{ "title": "Aradim — restaurant voice and operations market review", "checkedAt": "2026-10-18", "market": "United Kingdom; English-first with Persian option", "method": "Eight official vendor websites checked directly. Advertised capabilities are vendor claims, not independently tested. US products are inspiration, not confirmed UK service availability. No competitor testimonials, accuracy claims or revenue statistics are reused.", "pricingPolicy": "Compare scope before cost: voice ordering, phone FAQ/link routing and restaurant POS are different products. No currency conversion or implication that Aradim has those integrations. Tax, contract, usage, hardware and geographic eligibility need a vendor quote where unspecified. Search snippets can retain obsolete prices; the current opened source takes precedence.", "vendors": [ { "id": "slang", "name": "Slang AI", "url": "https://www.slang.ai/pricing", "focus": "Restaurant telephone concierge and reservations", "features": [ "Reservation integrations", "Text links and confirmations", "VIP routing and human transfer", "Call summaries and recordings", "Brand voice, alerts and multilingual Premium options", "Multi-location reporting and custom workflows" ], "pricing": { "text": "Core starts at $399 per location; Premium at $599; Enterprise by quote.", "currency": "USD in the default pricing selection; CAD and AUD selectors also exist", "source": "https://www.slang.ai/pricing", "checkedAt": "2026-10-18", "caveat": "Billing interval is not explicit in the fetched live text. Confirm interval, inclusions and UK eligibility with sales. Reservation-led offer should not be presented as complete spoken takeaway ordering." } }, { "id": "loman", "name": "Loman AI", "url": "https://loman.ai/pricing", "focus": "Restaurant AI telephone ordering", "features": [ "Concurrent calls and interruptions", "Menu updates and customer questions", "Transfer and outbound SMS", "Takeaway and delivery ordering", "Reservations, POS and payment options", "Guest memory, upsells and out-of-stock updates" ], "pricing": { "text": "Current page requests a quote for Starter, Premium and enterprise needs; advertises no per-minute fees.", "currency": "No numerical price displayed on current page", "source": "https://loman.ai/pricing", "checkedAt": "2026-10-18", "caveat": "Older search-cache figures of $249/$399 and per-minute overages conflict with the current opened page and are excluded. Check fair-use, setup, payment fees and UK availability directly." } }, { "id": "popmenu", "name": "Popmenu", "url": "https://get.popmenu.com/solutions/ai-phone-answering", "focus": "AI restaurant host within a broader website and marketing platform", "features": [ "24-hour concurrent answering", "Custom greeting and voice", "Questions about hours, location and events", "SMS links for orders and reservations", "Owner-app monitoring, priority calls and topic trends", "Existing-number forwarding" ], "pricing": { "text": "AI phone answering starts at $149/month; custom quote offered.", "currency": "USD; dollar price on US vendor page", "source": "https://get.popmenu.com/solutions/ai-phone-answering", "checkedAt": "2026-10-18", "caveat": "The page describes sending ordering/reservation links, not completing every order by voice. Broader website, online-ordering and marketing packages may cost extra. Confirm UK service, usage and contract." } }, { "id": "kea", "name": "Kea AI", "url": "https://kea.ai/", "focus": "Voice and text restaurant ordering", "features": [ "Concurrent phone calls", "POS-connected ordering", "Stock substitutions and menu modifiers", "Voice/text continuity and branded confirmations", "Payment, delivery and reservation options", "Location/holiday knowledge and bulk branch updates" ], "pricing": { "text": "Homepage advertises flat pricing with unlimited calls and asks for contact details to receive a price.", "currency": "No current numeric homepage price", "source": "https://kea.ai/", "checkedAt": "2026-10-18", "caveat": "A June 2026 vendor blog mentions $450/month, but the current product homepage is quote-based; do not treat that older figure as a current offer. Confirm limitations and UK availability." }, "secondarySource": "https://kea.ai/blog/restaurant-phone-ordering-system-the-2026-operators-guide" }, { "id": "soundhound", "name": "SoundHound AI", "url": "https://www.soundhound.com/industries/restaurants", "focus": "Omnichannel restaurant voice agents", "features": [ "Telephone, SMS, app, drive-through and kiosk ordering", "POS/menu system connections", "Brand vocabulary and tone", "Multilingual conversations", "Relevant add-ons and promotions", "Operational insights and staff assistance" ], "pricing": { "text": "Restaurant product page directs operators to a specialist; no public numeric price found there.", "currency": "Quote required", "source": "https://www.soundhound.com/industries/restaurants", "checkedAt": "2026-10-18", "caveat": "Enterprise/channel scope varies. Do not assume every phone, drive-through or POS feature is included in one package, or available for a UK independent shop." } }, { "id": "square", "name": "Square for Restaurants UK", "url": "https://squareup.com/gb/en/point-of-sale/restaurants/pricing", "focus": "Restaurant POS and operational benchmark, not a direct voice-AI equivalent", "features": [ "Menu/modifier and order management", "Table management and split bills", "Kitchen tickets, routing and timers", "Multi-location