An early leader in bringing artificial intelligence to restaurant technology, Popmenu is announcing enhanced AI features that address labor gaps and other pressing challenges for operators—while increasing revenue opportunities. From answering hundreds of calls at once to automatically creating marketing content that is tailored for each restaurant and tracking marketing’s influence on online and on-premise sales, Popmenu’s AI is helping to guide busy operators on what to do next to grow their business in an increasingly competitive market.  

The majority (60%) of restaurant operators reported that they are having a hard time hiring for certain roles; 39% have lost revenue opportunities due to staffing issues. This is according to Popmenu’s nationwide study of 362 U.S. restaurant leaders in April 2024.  

“The restaurant market is more competitive than ever, and there is a noticeable difference in financial performance between restaurants who are consistently marketing and those who are not,” said Brendan Sweeney, CEO and Co-founder of Popmenu. “The problem is many operators are short on time and resources. Around 40 percent don’t actively reach out to guests. We’ve invested in AI over the years to help restaurants not only automate marketing across digital channels but do it in a personalized way—and pinpoint what’s having the biggest impact on sales. It’s not just about giving them tools, it’s about giving them content and a playbook for growth that is based on billions of guest interactions.”

Popmenu’s announced the following updates to its AI-powered solutions:

AI Marketing

Why it’s needed: When asked to identify their most time-consuming tasks, 58% of restaurant operators said creating marketing content. Three in four (74%) are open to using AI for this purpose; 79% said they would rather edit marketing content vs. building it from scratch.  

How it helps: Popmenu’s AI Marketing automatically creates a full month of emails, texts, and social posts that are based on the restaurant’s dishes, events, reviews, and more. Operators can easily approve, edit, and schedule the content, which is written to reflect the restaurant’s brand voice.

After driving sizeable increases in marketing impressions and corresponding online sales for single-unit operators, Popmenu recently began offering AI Marketing to multi-unit operators to customize content for each of their locations or concepts.  

In the coming months, Popmenu is launching a new AI tool that enables operators to enter a topic they want to talk about and then instantly composes an email, text, and social post for them, including an image. The company is also planning a phased rollout of a Mobile Advisor feature on its Popmenu for Owners app that serves up marketing content for operators to consider on-the-go.

AI Answering

Why it’s needed: With 42% of consumers saying they’ll eat elsewhere if a restaurant doesn’t pick up the phone*, 62% of restaurant operators say they’re interested in using AI to make sure every call is answered.

How it helps: Popmenu’s AI tech has answered over 6.1 million phone calls for restaurants, freeing up staff and capturing more revenue. AI Answering fields calls 24/7 with custom greetings and responses, promotes specials and events, prioritizes return calls, and sends links for orders and reservations. Popmenu recently added more voice options as well as new features that enable callers to reach staff after business hours and create a library of fallback numbers for special inquiries such as catering.

ROI Overviews

Why it’s needed: Nearly half (47%) of restaurant operators wish they had more time to track business results and strategize on how to grow; 57% are interested in using AI to analyze business performance.  

How it helps: Popmenu is expanding its ROI dashboards, which track marketing, online ordering, website, and answering performance. With the help of automation, Popmenu is providing a more holistic view of business performance and incorporating revenue impact from website clicks such as someone leaving the restaurant’s website to make a reservation or place an order on a third-party site. This arms operators with more in-depth information to easily identify which marketing activities are working, or not working, and plan their next move.

For more information on how Popmenu’s AI offerings are helping restaurants, visit its AI Marketplace.