Restaurant phone trees and IVR menus: how to set one up callers can use

A restaurant phone tree works best with four or five choices at most, in the order callers need them: ordering or reservations first, then hours and directions, then a person on 0. Keep one level where you can, send any caller who presses nothing to a staffed phone, and test every key from an outside line before you switch it on.

This guide covers the keypad menu, often called an IVR (interactive voice response) or auto attendant. For the recording callers hear when nobody answers, see our voicemail greeting scripts. For software that listens to what the caller says, see conversational AI in plain terms.

What is a restaurant phone tree?

It is a recorded menu that answers your main number and sends each caller somewhere based on the key they press. RingCentral's IVR help page describes it as an automated system that guides callers through options using recorded prompts, so they reach the right extension or finish a simple task without speaking to anyone.

Many business phone plans include one under another name. Ooma calls it a Virtual Receptionist and Google Voice calls it an auto attendant.

How many options should the menu have?

The New Jersey Innovation Authority's guide to phone menu design, written for state call centers, advises limiting each menu to five options where possible. It notes that nine options can take up to a minute to hear, and that callers forget the early ones. It also advises few submenus, an option for "all other questions" and sending callers to a person when a recorded answer has not solved their problem. Its example menus end with "to hear these options again, press star." It says a confusing menu leads callers to press 0 over and over.

A restaurant has fewer reasons to call than a state agency. We suggest three or four numbered options plus 0 for a person and star to repeat. If you need more, catering or a second store may need its own number. Our multi-location routing guide covers that case.

What do restaurant callers ask for?

Build the menu around the calls you get. Maple's restaurant phone audit sorted calls by what the caller asked for, in two groups of restaurants that use Maple. The categories come from keyword matching on AI-written call summaries, a large share of calls fell into "other," and the audit advises reading the ranks. Its data was queried on April 28, 2026, and does not describe all restaurants.

What the caller wanted	Restaurants that take phone orders	Reservation and information restaurants	Where it goes in the menu (our suggestion)
Place an order for pickup or delivery	First, at 39.8% of calls	Third, at 11.6%	Key 1 at a takeout restaurant
Speak to a person	Second, at 13.6%	Second, at 14.2%	Key 0, answered by staff
Reservation or booking	Third, at 7.0%	First, at 28.3%	Key 1 at a sit-down restaurant
Hours	Fourth, at 4.3%	Fourth, also 4.3%	A recorded answer on key 2
Menu or prices	Fifth, at 2.3%	Fifth, at 1.5%	Fold into key 2 or send to your website

Your own mix may differ. Before you record anything, tally a week of calls by reason at the host stand and put the biggest reason on key 1.

What should the menu say?

We wrote these examples for a made-up restaurant. Put the restaurant's name first, say each option as "for X, press N" so callers hear the reason before the number, and leave specials out of the menu.

Takeout or counter service

"Thanks for calling Rosa's on Main. To order for pickup, press 1. For hours and directions, press 2. For catering, press 3. To speak with someone, press 0. To hear this again, press star."

Sit-down restaurant

"Thanks for calling Rosa's on Main. For reservations or a table today, press 1. For hours, parking and directions, press 2. For private events, press 3. For anything else, press 0."

After hours

"Thanks for calling Rosa's on Main. We're closed now and open tomorrow at 11 a.m. You can order anytime at rosasonmain.com. To leave a message for the manager, press 1."

Keep the hours answer on key 2 short, then offer 0 for a person and star to repeat. The New Jersey guide warns against playing messages callers did not ask for, so save reminders for the hold queue or the transfer message.

How do you set it up on common phone systems?

Provider and feature name	What each key can do	Hours and holidays	Printed price
Ooma Office Virtual Receptionist	Each of the ten keys can open the company directory, play an announcement, repeat the greeting, send a text, open another menu, ring an extension or ring group, or go to voicemail (key press settings)	A schedule sends calls to the menu, an extension or voicemail by time and day, with a holiday list; Pro Plus adds up to five schedules and a separate holiday schedule (overview)	Included from Essentials, $19.95 per user per month with no contract, before taxes and fees (plans page)
Google Voice auto attendant	Each key can open a submenu, repeat the menu, play a message, send to voicemail with the transcript and MP3 emailed to up to 10 addresses, or transfer to a user, ring group or phone number (setup guide)	Business hours, holiday closures and a separate after-hours action; a preview call lets you test before you publish	From Voice Standard, $20 per user per month on top of a paid Google Workspace plan (plan comparison)
RingCentral IVR menu	Each key can connect to an extension, go to an extension's voicemail, open a dial-by-name directory or transfer to an outside number; # and star can repeat the menu or go back a level	Ask RingCentral how your plan switches the menu after hours	Check which RingEX plan includes it on RingCentral's pricing page

Two defaults deserve a look. Ooma's default setup sends key 0 to the first extension's voicemail, so point 0 at a staffed phone or ring group before you go live. On RingCentral, you choose how many times the menu repeats (up to three) when a caller presses nothing, and then whether to disconnect the call or connect it to an extension. Pick a staffed extension. A key with no option assigned may be read as an extension number unless you ask RingCentral support to limit the menu to valid keys.

How is a phone tree different from conversational AI?

A phone tree only knows the keys you set. It can play a recorded answer, send a text on some systems, or pass the call to a person or a voicemail box. On its own it takes no order and books no table, so those calls end with a person, a message or a link.

Conversational AI lets the caller say what they want in their own words, then answers the question or completes the task where it is connected to the systems that do the work.

Approach	What it does with the call	Start here if
Phone tree on your current phone plan	Plays recorded answers and routes to people or voicemail	Staff can answer most routed calls and you want a low, fixed cost
Phone tree plus a call queue	Routes callers, then holds them in line for the next free person	Calls stack up at peaks but staff can take them within a few minutes
AI answering	Answers questions in conversation and transfers to staff; some products take orders or bookings	Calls go unanswered at peaks or after hours and many are orders or bookings

Maple Voice answers calls 24/7 with hours and FAQ answers and automated call transfer, for $150 a month billed monthly or $85 a month billed annually. Pro, at $350 a month billed monthly or $220 a month billed annually, adds phone orders into supported POS systems and reservations. You can hear sample calls and compare them with your menu.

How do you test a phone tree before callers hear it?

1. From an outside phone, press every key on the main menu and each submenu. Note where each one lands.
2. Press nothing. Check that the call reaches a person or a monitored voicemail box and does not hang up.
3. Press a key with no option. Check what the caller hears.
4. Press 0 during service and after hours.
5. Call five minutes before and after closing, and on a date in your holiday list.
6. Time the main menu from the greeting to the last option. If it runs long, cut an option.
7. After two weeks, check the call log for callers who hung up inside the menu. Ooma Pro's Call Resolution column marks a Virtual Receptionist call that ended without reaching a person or voicemail as "Call Complete." A high count points to a confusing option.

If the tree sends callers to a ring group, our restaurant phone system guide covers ring patterns, and the rush-hour coverage guide covers who answers at peak.

Published by Maple, which sells AI phone answering for restaurants. This AI-assisted guide combines Ooma, Google and RingCentral help and pricing pages, the New Jersey Innovation Authority's phone menu guide and Maple's published phone audit with original example menus, a placement table and a test list. The menus are our own examples for a made-up restaurant. It does not report a test of any phone system or promise a result.