Plate the food,we'll take the bookings.

Yes. Zavo connects to the systems restaurants run — OpenTable, ResDiary, SevenRooms, and Resy — and books against your live tables, so it only ever offers a slot you genuinely have for a given sitting. Every reservation, change, dietary note, and deposit writes back in real time, so your floor plan stays accurate and the room is never double-seated. If you keep your diary your own way, Zavo still captures each booking cleanly and sends it to your inbox or a shared sheet your team checks before service. Tell us how you take reservations now and we'll set it up around your setup, rather than asking a busy front-of-house team to learn a new tool. The aim is to fit how your restaurant already runs.

Yes — it's the main thing diners ring for. When someone calls, Zavo takes the date, the time, and the numbers, checks your live tables, and books the cover. It can move a booking to a different time, change the party size, or cancel it, and it only ever offers slots you genuinely have, so each sitting fills without double-seating the room. Every reservation is confirmed by text and written back to your system instantly. The bookings that used to ring out while the floor was running food now land on the diary the moment the call comes in. A busy service no longer quietly sends a table of four to the restaurant down the street — they're booked with you instead.

Yes, and it does it properly. When a diner mentions an allergy or a dietary need — a nut allergy, a coeliac in the party, a vegan main — Zavo records it against the booking so the kitchen sees it before the guests sit down, rather than the team scrambling to ask at the pass mid-service. It only repeats what you've configured, so it won't guess an ingredient; anything it isn't certain of is flagged and passed to you. Special-occasion notes, high chairs, and access needs are captured the same way. Your team walks into service with the dietary picture already on the table, which matters for guest safety and keeps the kitchen calm on a full night.

Yes — these are the bookings Zavo is keenest to catch, because a party of sixteen or a set-menu group fills a whole section and is the easiest to lose in the weeds of a service. For a large booking it takes the date, the numbers, the menu, and any dietary needs, then routes the enquiry to your manager with everything attached so you can confirm. When you want a deposit to hold the table, it sends a secure link. Because it works at peak and after close, the group planning a celebration late at night is captured rather than lost. Winning more of these large bookings is, for most restaurants, one of the quickest paybacks.

Zavo turns a 'we're full' into a chance to fill the night. On a fully booked service it takes names for the waitlist with the party size and the time they'd like, and offers cancellations as they come up, so a late drop-out doesn't leave a table empty. If you run more than one sitting, it can offer an earlier or later slot rather than turning the diner away. Keen diners hear 'let me take your number and I'll call if something opens' instead of a flat refusal, so you keep the demand rather than sending it elsewhere. When a booking cancels, it can work down the waitlist automatically, so your busiest nights run as full as the floor plan allows.

Yes — what gets a manager's attention is entirely your call. It spots the bookings that count — a large party, a set-menu group, a private-dining enquiry, a press or supplier call — and routes them to whoever you've named, with a short briefing on what was said. Routine table bookings and everyday questions are handled or logged, so your team isn't pulled off the floor mid-service for a table for two. You decide the thresholds — what rings through there and then, what waits, and who picks up which type of enquiry. A sixteen-cover booking no longer waits in voicemail until someone checks after close — your nominated contact is flagged in seconds and can call back while the group is still deciding.

Yes. Because the host only repeats what you've configured, it stays within your food-safety duties. You tell it how to handle allergy and dietary questions — that the details are recorded for the kitchen and confirmed in person on arrival — and it says exactly that, never inventing an ingredient or claiming a dish is free of something it isn't. Anything needing a real judgement from the kitchen is taken down and passed to you. Every call is logged with a transcript, so you have a clean record of what a diner was told, which matters for allergen compliance. The agent captures and books within the rules you set, so your restaurant meets its duties consistently rather than relying on a rushed note at the pass.

