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.