and device management", "Reporting and staff permissions", "Optional loyalty, marketing and inventory tools" ], "pricing": { "text": "Free £0/month; Restaurants Plus £69/month per location; Premium by quote subject to eligibility.", "currency": "GBP", "source": "https://squareup.com/gb/en/point-of-sale/restaurants/pricing", "checkedAt": "2026-10-18", "caveat": "Payment processing applies; hardware excluded. Plus advertises a 30-day trial and included KDS software. Optional services cost extra. General Square £29+ marketing does not describe this specific Restaurants Plus plan." } }, { "id": "toast", "name": "Toast UK", "url": "https://pos.toasttab.com/uk/pricing", "focus": "Integrated restaurant POS and kitchen operations", "features": [ "Cloud POS with menu modifiers", "Integrated payments and reconciliation", "Live reports and menu analysis", "Kitchen display and handheld options", "Order/table management", "Installation and support" ], "pricing": { "text": "Starter from £80/month; Essentials £150/month; custom packages by quote.", "currency": "GBP", "source": "https://pos.toasttab.com/uk/pricing", "checkedAt": "2026-10-18", "caveat": "Upfront hardware and implementation vary. Essentials bundles KDS and handheld functionality; extra devices/add-ons and processing need confirmation. These POS prices are not AI telephone-ordering prices." } }, { "id": "hungerrush", "name": "HungerRush OrderAI", "url": "https://www.hungerrush.com/platform/ordering-delivery/ai-phone-ordering/", "focus": "Pizza/takeaway AI ordering within a POS and delivery suite", "features": [ "Concurrent natural-language calls", "Complex sizes, modifiers and order changes", "Returning-customer address recall", "Human escalation", "SMS payment links and receipts", "Pickup/delivery tickets into POS" ], "pricing": { "text": "Base POS package from $149/month with leased hardware and a 36-month agreement; OrderAI is a separately quoted module.", "currency": "USD; dollar price on US vendor page", "source": "https://www.hungerrush.com/pricing/", "checkedAt": "2026-10-18", "caveat": "The $149 base price is not an AI-phone package price. Processing and additional modules require the commercial quote. Confirm regional service and contract conditions." } } ], "capabilityMatrix": [ { "group": "Conversation", "capability": "Complete spoken menu order", "advertisedBy": [ "loman", "kea", "soundhound", "hungerrush" ], "aradimStatus": "Activated Aradim shops can test browser AI with their own saved menu and save explicitly confirmed orders. Real telephone integration is not connected." }, { "group": "Conversation", "capability": "FAQ, custom greeting and hours", "advertisedBy": [ "slang", "loman", "popmenu", "kea", "soundhound" ], "aradimStatus": "Each activated shop can edit its greeting, voice, tone, conversation rules and service settings. Browser AI uses those saved settings." }, { "group": "Conversation", "capability": "Actual telephone concurrency and live transfer", "advertisedBy": [ "slang", "loman", "popmenu", "kea", "hungerrush" ], "aradimStatus": "External connection pending; internal staff follow-up queue is not a live transfer." }, { "group": "Guest relationship", "capability": "Repeat guest context", "advertisedBy": [ "slang", "loman", "hungerrush" ], "aradimStatus": "The selected Customer history add-on provides phone-linked profiles, saved addresses, previous orders and favourites. An operator must verify identity before selecting history for a browser call." }, { "group": "Guest relationship", "capability": "Transactional SMS and secure payment", "advertisedBy": [ "loman", "kea", "hungerrush" ], "aradimStatus": "Requires messaging/payment services and server-side callbacks; no live payment or SMS service configured." }, { "group": "Kitchen", "capability": "Order stages, kitchen tickets and timers", "advertisedBy": [ "square", "toast", "hungerrush" ], "aradimStatus": "Activated shops have an order board, branded browser receipts and a print queue. A separate kitchen board is available with the Kitchen display add-on." }, { "group": "Kitchen", "capability": "Direct POS and automatic physical printing", "advertisedBy": [ "square", "toast", "hungerrush", "loman", "kea", "soundhound" ], "aradimStatus": "Browser printing is manual. The POS add-on provides CSV exports and manual external references; live POS synchronisation and automatic printing need separate compatible setup." }, { "group": "Operations", "capability": "Complex menu choices and stock", "advertisedBy": [ "loman", "kea", "square", "toast", "hungerrush" ], "aradimStatus": "Current Aradim panels support menu variants, priced extras, availability switches and item-change notes. Half-and-half pricing, deal engines and ingredient inventory are not included in this tenant panel." }, { "group": "Operations", "capability": "Branch controls, team roles and reports", "advertisedBy": [ "slang", "kea", "soundhound", "square", "toast" ], "aradimStatus": "Separate branded shop workspaces and server-side activation are available. Team roles and order reports require their selected add-ons. Payments are manually reviewed or access is granted by an authorised full-discount code; recurring billing is not automated." }, { "group": "Growth", "capability": "Loyalty, gift cards and marketing campaigns", "advertisedBy": [ "square", "toast", "hungerrush" ], "aradimStatus": "Not implemented; future proposal, subject to user