an automated phone answering service that sends links to reservations and orders and also replies to commonly asked questions: “What are your hours?” “Where are you located?” “What’s the current wait time?” The tool uses information from the website and Google Business Profile of each concept to ensure guests receive accurate information, ensuring staff don’t have to stop serving guests to pick up the phone—unless a customer specifically asks for a 1-on-1 conversation.
The benefits of AI Answering go beyond just managing calls. Now that every call gets answered—by AI or by staff—the Next Level Brands team can deliver their trademark top-tier hospitality.
Before one of their restaurants brought on AI Answering, the hospitality group hired someone exclusively to answer phones on weekends. Once the tool reduced their call volume, that role was transformed into a position that had a higher impact on the guest experience and made better use of that employee’s skills.
“AI Answering means we don’t have to hire someone just to answer phones, which is a huge money saver and a huge time saver. It’s been incredible for us,” says Difranco.
The restaurants aren’t just saving money—they’re bringing in more. Because AI Answering lets operators customize their responses and send text messages, Next Level Brands can direct customers to place an online order instantly.
To date, AI Answering has answered 58,457 calls across all three concepts–with 44% of these calls tied to revenue generating activity–and saved the Next Level team 1,184 hours.
While more online orders and revenue are great for the restaurants, a seamless connection between answering and ordering is also vital to great hospitality. It brings an elevated experience to all guests, even if they’re not dining in. Next Level Brands Hospitality proves that AI Answering can stop the phone from ringing so restaurants can focus on what they care about most.
Answer some questions about your restaurant and we'll make sure to make the most of your time.
