What missed calls cost your takeaway.
A simple sum to work out what an unanswered phone costs you, and the ways to stop it happening on a Friday night.
In short
Every call you miss on a busy night is an order that may go to the shop down the road. To see what it costs you, multiply the calls you miss by your average order value. Just one extra answered order a day at £20 is £600 of orders a month. The fixes range from extra staff and call diversion to missed-call text alerts and AI phone ordering, which answers every call and costs about 50p per order with ServeMate's Sophie.
Why calls get missed
Calls go unanswered at exactly the wrong time: when the shop is busiest. Staff are serving the queue, packing orders and working the range, and the phone keeps ringing. The busier the night, the more calls slip through.
Work out what it costs you
You only need two numbers:
- How many calls you miss. Check your phone's call log or ask your phone provider for missed-call figures for a few busy nights.
- Your average order value. Your till's reports will tell you.
Then multiply. Here's what just one extra answered order a day looks like:
| Per month | |
|---|---|
| Extra orders (one a day) | 30 |
| Value at £20 each | £600 |
| What Sophie would cost to take them | about £15 |
If you miss more than one a day on a busy night, the number grows fast. Not every missed caller would have ordered, but plenty ring the next shop on their list.
Five ways to stop missing calls
- Put someone on the phone at peak times. It works, but it's a wage on your busiest nights, and that person can't help with the queue.
- Divert to a second phone. Helps if someone else is free, which on a Friday they usually aren't.
- Push customers online. Your own ordering website at 0% commission takes the pressure off the phone. Some customers will always prefer to ring, though.
- Text callers you missed. With ServeMate's Sophie add-on you get missed-call text alerts, so you can get back to customers before they order elsewhere.
- Let an AI answer. AI phone ordering picks up every call, takes the full order, reads it back and sends it to the kitchen. With Sophie that's 25p a minute, only while she's on a call.
The one to try first
Start by counting. A week of missed-call figures tells you whether this is a few pounds or a few hundred. If it's the latter, the cheapest fix is usually the one that answers every call without adding a wage.
How does Sophie's pricing work?
25p per minute while she's on a call. No monthly fee. Most order calls take about 2 minutes.
What if a caller wants to speak to a person?
Sophie transfers the call to your staff.
Can ServeMate take phone orders?
Yes. Staff can key phone orders on the till, and Sophie, the optional AI phone assistant, can answer calls and take the full order for 25p a minute while she's on a call.
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