A generic assistant
Knows the name and the industryAsk a question and this side answers with nothing but the business name.
Restaurants & Hospitality
Turn more conversations into reservations — and repeat visits.
The phone rings during service, and the answer to "do you have anything at 8pm?" decides where a table of six eats. What happens after they leave decides whether they come back, and almost nobody has a system for that half.
Phone · WhatsApp · Instagram · Reservations · Private dining · Post-visit feedback
Where the opportunities go
Not one dramatic failure — a few at each step, in the specific places this kind of business loses them.
Capture
The phone rings mid-service
Seven to nine on a Friday is when bookings are made and when nobody can answer. A table of six that cannot get through books somewhere else, permanently.
Convert
"Nothing at 8pm" ends the conversation
One unavailable slot is treated as a closed door. Nobody offers 7:30 or 8:45, the bar for the wait, or another evening — so a willing guest simply leaves.
Convert
Menu and dietary questions that decide the venue
Whether a group books often turns on one vegetarian, one allergy or one child. A vague answer sends a party of eight elsewhere.
Convert
Occasions handled as ordinary bookings
An anniversary booked with no note is a missed chance to be the restaurant that remembered — and occasions are what create regulars.
Retain
Nobody hears about the bad night until it is public
A guest who had a poor experience says nothing on the way out. The first the manager hears of it is a review, when it is far too late to fix.
Retain
First-time guests who never return
The single largest missed opportunity in hospitality. They enjoyed it, they meant to come back, and nothing ever reminded them.
What the journey actually looks like
- 01
They find youAttract
A search, a social post, a recommendation, or walking past.
- 02
They ask somethingCapture
Answered during service, when the phone would otherwise ring out — including at 11pm for tomorrow.
- 03
The questions that decide itConvert
Vegetarian options, allergies, price per head, parking, whether children are welcome, how private the private room really is.
- 04
Alternatives, not a dead endConvert
If 8pm is gone, the nearest slots, the bar for the wait, or another evening — never just "we're full".
- 05
Reservation confirmedConvert
Date, covers, occasion and dietary needs captured together. Groups and private dining go to the events team, never confirmed in chat.
- 06
They arriveServe
A reminder the day before, and the floor already knows it is an anniversary and that one guest cannot have nuts.
- 07
Feedback, from everyoneRetain
A short message afterwards inviting honest feedback — the same invitation to every guest, regardless of how the evening went.
- 08
Recovery, then returnRetain
Anything that went wrong reaches a manager the same day while it can still be put right. Guests who enjoyed it hear from you again at a moment that makes sense.
The technology is similar. The intelligence isn’t.
This is what the system has to know to be useful here — and, just as importantly, what it must refuse to do.
Menu and dietary detail
- Signature dishes and what the kitchen is known for
- Vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options, and what needs notice
- Which dishes are genuinely mild
- That the kitchen is not nut-free, stated plainly every time
Tables, rooms and seasons
- Covers, terrace availability and when it is seasonal
- Private room capacity, minimum spend and deposit
- How long a table is held past the booked time
Occasions and hospitality
- Cake cutting, seating preferences, timing
- What is arranged in advance versus on the night
- Group set-menu rules
Practicalities guests ask about
- Price per head, honestly, for both à la carte and tasting
- Parking and valet timings
- Children, high chairs, and where they are and are not suitable
Feedback and reputation rules
- Every guest gets the same invitation to give feedback
- Nobody is screened, filtered or steered by how happy they seem
- Negative feedback goes to a manager the same day
- Nothing is ever offered in exchange for a review
The difference
Ask Saffron & Salt what a customer would ask.
Saffron & Salt is an illustrative restaurants & hospitality business. Ask it anything — the same model answers twice, once knowing only the name, once given the business. The second answer is the one your customers would get.
Built by Nyxara
Knows the business…and this side answers with everything in the panel on the left.
Both answers come from the same model, in real time. The tags under the second answer are the system events that would follow in a live deployment — this page cannot write to a CRM or a calendar.
What your customers actually say
These are the sentences that stall a sale in this business. A system that has never been told how you answer them will answer them badly.
- “How expensive is it, really?”
- “Will there be anything my vegetarian friend can eat?”
- “We saw a review about slow service.”
- “Nothing at 8pm? Never mind then.”
- “Is it suitable for a table with two kids?”
What gets built
Capture
Answer the phone during service
Calls, WhatsApp and Instagram handled when the floor cannot pick up.
The table of six books with you instead of the restaurant that answered.
Convert
Never let a full slot end the conversation
Nearest available times, the bar for the wait, or another evening offered automatically.
A willing guest has somewhere to go other than a competitor.
Convert
Answer the questions that decide the venue
Dietary detail, price per head, children, parking — specifically, not vaguely.
One vegetarian or one allergy stops being the reason a group books elsewhere.
Convert
Capture the occasion with the booking
Anniversary, birthday, dietary needs and seating preference recorded at the point of booking.
The floor can be the restaurant that remembered, which is what creates regulars.
Retain
Hear about the bad night before the internet does
A post-visit message inviting honest feedback, sent identically to every guest.
A manager can put something right while the guest still cares about the outcome.
Retain
Bring first-timers back
Guests who enjoyed it hear from you again at a moment that makes sense to them.
The largest missed opportunity in hospitality stops being missed.
What gets measured
The numbers that tell you whether it is working in this business. No figures are shown until they come from your own systems.
Missed enquiries
Enquiries that got no response at all — the leak most businesses cannot see.
Measured from Inbound conversations with no outbound reply within the agreed window.
First response time
How long a person waits for their first real answer.
Measured from Timestamp of inbound message to timestamp of first reply.
After-hours capture
Enquiries arriving outside working hours, and how many were answered.
Measured from Conversation timestamps against your published opening hours.
Booking rate
Enquiries that became a booked appointment, viewing, table or call.
Measured from Confirmed calendar bookings ÷ qualified conversations.
Feedback captured
Customers who responded after their visit, and how many raised something worth fixing.
Measured from Responses to post-service messages.
Repeat bookings
Customers who came back, and how long they took.
Measured from Repeat bookings matched to an existing CRM contact.
Reactivation
Lapsed customers who returned after re-engagement.
Measured from Contacts inactive beyond your threshold who then booked again.
What counts as a win here: A confirmed reservation with the occasion and dietary needs attached — and a guest who comes back.
What it will never do
Limits are part of the build, agreed before anything goes live. In this industry they are these.
- Never discourage, delay or deflect a guest from leaving a public review, and never suggest what a review should say.
- Never route guests differently based on whether their feedback seems positive or negative.
- Never offer anything in exchange for a review.
- Never guarantee a dish is free of an allergen — allergy questions are confirmed by the kitchen.
- Never confirm a private room, large group or event booking without the events team.
- Never promise a specific table, the terrace, or a view.
- No claims about covers, ratings or repeat rates without verified data.
Working in a different industry? The approach is the same — we map how your business wins customers before recommending anything.
Where is your restaurant losing covers?
A free 30-minute look at how your business attracts, captures, converts, serves and retains customers. No obligation, and the recommendation is not always automation.