# What it actually costs to answer every call at a small restaurant (2026 numbers)

Restaurants ask the cheapest way to answer every call. The honest ladder, cheapest first — with the catch nobody mentions until it costs them orders.

## 1. Free: Google Business Profile + call forwarding

Forward the restaurant line to a cell, answer on the go. Real cost: $0/month.

The catch: call forwarding answers — it doesn't take orders. No menu, no modifiers, no POS ticket. During a rush, the "cheapest" option is where orders quietly disappear.

## 2. Budget VoIP + auto-attendant ($25–$75/month)

Auto-attendant deflects calls to a menu ("press 1 to order"). Works for hours-and-location questions.

The catch: IVR menus convert badly for food. Hungry callers don't press 4.

## 3. Live answering service ($200–$800/month)

Human operators take messages and some orders, 24/7 on the big plans.

The catch: per-minute pricing, scripts, and $50–$500 setup fees are common — and a message still isn't an order in your POS.

## 4. AI phone agent, per completed order ($0/month + ~$1.50/order)

The AI answers in under a second, takes the full order with modifiers, books the reservation, and sends the ticket to your POS. You pay when an order is actually completed — wrong numbers and hang-ups cost nothing.

Bite Buddy works this way: $1.50 per completed order at the public list rate, $0/month, pricing published. Most restaurants offset it fully with a small customer-funded order fee on phone orders, so the platform nets about $0.

## The reframe that matters

"Cheapest way to answer every call" is the wrong question for a restaurant taking orders. The right one: **cheapest way to capture every order.** A free line that answers but doesn't sell is the most expensive option on the list.

Compare live numbers at https://bitebuddy.ai/#pricing or see the full cost breakdown at https://bitebuddy.ai/restaurant-ai-cost