UK takeaways
Phone orders for burger and chicken shops
We test Zogu by ringing a takeaway on our integration platform's test system that sells burgers, wings, kebabs, desserts and cans, with till shorthand like 1/2 POUNDER BURGER and 8pcs CHICKEN WINGS. Everything below comes from our calls on 4 and 5 November 2026, wrong turns included. No real restaurant uses Zogu yet.
Where the burger went wrong
"Can I have the burger, please?" got the burger from Sam's last order. Then speech recognition heard "a half pounder" as "A hot ponder", and it took "No. I said the half pounder" to get there. Since then:
- Item names must come from the caller's words. "The burger" gets three burgers named, then "Which would you like?"
- A reply to a list is checked against that list first, by position, by a word from a name or by sound, so "the hot" gets the Half Pounder Burger.
- When speech recognition is unsure of a word, the AI model is told which menu items it sounds like.
- "No. I said the half pounder" adds the burger without asking again.
These went live on our test system on 5 November 2026 and have had only a few test calls since.
Till shorthand and callers' words
The agent says the shorthand the way a person would: 1/2 POUNDER BURGER is "half pounder burger" and 8pcs CHICKEN WINGS is "eight-piece chicken wings". It matches callers' words the other way round:
- "chicken donner burger", spelt wrong, finds CHICKEN DONER BURGER
- "large chips and cheese" finds LARGE CHIPS & CHEESE
- "cheesecake" finds CHEESE CAKE
- "a coke" finds the right can of cola
Ask for something it doesn't sell, like a cheeseburger, and the agent says so and names three of its burgers, never the cheesecake. Misses go on a list, and a word can then be linked to an item, or "fries" set to mean "chips", from the next call. Restaurants don't have their own login for that yet. More on teaching the agent your shop's words and how the agent understands the way callers order.
Burger or meal
Most burgers on the test menu come twice, as a burger and as a MEAL.
- "A burger" gets three plain burgers named. Meals only come in when the caller says "meal".
- "Chicken doner burger meal" goes straight on as the meal.
- "Nuggets" finds the KIDS CHICKEN NUGGETS MEAL, because that's the only version.
- "The half pounder" gets the burger, not the meal, without a question.
That last rule is the one we haven't settled. Asking "The burger or the meal?" adds a question to nearly every order; not asking means a caller who wanted the meal has to say so. For now the read-back names it before anything is sent. If you run a burger shop, tell us which your callers expect. "Make it a meal" after the burger is on hasn't been tested.
Wings and pieces
The test shop isn't a fried chicken shop, so this is wings by the piece and one nuggets meal.
- 4pcs CHICKEN WINGS is said as "four-piece chicken wings", and WINGS 6pcs as "six pieces".
- "Four piece wings" and "BBQ wings" go straight on.
- Plain "chicken wings" gets "We've got the eight-piece Chicken Wings, the four-piece Chicken Wings and the eight-piece BBQ Chicken Wings. Which would you like?"
No fried chicken shop's own menu has been on a call yet, with two-piece and chips, strips or spicy or plain. The rules above aren't specific to this menu, but we'd rather show you calls than make promises.
Sauces, extras and ingredients
The agent asks only for the choices your POS marks as required, one at a time. For testing we gave a burger a required sauce and paid extras like cheese at 50p.
- "Um, mayo, and medium chips as well" puts mayo on the burger and chips on the order in one go.
- With more than four choices, it says how many there are and names the first four.
- "With cheese" picks the cheese extra for the item just mentioned, or says it hasn't got one.
- "No onions", with no option for it, goes on as a note for the kitchen.
"Is there cheese on the mega burger?" gets the item's description from your POS if it has one. Without one, the agent says it doesn't have the ingredients and asks if the caller would like one.
Add-ons once the caller's done
On 4 November 2026 a caller heard 12 "Anything else?"-style questions and said: "Stop telling me a thousand times." Now "Anything else?" is only for ordering. After "that's all", the agent offers up to two add-ons, and a "no" ends them. Replayed through today's build, that call has three such questions.
- Offers come from categories with "dessert", "side" or "drink" in the name, in your menu's order.
- A category the caller already ordered from is skipped. The agent doesn't look inside a meal.
- Add-ons can be switched off for your shop, or your own question can go first.
More on how the add-on questions work.
What we haven't tested yet
- No fried chicken shop's menu has been on a call.
- Delivery has only been tried in our automated tests.
- The agent speaks English only.
- It doesn't put callers through to the shop or promise a call-back.
See phone ordering for UK takeaways and what Zogu doesn't do.
Questions and answers
We're open until 3am. Will it take orders that late?
Yes, if those are your POS hours, including shifts past midnight. When you're closed or paused, it says when you open again and doesn't take orders for later.
Can it take a deal, like two burgers and chips for a set price?
Yes, if the deal is an item on your POS menu. It doesn't apply or mention POS promotions.
Can callers pay by card over the phone?
No. Orders go into your POS to be paid on pickup or delivery, and the read-back says which.
Does it tell callers when the order will be ready?
Yes, if your shop has a prep time set: "It'll be ready in about twenty minutes." Then it hangs up without waiting for the kitchen.