Chinese takeaway phone orders from the menu in your POS

01Ordering by number

Zogu matches what the caller says to your dish names, not numbers. With "23. CHICKEN CHOW MEIN" on the test menu, "number 23" found nothing and "chicken chow mein" found it first go.

If your POS dish names start with the number, Zogu also reads it out ("the 88. Chips"). Talk to us before switching on if your menu is set up that way. More on how Zogu understands the way callers order.

02Set meals

A set meal is a dish like any other (how Zogu works from your live POS menu).

• "The set meal for two" and "meal for 2" found SET MEAL A FOR 2.
• "Set menu for two" and "dinner for two" missed, and "set meal A" got all three as a choice.
• Picks inside a meal go in as required choices, asked one at a time ("Please choose two."). We haven't tested a pick-two set meal yet.
• "What's in the set meal for two?" is answered from the dish description in your POS.

03Salt and pepper, curry sauce and duck

• "Salt n pepper chips" finds SALT & PEPPER CHIPS. "Salt and pepper" alone gets the chips or the chicken wings as a choice.
• "Curry sauce" gets the Curry Sauce or the Chips and Curry Sauce.
• "1/4 CRISPY AROMATIC DUCK" is said as "quarter Crispy Aromatic Duck", and "crispy duck" gets quarter or half.
• "Half and half" matched the duck as well as HALF & HALF (RICE & CHIPS). "The second one" sorted it, and the phrase can be linked to the dish on the Teach page.

04Dish names spelt more than one way

Zogu has no Chinese list of alternative spellings yet. "Kung pao chicken" didn't find KUNG PO CHICKEN, though it was the first thing offered after a "sorry". "Sichuan" against SZECHUAN and "char sui" against CHAR SIU went the same way.

A shop word on the Teach page ("pao" means "po") fixes it from the next call. There are no built-in pronunciations for Chinese dishes either, but your own can be added. Our team makes these changes for now (teaching Zogu your menu words).

05Regulars and their usual

A regular who has ordered through Zogu is greeted by first name, and "same as last time" or "the usual" puts their last order back, checked against today's menu. Only Zogu phone orders count, and withheld numbers aren't looked up. So the regular who orders by number gives dish names once, then "the usual" after that (how Zogu greets regulars).

06What it won't do

• Take an order by menu number.
• Apply your POS promotions, like free prawn crackers over a set spend.
• Speak Cantonese or Mandarin. It speaks English only.
• Put callers through or promise a call-back.
• Take orders for later, or card details.
• Tell the caller whether you've accepted the order.

The full list is on everything Zogu doesn't do.

07Getting your menu ready

• Dish names: tell us if they begin with the menu number.
• Set meals: picks as required choices, contents in the description.
• Chilli heat in the description, and allergens in your POS's allergen fields.
• Your callers' words, like "kung pao" or "half and half", for the Teach page.

The other UK takeaway pages start from Zogu for UK takeaways.