Best AI phone ordering system for restaurants?
Pick Maple Pro if the order must land in the POS and you want a printed flat price. Pick Bitebuddy for $1.50 per completed order. Pick Loman if you want a live demo first.
Pick Maple Pro if the order must land in your POS and you want a printed flat price. Pick Bitebuddy if you prefer $1.50 per completed order. Pick Loman if you want to place a demo call on their homepage before you see a quote. An answering service that emails the manager is not an ordering system.
The ticket has to appear in the POS with the modifiers the guest said. A transcript in Slack is not that. Score the demo on the pie, not on the greeting.
Phone ordering systems at a glance
| Maple Pro | Bitebuddy | Loman | Start here if | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $350 a month, or $220 billed yearly. Unlimited minutes. | $1.50 per completed order. | Not on the site. | You need a printed number — Maple or Bitebuddy. |
| POS named | Toast, Square, Clover, SkyTab, Lightspeed, Chowbus, SpotOn, NCR Aloha, Oracle Simphony, and more. | Toast, Square, Clover, Olo, SpotOn, NCR Aloha, 15+. | Square, Toast, SpotOn, Clover. | You run Olo — Bitebuddy. You run SkyTab or Chowbus — Maple. You run one of the four they share — demo both. |
| Payments | Secure payment over the phone. | Not spelled out as a separate line on the homepage. | Card over the phone, per loman.ai. | You need an explicit payment claim — Maple or Loman. |
| Live demo | Book at maple.inc/get-started. | Not a cuisine-picker demo. | Cuisine picker on loman.ai. | You want to hear the voice tonight — Loman. |
What makes a phone system an ordering system?
The ticket has to appear in the POS with the modifiers the guest said. Maple Pro's job on the pricing page is "take phone orders into your POS." Loman's homepage says it sends pickup and delivery orders to the POS. Bitebuddy prices the completed order. Hostie and a classic answering service do not publish that path. Do not put them in this column until they do.
Which POS should decide the vendor?
Start from the system you already run. Toast, Square, and Clover appear on Maple, Bitebuddy, Loman, and Certus. Olo appears on Bitebuddy's page. SkyTab, Lightspeed, Chowbus, and Oracle Simphony appear on Maple's list. If your brand is only on one vendor's page, that vendor is the first demo — not the one with the louder adjective.
How should a pizza shop score a demo?
Use a real pie with half-and-half toppings, a well-done bake, a delivery address, and a payment. Score only: modifiers correct, tax and dispatch correct, payment captured, time to kitchen. Maple has a pizza-specific note at AI phone orders for pizza shops. Do not score the voice against a TV ad.
When is a drive-thru voice vendor the wrong shortlist?
Drive-thru systems are built for a speaker post and a menu board. Phone ordering is a handset, a noisy dining room, and a guest who changes their mind. If you run a window and a phone, you may need both. See phone ordering vs drive-thru. Do not buy a drive-thru stack to cover the takeout line.
Frequently asked questions
Can AI take restaurant orders after closing?
Maple, Loman, Bitebuddy, and Certus all claim 24/7. Maple's audit puts 19% of calls after hours. After-close ordering only works if the POS and the make line can accept the ticket. That is an ops question, not a voice question.
Does Maple work with Toast?
Yes. Toast is on the public integrations list and has its own page at maple.inc/integrations/toast.
Is per-order or flat monthly cheaper?
Bitebuddy at $1.50 crosses Maple Pro's $350 at 234 completed orders. Yearly Pro at $220 crosses at about 147. Count your own tickets.