Yes. Each call is encrypted in transit and at rest, access is tightly controlled and logged, and the host only shares the details you've set up. Diner names, numbers, and booking details are handled to enterprise standards, never sold on or used to train third-party models. Where a deposit is taken for a large party, it runs through a secure link, so card details never pass over a busy service call or sit with your team. Each conversation leaves an audit trail, so meeting your GDPR obligations and reviewing how a booking was taken is simple. If you have particular requirements about how long booking data is kept, we'll go over Zavo's retention settings with you beforehand, so you're comfortable from the first service.

That's the whole reason it exists. At the height of a Friday night your phone rings hardest exactly when your team has least chance of answering it — so the bookings vanish. Zavo answers every one of those calls at once, with no queue and no hold music, booking covers and capturing large-party enquiries while your staff stay seating and serving. It carries on after close, picking up the calls that land late at night when diners plan the week ahead. You don't roster a single extra person for it. The busier the restaurant and the fuller the room, the more calls a single phone would have dropped — and the more Zavo quietly keeps for you, in service and out of hours alike.

Yes. If you run more than one site, Zavo answers for each with its own tables, menus, sittings, and deposit rules, while giving you a single view across them. A caller reaches a host that knows that restaurant's diary and availability, not a generic centre that can't say what's free tonight. Every site gets its own hours, its own contacts for escalation, and its own policy on large parties. Reporting rolls up so you can compare call volumes, covers booked, and large parties captured site by site, and see where the phone is costing trade. Whether you run one dining room or a small group, every caller is answered consistently and their booking lands with the right team — without separate answering arrangements for each restaurant.

It works on two fronts that reinforce one another. First, the dropped calls stop: the reservations, large-party enquiries, and waitlist demand that used to ring out in service or after close now get answered and booked, so more of the diners you already attract actually book. Second, reminders and deposits mean the covers you take actually arrive, so your real revenue rises even before your enquiries do. Most restaurants see more sittings filled and fewer no-shows within the first few weeks, simply because nothing is being dropped. We'd rather your own takings decided: Zavo tracks every call, booking, deposit, and lead across a month of services, so what it adds is there beside what you pay.

No. It never says anything you haven't set it up to say. Zavo works from your diary, menu, and house rules, so it won't promise a table you don't have, invent a dish, or claim something about an allergen it can't stand behind. Anything outside what it knows is taken down and passed to you rather than guessed, which matters most around dietary requirements and special requests. You can listen back to any call, see exactly what was said, and refine its answers whenever your menu or hours change. The everyday enquiries get fast, accurate replies in your restaurant's voice, and anything needing a manager's or the kitchen's judgement still reaches a person, so your restaurant's reputation stays in safe hands.

Yes. The moment a table is booked, Zavo sends a confirmation by text so the diner has the details and your diary is current. It sends a reminder before the booking, which is the single biggest lever on no-shows, and takes a deposit by secure link on the larger parties so they actually arrive. After a visit, it can follow up to thank the diner and invite them back, so a first-timer becomes a regular. If a booking cancels late, it can flag it so you can re-let the table from the waitlist. All of this runs automatically, so your covers hold firmer and your team spends service on the floor rather than ringing round to confirm tables.

Most restaurants are up and running the same day and fully tuned within a few days. There's no kit to purchase and nothing to install. You route your existing number to Zavo, connect your reservation system, and brief it on your sittings, your table plan, your set menus, and your deposit rules for large parties. From the first call it answers in your restaurant's voice — warm and quick whatever service is doing — and you can listen back to conversations and refine its answers as your menu and hours change. Connecting it to your reservation system is on us. Most managers find the only ongoing job is keeping the diary and menu up to date, which sharpens the whole front of house anyway.

That's fine — plenty of restaurants do. Zavo integrates with the main reservation platforms out of the box, yet it isn't reliant on one. If your bookings live in a paper diary or a system of your own, it can still take every reservation and enquiry, capture it as a clean, structured record, and route it to you however suits your floor — linked where it can be, or sent to a shared inbox your team reviews before service — so nothing is lost and you keep control. Where a legacy system can't take a full integration, we'll build the closest workable connection as we set you up. You're never forced to change how your restaurant runs to stop missing the calls that matter.