approval." }, { "group": "Reservations", "capability": "Booking, waitlist and private-event leads", "advertisedBy": [ "slang", "loman", "kea" ], "aradimStatus": "Not implemented; optional future hospitality package, not a pizza launch promise." } ], "websiteBaseline": { "includeNow": [ "English/Persian marketing pages", "Product modules with honest availability labels", "Interactive sample dashboard", "Illustrative workflow from call to confirmed ticket", "Plan comparison with clearly provisional pricing", "Shop setup wizard and editable saved profiles", "Owner/contact/shop/address details", "Logo upload and branded workspace preview", "Separate shop workspace account area", "FAQ, support and compatibility guidance", "Accessible motion with reduced-motion preference" ], "purchaseBoundary": "Shop activation is enforced on the server after owner-reviewed manual payment or a valid owner-issued full-discount code. Client-side success screens do not grant access. Automated payment verification and recurring subscriptions would require a separately configured payment provider and verified server callbacks.", "pricingRecommendation": "Present configurable indicative plan tiers or a quote CTA until Aradim's included minutes, overage, setup, phone, SMS, printer bridge, VAT and payment terms are chosen. Keep estimated usage costs distinct from the subscription price.", "onboardingFields": [ "Owner full name", "Verified account email", "Owner contact phone", "Shop display name", "Legal/business name when needed for billing", "Business type", "Full shop address and postcode", "Country and timezone", "Number of branches", "Existing phone/POS/printer details or Not yet", "Menu import/file or manual setup", "Opening and ordering hours", "Collection/delivery choices", "Logo upload with file-type and size validation", "Agent language and greeting", "Billing details only at genuine payment setup" ], "avoidClaims": [ "No invented clients, testimonials or customer counts", "No untested accuracy or revenue-lift claims", "No promised universal POS/printer support", "No unsupported security certifications or compliance badges", "No unconfigured 24/7 staffed support guarantee", "No unlimited calls promise without cost and capacity policy" ] }, "optionalProposals": [ { "id": "own-menu-demo", "title": "Hear Aradim with your own menu", "titleFa": "دموی مکالمه با منوی خود مغازه", "idea": "Import a sample menu and let the owner test a contained sample call before committing.", "value": "Shows relevance immediately without abstract claims.", "status": "Partly available: activated shops can test browser AI with their saved menu. A public pre-activation sample call and menu-file import remain proposals." }, { "id": "readiness-check", "title": "Launch readiness score", "titleFa": "چک‌آپ آمادگی راه‌اندازی", "idea": "A checklist for missing sizes, contradictory modifiers, opening hours, allergens, delivery and escalation rules.", "value": "Makes setup clearer and reduces preventable failures.", "status": "Proposal only." }, { "id": "cost-planner", "title": "Transparent usage planner", "titleFa": "محاسبه‌گر شفاف هزینه", "idea": "Let owners change call counts and average duration, then show subscription, phone, AI and optional-message estimates separately.", "value": "Helps compare realistic total costs; no guaranteed savings.", "status": "Proposal only; example calculations must be labelled illustrative." }, { "id": "confidence-review", "title": "Uncertain-order review inbox", "titleFa": "صندوق سفارش‌های نیازمند بررسی", "idea": "Flag ambiguous changes and addresses for staff before fulfilment rather than silently guessing.", "value": "Keeps owners in control of costly exceptions.", "status": "Proposal only; extends the existing internal follow-up queue." }, { "id": "compatibility-finder", "title": "Printer and POS compatibility finder", "titleFa": "بررسی سازگاری پرینتر و صندوق", "idea": "Ask for hardware model and connection method, then show tested support, pending testing or custom setup.", "value": "Clarifies installation before payment.", "status": "Proposal only; no compatibility claim until tested." }, { "id": "shadow-mode", "title": "Practice mode before go-live", "titleFa": "حالت تمرینی قبل از شروع واقعی", "idea": "Run a scripted acceptance checklist for allergy escalation, interruptions, out-of-stock items and repeat orders without sending kitchen tickets.", "value": "Gives each owner a concrete sign-off.", "status": "Proposed sandbox acceptance mode. Current browser tests save explicitly confirmed orders to the real shop order list and print queue; agent settings have no publish or rollback workflow." }, { "id": "owner-digest", "title": "Owner's daily digest", "titleFa": "گزارش روزانه مالک", "idea": "A concise dashboard digest of calls, orders, exceptions and estimated usage; opt-in email or SMS later.", "value": "Useful when the owner is away from the shop.", "status": "Proposal only; external delivery requires notification-service setup." }, { "id": "brand-preview", "title": "Live brand preview", "titleFa": "پیش‌نمایش زنده برند مغازه", "idea": "Preview the uploaded logo, shop colour, greeting and receipt header together during setup.", "value": "Makes each tenant feel like the owner's own product.", "status": "Shop names and optional logos already appear in the dedicated panel and receipts; greetings are editable. A combined branding preview and shop-colour controls remain proposals." } ] }