Catering
An AI receptionist for catering & event enquiries
A catering enquiry is one of the most valuable calls a kitchen ever gets, and it tends to arrive exactly when nobody can properly take it: mid dinner-service, or after everyone answering the phone has gone home for the night.
A typical call
Where the calls go missing
Your highest-value calls compete with dinner service
A catering or event enquiry often lands at exactly the moment the kitchen and front of house have no spare attention for it, so it gets a rushed 'can I take your number' at best.
After-hours enquiries go to voicemail
Someone planning an event calls in the evening or at the weekend, when nobody is covering the phone. If nobody answers, they call the next place on their list instead.
The details get lost between a scribbled note and a callback
Headcount, date, occasion and dietary needs, written on a pad and read back two days later, is how half of it goes missing before anyone follows up.
What Hilda handles
- Answering catering and private event enquiries around the clock, and capturing headcount, date, occasion and any dietary requirements
- Passing every catering enquiry straight to whoever owns catering at your business, with the full call context attached, instead of leaving it in a general voicemail box
- Answering routine catering questions: minimum order sizes, lead time needed, delivery versus pickup, and whether you cater to dietary restrictions
- Still taking a standard phone order for collection or delivery into Toast or Clover on the same call, if that's what the caller actually wants
- Confirming to the caller by text that their enquiry has been received, so they're not left wondering whether anyone got the message
What it deliberately does not do
Knowing where a system stops matters more than knowing where it starts.
- It does not quote a price or confirm a catering package on the call; it captures the brief and gets a person to follow up, the same way it handles private hire enquiries for a bar or café.
- It does not take a deposit or card details over the phone.
- It does not book the event directly into a calendar; catering enquiries need a person to check availability and confirm, so Hilda routes the enquiry to your team rather than committing you to a date on the spot.
Further reading
Why catering and event enquiries are the calls a kitchen can least afford to miss
Common questions
- Can an AI receptionist take catering and event enquiries?
- Yes; Hilda answers catering and private event enquiries around the clock, capturing headcount, date, occasion and dietary requirements, then passes the enquiry straight to whoever owns catering at your business with the full call context attached.
- Will it quote a price for a catering order?
- No; Hilda does not quote a price or confirm a catering package on the call. It captures the brief and gets a person to follow up, the same way it handles private hire and event enquiries for bars and cafés.
- Does it book the event directly into a calendar?
- No; catering enquiries need a person to check availability and confirm, so Hilda routes the enquiry to your team rather than committing you to a date on the spot.
- How much does an AI receptionist cost?
- Hilda AI is $199 a month per location, with 500 minutes included and $0.25 per additional minute. There's no setup fee, and you can cancel anytime.