“As an owner I was in the office in my restaurant this morning cutting fish – that’s how busy we’ve been, which I enjoy doing, it’s just not what I was planning on doing,” said Tony. “It’s an example of the restaurant industry still struggling to get back on their feet after the last two years.” He’s referring, of course, to issues that were exacerbated by the pandemic and related closures and loss of staff.

Now, though, they have a big problem stemming exactly from being understaffed: “I need 4-6 people answering the phone on a Friday night to take orders, answer questions, take reservations, and when you only have 2 hostesses, and the phone is literally ringing off the hook, and the manager is running around trying to keep  everyone happy … it was just a ‘have-to’ situation,” he said.

Ford’s Fish Shack has now connected their phones to Reachify’s call deflection technology. A self-serve menu now offers callers options for online ordering, reservations, catering, and connecting to a live person. Text messages are automatically sent with links for reservations, ordering, and catering.

“It’s cut down about 40% of the calls,” Tony said. “Only about 60% of the calls now come through. Instead of having 5 hostesses answering the phones on a Friday night, now I only need two or three. That’s two less employees that I have to have doing that. So that frees up my hosts.”

40% fewer calls

2-3 fewer hosts needed

Increased efficiency