Questions about Zogu
Zogu answers your shop's phone, takes a pickup or delivery order from the menu in your POS, reads it back once, sends it to your till and hangs up. It isn't on sale yet: as of 5 November 2026 it has only taken test orders on our integration platform's test system, so where something isn't decided, the answer says so.
Taking the order and the payment
Can AI take phone orders on its own?
Yes. The end of one of our test calls, at 1:35am on 5 November 2026 (name and drink brand changed, test menu prices, "pickup" stands in for the word it used):
Zogu: "So that's one quarter-pound burger, one half-pound burger, one three-piece baklava and three Cola B cans, for pickup, under the name Sam. The total is sixteen pounds, paid on pickup. Shall I place the order?"
Caller: "Yeah. Go ahead."
Seven test calls on 4 and 5 November ended in a pickup order, all accepted or completed in our integration platform's test system. That's a count, not a success rate. The whole call is on the home page, and how a Zogu call goes, step by step walks through one.
Does it work for a takeaway like mine?
If your menu is in Toast, Square, Clover, Oracle MICROS RES 3700 or Foodhub, yes. Zogu uses your items, options, prices and hours, and understands how callers say them: "twelve inch margherita" finds MARGHERITA 12" and "three piece baklava" finds 3pcs BAKLAVA. We've tested a 427-item takeaway menu, a 2,612-item catalogue and a pizza menu, but not an Indian or Chinese menu yet.
Does the caller wait while the kitchen accepts?
No. Once your POS has the order, Zogu gives the total, the ready time if you've set a prep time, and goodbye. Your accept or reject comes through afterwards.
Does it take card payments over the phone?
No. Zogu never asks for card details. Orders are marked pay on pickup or on delivery. Pay by texted link is built but switched off. See what Zogu doesn't do.
What callers hear
Will my customers know it's AI?
Yes, from the first sentence: "Thanks for calling" your shop's name, then "this is the automated ordering assistant". If your own greeting doesn't say it's automated, Zogu adds that line, and there's no setting to turn it off.
What does it sound like?
Each shop can pick from 40 English Aura-2 voices; test calls have used the default one. A quiet room sound and light typing fill pauses, so a lookup doesn't sound like a dropped line.
How quickly does it reply?
A median of 1.3 seconds after the caller stops, timed at our end (the full figures). If the model is slow, the caller hears "One moment."
Does it speak other languages?
No, English only. A caller speaking another language gets an apology in English.
No transfers and no call-backs
What if a caller asks to speak to someone?
They hear "I'm the automated ordering assistant, so I can't connect you to a person, but I can take your order." Then it carries on.
Why won't it put anyone through?
There's no staff number, on purpose: a transfer sends the call back to the person on the fryer, and a promised call-back gets forgotten at 8pm on a Friday. Zogu's code checks every sentence and blocks transfer or call-back offers, because on one test call the model offered a transfer anyway (the details). For staff to answer first, divert only unanswered calls.
What about complaints?
Zogu doesn't take them. It tells the caller to contact the restaurant directly, so give customers another way to reach you.
Keeping your phone number
Can I keep my takeaway's phone number?
Yes. Zogu gets its own number for your shop, and you divert your line to it, every call or only unanswered ones. Diversion is set with your phone provider and may cost extra, so check your tariff. No real restaurant has diverted to Zogu yet, and we have no UK numbers yet.
Will it still recognise my regulars?
Yes, if your line passes on the caller's number. It knows only orders taken through Zogu. If diverted calls show your shop's own number, tell us, and Zogu treats them as withheld and asks for a contact number.
What do callers hear if Zogu is switched off?
"Sorry, phone ordering isn't available right now. Please call back later. Goodbye." So take the divert off as well.
When it gets something wrong
How does it catch a mistake during the call?
It asks for any choice an item needs instead of guessing, takes changes at any point ("Okay, I've taken off the Garlic Bread. Anything else?"), then reads the whole order back once and sends nothing without a clear yes. See how the read-back works. A misheard name gets asked again (how that works).
Will it make things up?
Not on the order. Zogu's code adds items and works out prices from your POS menu, and refuses an order whose totals don't add up. When your menu doesn't say, it says it doesn't know: "Sorry, I don't have the ingredients for the Mega Burger. Would you like to order one?"
What if a wrong order still reaches the till?
Reject it as normal. It comes with the caller's first name and number, and Zogu won't contact them.
How do mistakes get fixed?
Every call is kept as text. Anything Zogu couldn't match goes on the Teach page, where it can be linked to a menu item. After "cheeseburger" was linked to the Mega Burger in a test, the next call got "One Mega Burger, seven pounds ninety-nine. Anything else?" Our team makes these changes for now. See how the Teach page works.
One known bug: a name correction plus a new item in one breath at the read-back places the order before the item is added.
Allergen questions
What does it say about allergens?
What your POS menu lists, then a pointer back to you:
"The Garlic Bread contains gluten and milk. For a serious allergy, please check with the restaurant before ordering."
No listed allergens never counts as safe, and Zogu's code blocks any "allergen-free" claim before it's spoken.
What does that mean for my shop?
Callers hear the allergens on your menu, so check them before going live. Zogu doesn't change what food law expects of you, and it never puts anyone through, so decide how a caller with a serious allergy can reach you.
Your callers' data under UK GDPR
What does Zogu keep from a call?
A text record of the call and the order, the caller's number, name and any delivery address. No audio is recorded. What callers are told about the record still needs legal advice: see AI disclosure and call transcripts.
Who's the controller and who's the processor?
We expect your shop to be the controller and Zogu your processor, under a data processing agreement. That still needs a lawyer's review.
How long are call records kept?
Not set yet. Retention will be set with legal advice and written into the privacy policy before a real restaurant goes live.
Where is the data stored?
In a Cloudflare database in Western Europe, moving to a Foodhub-owned account before any pilot. Call audio passes through Twilio and Cloudflare's AI service, both US companies, and can be processed outside the UK.
Price and contract
What does it cost?
There's no UK price yet, because Zogu isn't on sale. Ask us through the contact page. Your provider's diversion charges are separate.
How long is the contract?
There isn't one yet. The terms of service will set it out.
For US restaurants, see a US version of this page.
More questions
Can customers order for later?
No. It only takes orders for straight away. When you're closed, it says when ordering opens again. It can book a table for later, though. It can book a table for later, though.
Will it tell callers about my deals?
No. It doesn't apply POS promotions, but a deal set up as a menu item can be ordered.
Does it take delivery orders?
Yes, once your delivery areas are set up. It checks the postcode, offers pickup outside your areas and says when an order is under the minimum. Delivery has only been tested in our test suite.
How does it cope with accents and bad lines?
We have no figure yet, because only our team has called. When unsure it asks again and names the options, and after two failed tries at an address it apologises and ends the call.
What happens if something breaks during a call?
The caller never gets silence: "One moment." on a slow turn, an apology and goodbye after two failures or if your POS can't take the order. One open case: if your POS answers too late, the order may still arrive after the apology, so a caller who rings back could order twice.