WIRED: When you call a restaurant, you might be chatting with an AI host (feat. Crave Sushi Bar)
Photo illustration: Andrey Popov
Brian Owens, co-owner of the New York restaurant Crave Fishbar, with three locations in the city, and the newly opened Crave Sushi Bar, believed in an AI future, but not for long. In 2021, operating “as lean as possible” when reopening after the pandemic, Owens tried Slang, which was brought to his attention by his account manager at OpenTable.
The offering sounded exciting, Owens says. “‘Here’s your virtual host, it will save you some money on labor,’ and at that point it made sense.” But, as Owens started analyzing the calls, he found dissatisfied customers who were trying to get a human employee on the line—and occasionally cursing at the chatbot. “If you’re asking a robot how the vibe at the restaurant is, versus someone who is able to explain it by not using keywords—you know the difference,” he says. “I train my host staff to answer the phone with a smile, and you’re not getting a smile when you’re using AI.”