Pour the wine,we'll answer the calls.

Yes. Zavo connects to the systems wine bars use — SevenRooms, ResDiary, OpenTable, and DesignMyNight — and seats guests against your live availability, so it only ever offers tables you genuinely have. Every booking, change, and cancellation writes back in real time, so your floor plan stays accurate and you don't double-seat the counter. If you're mostly walk-in led and keep a simple diary, 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 bookings now and we'll set it up around your room, rather than asking a small team to adopt a new tool overnight. The aim is to fit how your wine bar already works.

Yes. When a guest rings, Zavo takes the date, time, and party size, checks your live availability, and seats them where you've got space — a window table, a couple of stools at the counter, or the quiet corner at the back. It only offers what you genuinely have free, which matters far more in an intimate room than a large one, and confirms the booking by text straightaway. It can note a preference for the bar, a special occasion, or accessibility needs. The reservation lands in your system instantly, so nothing depends on a note surviving a busy evening. The tables that used to ring out while your team was decanting now turn straight into covers in the room.

That's one of the things it does best. When someone rings about a tasting night, a wine flight, or a sommelier evening, Zavo takes the guest count, the date, and which tasting they want, and can collect a deposit by secure link where you ask for one — so the spot is genuinely held. The booking lands with you with all the details attached, and a confirmation goes to the guest. Because it answers around the clock, the enquiry that comes in at ten at night is captured rather than lost. Instead of your events filling by luck, depending on whoever happens to pick up, the tasting calendar fills well ahead — which makes it far easier to plan the wines and the boards.

Yes, within what you've told it. Trained on your list, Zavo answers the questions guests actually ring with — what's open by the glass tonight, the flights you're running, the small plates and charcuterie boards, and your corkage policy — accurately and in your bar's voice. It only ever says what you've configured, so it won't invent a wine you don't pour or quote a corkage you haven't set. Anything that genuinely needs your sommelier's judgement is taken down and passed to you. This keeps your team on the floor with the guests at the bar rather than breaking off to field the same handful of questions all evening, while callers still get a confident, knowledgeable answer.

Yes, and they're among the calls a wine bar can least afford to miss. For an after-work gathering, a birthday group, or a full private hire, Zavo captures the guest count, the date, and the occasion, answers the obvious questions about minimum spend and what a hire includes, then routes the enquiry straight to you to quote and confirm. The whole brief, with notes, lands in one place so nothing is lost in a busy service. Because it works after hours, the office planning a Thursday do at nine in the evening is captured rather than left on voicemail. For many intimate wine bars, winning more of these group bookings is exactly what turns a quiet midweek profitable.

Yes — you decide what's worth interrupting service for. It flags the calls that count — a private-hire enquiry, a supplier, a guest with a concern — and connects them to the person you've chosen, with a short note of what came up. Routine bookings and list questions are handled or logged, so your small team isn't pulled off the floor for a table for two. You set the rules: which calls ring through at once, which wait for a callback, and who covers what. A high-value group enquiry no longer waits in voicemail for you to find it — you're notified within seconds and can call back before the guest has chosen where to spend the evening.

Yes. The host only ever repeats what you've configured, so it stays inside your licence and house rules. You tell it your line on age verification, last entry, whether you take walk-ins, and anything else that matters at the door, and it says exactly that — never promising something you can't honour. If a caller asks something needing real judgement, it takes the details and passes them to you rather than guessing. Every call is logged with a transcript, giving you a clean record of what was said. The agent is there to answer and book within the rules you set, not to make the calls that are properly yours — so you stay in control of how your bar is represented on the phone.

Yes. Calls are encrypted in flight and at rest, and access to them is restricted and tracked, while the host only shares what you've configured. Guest names, numbers, and booking details are handled to enterprise standards, never resold and never used to train outside models. Where a deposit is taken for a tasting or a private hire, payment runs through a secure link, so card details never pass over the call or sit with your team. Each conversation is recorded for your records, which makes your data-protection duties simple to demonstrate and shows how any booking was handled. If you have particular requirements about how long guest data is kept, we'll lay out exactly how Zavo stores and clears it before you begin.

That's when it earns its place. Between five and eight, your phone rings most just as your team is busiest pouring and plating — so that's when bookings get missed. Zavo answers every one of those calls at once, with no queue and no hold music, seating guests and capturing enquiries while your people stay with the room. It keeps going through the evening and long after you've poured the last glass, picking up the calls that land late at night when someone finally decides where to go tomorrow. There's no extra cover to roster. The busier the bar gets, the more calls a single phone would have dropped — and the more Zavo quietly keeps for you.

Yes. If you run more than one site, Zavo answers for each with its own diary, list, events, and house rules, while giving you a single view across them. A guest reaches a host that knows that bar's tables and what's open by the glass there, not a generic centre. Each site can have its own hours, its own escalation contacts, and its own deposit rules. Reporting rolls up so you can compare call volumes, tables booked, and event tickets sold bar by bar, and see where the phone is costing trade. Whether you run one intimate room or a small group, every guest is answered consistently and their booking lands with the right team — without you piecing together separate answering arrangements for each.

There are two effects, and they stack. First, the missed calls stop: the after-work tables, tasting tickets, and private-hire enquiries that used to ring out now get answered and booked, so more of the trade you already draw actually lands. Second, every enquiry arrives logged and tidy, so you follow up the group leads faster — and a quick, warm reply often wins the booking over the bar down the street. Most wine bars see more events sold and more group bookings captured within the first few weeks, simply because nothing is being dropped. We'd rather the numbers spoke for themselves: Zavo keeps a record of every call, booking, and lead, so each month you can set what it earns beside what it costs.

No, because it speaks only from what you've set up. Zavo works from the list and details you give it, so it won't invent a vintage you don't stock, misquote a price, or promise a flight you've stopped running. Anything outside what it knows is taken down and passed to you rather than guessed. You can listen back to any call, see exactly what was said, and refine its answers whenever your list changes — adding the questions your guests actually ask and the wines you're pouring this month. The everyday enquiries get fast, accurate replies in your bar's voice, and anything needing a sommelier's judgement still reaches a person, so the way your list is represented stays firmly in your hands.

Yes. The moment a table or event is booked, Zavo sends a confirmation by text so the guest has the details and your diary is current. It sends a reminder before the night, which cuts the late drop-outs that leave gaps in a small room. After a visit, it can follow up to thank the guest and tee up their next booking, so a first-time caller becomes a regular. If a booking cancels late, it can flag it so you can offer the table to someone else. All of this runs automatically, so your covers hold firmer and your small team spends its time with the guests and the wine rather than ringing round to confirm tables before service.

Most wine bars are up and running the same day and fully tuned within a few days. There's no hardware to buy and nothing to install. You repoint your existing number to Zavo, connect your booking diary, and brief it on your list, your tasting events, your deposit and door policies, and how you like enquiries handled. From the first call it answers in your bar's voice — warm and unhurried — and you can listen back to conversations and refine its answers as your list evolves. We look after the technical side of hooking up your booking system. Most owners find the slowest part is simply agreeing their own booking rules, which is a handy thing for a small team to nail down regardless.

That's fine — plenty of good wine bars are walk-in led. Zavo works with the major booking platforms out of the box, but a booking system isn't a prerequisite. If you keep a simple diary or take most guests on the night, it can still handle the calls that do come in — the table someone wants to be sure of, the tasting ticket, the private-hire enquiry — log each one neatly, and route it to you however suits your room — a text, an email, or a shared sheet. When you're ready to move to a full booking system, it connects straight to it. You're never forced to change how your wine bar runs in order to stop missing the calls that matter.