Name CalliBBQ to order some ribs, and your order is likely to be taken by an AI agent known as Shawn.
This Father’s Day, California barbecue chain CaliBBQ swapped its common telephone operators for an AI agent educated to sound just like the restaurant’s proprietor, Shawn Walchef. The outcome was a smoother operation and a measurable bump in enterprise.
Father’s Day, usually CaliBBQ’s busiest day, brings in about $20,000 in gross sales on common. This yr, gross sales jumped 18% over final yr, hitting roughly $26,000 throughout 268 orders. The driving force of this success was Shawn AI, an autonomous assistant constructed by the startup Palona utilizing its Restaurant AI expertise.
Shawn AI dealt with about 150 buyer calls, from catering inquiries to reservations and orders. In the meantime, walk-in takeout orders (pickup orders positioned upfront) soared 92% year-over-year, with all processed via the AI agent.
“There’s speak about [the rise of] AI brokers and robots and [if] we’re eliminating people. For us, it’s about scaling hospitality,” Walchef stated.
AI brokers, expertise that’s designed to hold out duties historically carried out by people, have gotten ubiquitous throughout manufacturers, particularly on the customer support entrance. Palona’s Restaurant AI is already deployed throughout over 20 eating places, together with Pizza My Coronary heart and Kobunga Grill, dealing with inbound buyer calls with human-agent fallback accessible.
This surge in AI adoption is mirrored in company budgets. A 2025 PwC survey of 308 U.S. enterprise executives discovered that 88% plan to extend AI-related spending over the subsequent yr. In the meantime, between 79% and 85% of enterprises have adopted or intend to undertake AI brokers for enterprise features.
But business consultants warn towards absolutely changing human customer support employees.
Gartner initiatives that by 2027, half of organizations planning main customer support workforce cuts will abandon these plans, highlighting the difficulties of transitioning to “agent-less” fashions. Polling 163 customer support leaders in March, Gartner discovered 95% intend to maintain human brokers to strategically information AI’s position, favoring a “digital first, however not digital solely” strategy that maintains human involvement.
AI brokers supply 24/7 service with out breaks
Shawn AI is educated on Walchef’s voice and character, utilizing his podcasts from the present Restaurant Influencers, in addition to CaliBBQ’s full menu. In earlier years, Walchef would route Father’s Day callers to an auto attendant that directed them to the web site or prompted them to textual content in orders.
“Due to Palona, we are able to simply go reside, and Shawn AI can begin taking all these orders as an alternative of giving this fragmented consumer expertise,” stated Walchef.
With employees now not tied up on the telephones, desk flip occasions dropped almost 50%, so employees may give attention to in-person diners. CaliBBQ additionally noticed a 25% decline in texts and calls to its assist line in comparison with final yr, and issued 10% fewer buyer reductions—a typical tactic eating places use to appease sad friends.
“Folks can now go, ‘Wow, I can’t imagine I ordered from an AI agent, and it was truly a greater expertise than speaking to a human as a result of they didn’t mess up my order,’” Walchef stated.
Earlier than the Father’s Day rollout, CaliBBQ examined Shawn AI for 4 weeks. Early suggestions prompted changes to the AI agent’s tone and pacing, which was initially too conversational, stated Palona CEO Maria Zhang. The corporate tightened guardrails to maintain the agent succinct and on subject.
Whereas Shawn AI doesn’t but settle for bank card funds over the telephone, Palona plans to combine safe fee choices as a part of its product roadmap.
“Folks get busy and telephones simply go unanswered at eating places, which is misplaced enterprise for eating places,” stated Palona’s chief expertise officer, Tim Howes. “AI brokers can be found 24/7, educated on the whole lot about your small business, menus, and specials, and provides the identical degree of service daily, all day with no breaks or unhealthy days.”
