CConverseNow

ConverseNow says its AI handles about 95% of drive-thru orders from greeting to ticket without a remote human stepping in, with order accuracy above 90%. That is the core pitch of this Austin company: voice assistants that take restaurant orders on the phone, at the drive-thru, by text and at kiosks, then drop them into the point of sale like any online order.

It is best for multi-unit quick-service and pizza chains whose phones ring nonstop at peak and whose drive-thru lanes are short on staff. Cost visibility is the main area ConverseNow could improve: it sells only through quotes, and most of the performance numbers come from the company itself. We rate it 7.6/10 on our scale. We have not used ConverseNow; this review is based on its published platform updates, press coverage and partner announcements.

Headline Metrics and Trade Coverage Since 2020

ConverseNow publishes headline metrics on its platform updates page, and trade press has covered its funding and footprint since 2020. The figures below are as reported.

Two of these numbers matter most to a buyer. The 95% end-to-end drive-thru rate, if it holds in your stores, means staff only touch a small share of orders, which is where the labor savings come from. The 1,200-store footprint, built mostly on pizza and quick-service brands, tells you the product has been run at chain scale on menus with heavy customization.

Almost every performance figure is self-reported, and the sales lift claims (up to 30% same-store sales, up to 20% average ticket) are ceilings, not averages. Treat them as targets to test in a pilot, not as a forecast.

Answering, Ordering and Passing to the POS

ConverseNow sits between the guest and the restaurant’s existing systems. It does not replace the POS or the phone line; it answers, takes the order and hands a finished ticket to the kitchen.

Taking an Order

• Answer: a call is forwarded to the ConverseNow assistant, or a guest pulls up to a drive-thru speaker connected to it. Text and kiosk orders follow the same flow.
• Build the order: the assistant takes items, sizes and modifiers in English or Spanish and answers menu questions as it goes.
• Suggest add-ons: it offers upsells based on what is already in the basket, a feature the company has described as real-time, context-based selling.
• Confirm: at the drive-thru, the order appears on the confirmation board, and staff see it live and can correct it.
• Send: the finished order goes into the POS just like an online order, so the kitchen needs no new screen or training.

When a Human Steps In

Guests who would rather talk to a person can still reach one. ConverseNow’s partnership with OrderSolutions, a US restaurant call center, lets a live agent take over a call without the guest starting the order again. On the drive-thru, ConverseNow says about 95% of orders now finish without a remote live agent, so humans handle the rest along with anything in the lane itself.

What the Assistant Picks Up Along the Way

ConverseNow has described its agents as able to gauge a guest’s sentiment during the conversation and to predict ordering behavior, which feeds the upsell suggestions. In its Series A coverage, the company also said it planned to build a database from customer conversations to improve the product over time. For operators, the practical upshot is that the assistant’s suggestions should get more relevant as it hears more orders from your menu, but it also means call recordings and order data become part of the vendor relationship, so read the data terms in the contract.

The Generative AI Platform

In December 2024 ConverseNow moved its whole customer base to a new generative AI platform. The company said the update made the assistant more fluent and natural-sounding, cut response times to under a second on average, improved order accuracy and handled local dialects and accents better. A May 2025 release, branded “AI Your Way,” focused on tone: friendlier phrasing and a softer upsell style.

Consultation, Scoping and POS Connection

• Book a consultation: ConverseNow starts with a demo and a scoping call; there is no self-serve signup.
• Connect the POS: orders must reach your point of sale, so integration is the first technical step.
• Load the menu: items, modifiers and upsell rules need to match what the kitchen can make.
• Wire the channels: forward phone lines, connect drive-thru audio and confirmation boards, and add text or kiosk if wanted.
• Pilot and expand: large brands such as Wingstop began with a pilot in select stores before wider rollout.

Quote-Only Custom Deployments

ConverseNow does not publish prices. The table shows how it sells.

The Return a Chain Needs to Justify It

Without a price list, the useful exercise is to work out what the product would need to return. The scenarios below use ConverseNow’s own claims and our illustrative assumptions about wages and sales; they are not quotes.

• A 10-store pizza franchise: ConverseNow claims up to 12 extra hours of deployable labor per store each week. At that ceiling, 10 stores free up 120 hours a week. If those hours are worth $18 each to you, that is $2,160 a week, or about $9,360 a month, which is the most a contract could cost before the labor case alone stops working.
• A single busy drive-thru: if the store does $20,000 a week through the lane and the reported up-to-20% ticket lift came through in full on that revenue, sales would rise by $4,000 a week. A more cautious 5% gives $1,000. Ask the sales team to price against the cautious number.
• Phone-heavy chains: the company says it nearly doubles peak-hour ordering volume from voice channels, because no call goes unanswered. The value depends on how many calls you currently miss; pull that from your phone system before the pilot.

Hidden or variable costs to ask about: POS integration fees, drive-thru hardware such as confirmation boards, per-channel pricing, live-agent fees from the call-center partner, and contract length.

