Restaurants miss 32 percent of reservation calls within the first two rings according to HOTREC, the caller goes to the next restaurant. Your agent picks up immediately, books tables in OpenTable, Quandoo or resmio and answers allergy questions from your menu.
by Sven Pflüger · Founder & CEO, Rinqo·Last updated:
Notice under EU AI Act Article 50:On the first ring, the agent says clearly: you're talking to an AI. Just ask, and the agent connects you to a human.How we use AI
What does the AI phone assistant do for Restaurants?
The AI phone assistant for restaurants takes reservation calls around the clock, books tables in OpenTable, Quandoo or resmio, answers questions about menu, opening hours and allergens from your menu and escalates groups of 8+ or special requests, from €99 net per month.
EU-Sovereign · GDPR · AI Act
Made in Germany. Hosted in Europe. AI-Act-ready before the deadline.
GDPR-compliant on EU servers
All calls, transcripts and knowledge data are processed encrypted on Hetzner Cloud in Falkenstein and Nuremberg, no US Cloud Act exposure, no third-country transfer. DPA in place.
LLM inference: Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service (Microsoft Ireland, Sweden Central, EU Data Boundary) as single-AI backbone — OVHcloud as opt-in Pure-EU failover
Speech: Deepgram in EU setup + KugelAudio (German company, EU-hosted)
Auto-deletion after 30/90 days, configurable per org
AI Act Art. 50, implemented before 2 Aug 2026
From 2 August 2026 every AI system must disclose to end users at the start of the conversation that it is AI-based. Rinqo enables this by default everywhere, before the deadline, not after.
Voice: mandatory disclosure as first audio frame, before any answer
Chat/Email: AI label in footer and subject
Synthetic audio will be machine-watermarked once Code-of-Practice (June 2026) ships
Penalty: up to €15M or 3 % global annual turnover (whichever is higher)
Sources: GDPR Art. 28 + 32 · EU AI Act Regulation 2024/1689 · BfDI guidelines.
Why Restaurants need an AI agent.
DEHOGA counts 165,000 dining establishments in Germany. A restaurant with 40-80 seats receives 80-250 reservation calls per week, with peaks 11 AM-1 PM and 5-7 PM, exactly when service staff is at the table. HOTREC measures that 32 percent of reservation calls go unanswered within the first two rings. Marketplace solutions (OpenTable, Quandoo) bring reach but cost €1-2 per cover plus monthly fee. A direct-call agent is 5-10× cheaper per reservation.
Lunch and dinner peaks: service is at the table, phone rings out
Allergy questions need menu knowledge, every new staff member must be trained
Marketplace commissions (OpenTable: €1-2/cover) add up to €200-500/month
Reservation calls after 10 PM for the next day go to voicemail
How the Phone Agent for Restaurants.
Your agent picks up immediately, in your voice, without 'please hold'. On reservation it checks availability in OpenTable, Quandoo or resmio, asks party size, occasion, allergies and special requests, and creates the reservation in the system, with SMS and email confirmation. Allergy questions are answered from your allergen table (food information regulation, 14 main allergens). On uncertainty it escalates to you, better no risk.
Rinqo picks up every call. At night, on weekends, always.
What your agent does for Restaurants.
Table reservations with party size, occasion, allergies
Reservation changes (date, time, party size)
Allergy, diet and vegan questions from the menu
Opening hours, closed days, holiday service
Group inquiries 8+ with escalation
Qualify catering inquiries (date, party size, budget)
Features of the Phone Agent
Answers common questions automatically
Books appointments directly in your calendar
Qualifies inquiries and captures contact details
Routes complex cases to your team
Speaks 20+ languages
Learns from your website and documents
Honest answers to real concerns.
The four questions every practice owner asks us before they start.
How does the agent handle allergy questions?
You upload the allergen table (food information regulation, 14 main allergens). The agent reports what is definitely free (e.g. 'Risotto Funghi: gluten-free, may contain traces of celery'). On uncertainty it escalates, better no risk.
What if a caller asks about delivery?
Outside service hours the agent forwards delivery inquiries to your existing system (Lieferando, Wolt, own delivery). During opening hours it clarifies whether you deliver yourself or only take table reservations.
How does the agent handle large groups or events?
Groups above a threshold you define (default 8 people) are escalated. The agent records date, time, party size, occasion, special requests, sends you an email and arranges a callback for personal terms clarification.
Frequently asked questions about the Phone Agent for your industry Restaurants.
Yes, all three natively. OpenTable via official API, Quandoo via webhook and resmio via REST endpoint. Availability, tables, bookings synced bidirectionally. Setup per system: 15-30 minutes.
OpenTable €39-89/mo platform plus €1.30-2.30 per cover. At 200 reservations/mo ~€400 cover costs + platform = €450-490. Rinqo Starter €99 flat, no commission, unlimited reservations plus service questions plus phone. 4-5× cheaper.
Yes, the agent is 24/7. Reservation calls at 11 PM for the next day are processed directly, not pushed into voicemail.
Multi-channel for your industry
Rinqo for Restaurants, all channels
Telephone, chat and email from one platform: business case, ROI, GDPR and integrations.
Sven builds Rinqo from a simple observation: most AI tools are designed in San Francisco and sold in Berlin. The workshop in the Black Forest, the veterinary practice in Salzburg, the family hotel in Tyrol get software that doesn't speak their language. Rinqo flips that. On European servers, set up in ten minutes, in twenty languages. With templates built by the industries themselves.
