An honest case: the chain tried Presto Voice around the clock, then pulled back.
Del Taco deployed the AI-based Presto Voice system on a 24/7 basis at select drive-thrus, aiming to improve labor productivity, increase upselling, and ease pressure on staff. It is a clear example of the upside operators are chasing with voice automation.
We are including the honest other half too: Del Taco later stepped back from the trial after running into challenges. That is not a reason to avoid voice AI, it is a reason to be specific about where it fits. The wins cluster in well-defined, repetitive call types with a clear script. The trouble starts when an agent is asked to do too much, too soon, without enough tuning.
The maturing view across the industry is that voice AI is not all-or-nothing. The operators getting durable results start with one high-value, well-scoped call type and expand from there.
Under the hood, a modern AI voice agent is nothing like the old phone tree. It answers in under a second, understands natural, interrupted, real-world speech instead of "press 1 for sales," and holds a genuine back-and-forth, including the corrections and half-sentences people actually use on the phone.
Mid-conversation it pulls context from your calendar and CRM, checks real availability, and books or reschedules on the spot. It captures the caller's name, number, and reason for calling, hands off to a human only when something genuinely needs one, and the instant the call ends it texts you a summary and logs every detail.
Just as important is what the agent does when it cannot help. A well-built one knows its limits: it recognizes an emergency, an unusual request, or a frustrated caller, and hands the conversation to you or your on-call person with the full context already attached, so nothing has to be repeated. It never leaves someone stranded in a loop. That balance, handle the routine flawlessly and escalate the rest cleanly, is exactly what makes it safe to put on your main business line rather than a side number.
Del Taco's experience is a useful warning. Scope it right, train it well, support it, and voice AI sticks. We do all three for you.
That is the approach we take with you: start the agent on your highest-value call type, your bookings, get it reliably right, then widen its job. No big-bang rollout, no betting the business on day one.
None of the brands here adopted this for novelty. They did it because the phone is expensive to staff, unforgiving when it goes unanswered, and full of repetitive questions that a trained agent can handle better than a distracted human juggling three tasks. That logic does not get smaller as the business does, it gets sharper.
The economics are what make this matter for a small business even more than for a giant. A single missed call can be a job worth hundreds or thousands of dollars, and unlike an enterprise you do not have a room full of other reps to catch the overflow. An agent that answers every call, qualifies it, books the work, and texts you the summary is not really a cost, it is the cheapest and most reliable full-time receptionist you will ever put on your phones, working nights and weekends without complaint.
The difference for a small business is that you build none of it. We do. It starts with a 30-minute intake call where we capture your services, pricing, hours, and the questions your customers ask most. We write the scripts, build and train the agent, connect your calendar and CRM, and test every flow before it touches a live caller. Most agents go live on a dedicated number within five business days, and we keep tuning as your business changes.
Most do not ask. The voice is natural and it answers in under a second. When someone does ask, they rarely mind once the call goes smoothly. The fastest way to judge it is to call our demo line and hear it yourself.
Usually five business days from your intake call. We build, train, and test it for you, then it goes live on a dedicated number.
Google Calendar, Outlook, Calendly, your CRM, and SMS, so it can book in real time and keep your records current after every call.
The brands above had teams and budgets. You get the same capability, done for you, on your number, in about five days.
Sources: Restaurant Dive
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