ConverseNow Compared With SoundHound AI for Restaurants, Loman AI and Slang AI

Restaurant phone agents split into ordering-first tools built for chains and host-style assistants built for sit-down restaurants.

ConverseNow and SoundHound are the closest match: both chase chain-level phone and drive-thru ordering and both price by quote. SoundHound is larger and covers more channels; ConverseNow is a smaller specialist. Loman is the practical choice for an independent restaurant that wants a known monthly price, and Slang suits sit-down restaurants where the phone is mostly about tables. More options sit on our AI agents for restaurants and voice agents pages.

Pizza and Quick-Service Chains

• Pizza and quick-service chains: the product has been run across more than 1,200 stores on menus with heavy customization, and its named customers are mostly in this segment.
• Drive-thru operators short on staff: with about 95% of lane orders reported handled end to end, one crew member can supervise rather than take every order.
• Brands that miss calls at peak: the assistant answers every call, which the company says nearly doubles peak-hour voice ordering.
• Operators with Spanish-speaking guests: orders can be taken in English or Spanish.
• Chains that want a human fallback: the OrderSolutions partnership gives a path to a live agent without restarting the order.

Single Restaurants and Table-Service Venues

• Single independent restaurants: a quote-led enterprise sale is built for chains, and tools such as Loman AI publish a monthly price that may suit a single site better.
• Full-service restaurants focused on tables: ConverseNow is built for ordering; for reservations, private events and general questions, a host-style agent such as Slang AI or Yelp Host is designed for that work.
• Buyers with strict vendor security reviews: the assistant handles guest calls and order data, so start the security review early in a quote-led process.
• Teams on uncommon POS systems: integration is central to the product, so confirm support for your system before any pilot.

Checking the Automation and Accuracy Figures

• Self-reported numbers: the 95% automation rate, accuracy above 90% and sales lift figures come from ConverseNow and its announcements. Ask for references from brands with your menu and order mix.
• Ceilings, not averages: claims such as up to 30% same-store sales and up to 20% average ticket describe best cases. Model on the low end.
• Quote-based pricing: there is no price list, so compare quotes on a per-store, per-month basis and ask what happens to price when you add channels.
• Upsell tone: aggressive upselling can annoy guests. ConverseNow’s May 2025 update softened its approach, and you should still listen to recorded calls during the pilot.
• Integration dependency: if the POS link fails, orders stop. Ask how outages are handled and who gets alerted.

Fee Basis and Store-Level Accuracy Reports

• Pricing basis: is the fee per store, per channel, per order or a mix, and what changes at renewal?
• Accuracy reporting: will you get store-level reports on order accuracy and the share of orders finished without a human?
• Pilot terms: how many stores, how long, and can you exit if the agreed targets are missed?
• Data use: how are call recordings and order data stored, and are they used to train models for other brands?

The AI Your Way Update in May 2025

• May 2025: ConverseNow released its “AI Your Way” update, saying in its platform updates that it had handled more than one million calls, reached average satisfaction of 4.55 out of 5 and cut order time by 25%.
• December 2024: the company rolled out a new generative AI platform across all of its brands, reporting about 95% of drive-thru orders handled end to end and response times under one second.

A Full Order Taker for High-Volume Chains

For a chain with high phone and drive-thru volume, ConverseNow is worth a pilot. It does the full job of an order taker: it listens, builds the order, suggests add-ons and sends a ticket to the kitchen, with a human fallback when needed. The reported 95% end-to-end rate at the drive-thru is the number to test.

It scores 7.6/10 on our scale; published pricing and a lighter setup path would lift it. Those factors matter less to a 50-store franchisee with a procurement team than to an independent owner, who will get more certainty from a tool with a published monthly price. Run a pilot in a handful of stores, track accuracy, ticket size and labor hours against control stores, and negotiate on those results.

Store Count, Channels and the ConverseNow Quote

How Much Does ConverseNow Cost?

ConverseNow does not publish pricing. Restaurants book a consultation and receive a quote based on store count, channels and contract terms. Ask about integration and hardware fees as part of the quote.

Does ConverseNow Work at the Drive-Thru?

Yes. The assistant takes drive-thru orders and ties into order confirmation boards and the POS, so staff can watch and correct orders live. ConverseNow says about 95% of drive-thru orders finish without a remote live agent.

Which Restaurants Use ConverseNow?

Publicly named users include Domino’s, Fazoli’s, Blake’s Lotaburger and Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza, and Wingstop ran a pilot for phone orders. The company has said it is live in more than 1,200 stores.

Can Guests Still Talk to a Person?

Yes. Guests can ask for a person, and through ConverseNow’s partnership with OrderSolutions, a live call-center agent can take over without the guest repeating the order.

How Is ConverseNow Different From SoundHound?

Both sell voice ordering to restaurant chains by quote. SoundHound is a larger public company that says it powers more than 10,000 locations and adds channels such as in-car ordering. ConverseNow is a smaller specialist focused on phone, drive-thru, text and kiosk ordering.