How Epicure & Jack's Tavern Handed Its Reservation Line to AI and Grew Sales 31%

1. The calls come when the room is full

Epicure & Jack's Tavern is a family-owned, chef-driven restaurant in Millbrook, Alabama. Its guests book big: the average party booked by phone is seven people. Those are exactly the calls you can't let ring out, and they come at the worst time. The tavern opens Tuesday to Friday for lunch (11 a.m.–2 p.m.) and dinner (5–9 p.m.), and Saturday for dinner. Most calls land during service, when the same people who would answer the phone are seating and serving the room, and the rest come when nobody is there to pick up.

2. What changed in April

In April 2026 the tavern pointed its phone line at Bite Buddy AI. The AI answers the call, takes the date, time, party size and any special requests, and puts the reservation straight into the restaurant's book. Staff can still add or change bookings themselves.

From April through September the AI booked 92% of the restaurant's reservations (748 of 813), and 2,948 guests from those bookings sat down to eat.

The AI covered the phone for 1,228 hours: every hour in which at least one call came in, whether one call arrived or five, since each is an hour someone would otherwise have had to be free to answer. 602 of those hours were during service, 72% of all the hours the tavern was open, when the people who would answer are needed on the floor. The other 626 were while it was closed: the break between lunch and dinner, before opening, after close, and Sundays and Mondays, when nobody is on shift to pick up.

Those closed hours are where the new business came from. More than half of the AI's bookings (406 of 748) were made while the restaurant was closed, and they brought in 57% of the guests the AI seated (1,679 of 2,948). Nobody was on shift to take those calls, so before Bite Buddy most of them were likely missed: a caller who reaches a closed restaurant usually books somewhere else. And it wasn't one good month. In every month from April to September, between 42% and 67% of the guests the AI seated came from bookings made while the doors were closed.

3. The results

In the six months after launch the tavern's net sales ran 31% above the same six months a year earlier, and they were up on the year in every single month. Guest counts rose 31% over the same period, and 2,948 guests were seated from reservations the AI booked, more than half of them from calls that came in while the restaurant was closed. September was the strongest month yet: net sales up 57% and guests up 72% on September 2025.

And the growth built month on month. In the first three months on Bite Buddy (April to June), net sales ran 27% above the year before and guests 17%. In the next three (July to September), sales ran 36% above and guests 46%, closing on the best month yet. More guests came with slightly smaller checks: the average ticket in August and September was a few percent lower than a year earlier.

Net sales and guests: the restaurant's POS report, each compared with the same month in 2025. Reservations and phone hours covered (clock hours in which the AI answered at least one call, restaurant local time; “open” is Tuesday to Friday 11 a.m.–2 p.m. and 5–9 p.m., and Saturday 5–9 p.m.): Bite Buddy's records for the account, April 1 to September 29, 2026. Results are one restaurant's; yours will vary.

4. Fewer no-shows with deposits

A seven-top that doesn't show costs a full table for the night. So the tavern has the AI take a deposit on the bookings that matter most, mostly larger parties. When the AI books one, it texts the guest a secure payment link. If the deposit isn't paid within 15 minutes, the hold is released and the table goes back on the book. When the guests arrive, the tavern refunds the deposit with one tap.

Bookings without a deposit had a 15% no-show rate. Bookings with a paid deposit had 3%. Deposits went mostly on bigger parties, so we compared like with like: for parties under eight, no-shows fell from 16% to 4% with a deposit; for parties of eight or more, from 7% to 3%. Four of the five deposit guests who still didn't come forfeited their deposit.

5. What it costs

Bite Buddy charges $1.50 per completed reservation: no monthly fee and no per-guest fee. With an average party of seven, that works out to about 21¢ per guest booked.

The usual way to get the same result is two vendors: a reservation platform (OpenTable $149–$499 a month plus per-guest fees on its app bookings, or Resy $289–$459 a month) and an AI phone add-on to answer the calls (Slang AI, which starts at $399 a month per location and charges more as call volume grows). At this restaurant's volume, Bite Buddy costs at least 66% less than the cheapest of those combinations, and a party of seven costs the same to book as a party of two.

6. How they did it, and how you can

How do you increase restaurant sales with reservations?

Book every table someone calls about. Epicure & Jack's did it with three changes: the phone is answered on every call, including when the restaurant is closed; big parties are booked on the first call instead of a callback; and larger bookings are protected with a deposit. Net sales ran 31% above the year before, building from 27% in the first three months to 36% in the next three.

How do you stop missing reservation calls when you're closed?

Let an AI answer the line around the clock. At Epicure & Jack's the AI covered 626 hours when the restaurant was closed (the break between lunch and dinner, before opening, after close, Sundays and Mondays) and took 406 bookings in them. Those bookings brought in 57% of the guests the AI seated.

How do you reduce restaurant no-shows?

Take a small deposit on larger parties and remind every guest. Epicure & Jack's asks $5 per guest on parties of six or more. The AI texts the payment link while it books, releases the table if the deposit isn't paid within 15 minutes, and staff refund it when the guests arrive. Every guest also gets a reminder text five hours before the reservation. No-shows fell from 15% without a deposit to 3% with one.

How do you set up AI reservations?

1. Point your phone line at Bite Buddy. Epicure & Jack's forwarded its line in April 2026; the AI answers from the first call.
2. Set your reservation hours and party limits. The AI books only open slots and offers the nearest times when the one asked for is full.
3. Turn on deposits for larger parties. Pick the party size and the amount per guest; the AI handles the link, the 15-minute hold and the reminder.
4. Keep working from one book. AI bookings and staff bookings land in the same reservation book, and staff get a text or email for every new booking.

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