The decision this workflow supports
A restaurant can be open for one purpose while another service is unavailable. Callers asking whether you are open may mean lunch, dinner, collection or simply reaching a person. One undifferentiated opening time can create the wrong expectation.
Put the review process in place
Write separate approved entries for each public service and the gap between them. Ask which service the caller means before reading a schedule. Keep kitchen and seating decisions with staff whenever those decisions are not stated in the approved information.
Worked example for your team
Use a fictional restaurant that publishes lunch and dinner separately. One caller asks whether lunch is available late in the afternoon; another asks whether they can reach staff during that same period. The answers may differ, so the test should not rely on a single open-or-closed response. Include a third caller who never names a service. The assistant should ask a short clarifying question instead of choosing dinner by default. Staff should review the answer against the schedule for the caller’s date, including any approved exception that applies.
Sample wording to approve
“Are you asking about lunch, dinner or collecting an order? I can check the published hours for that service. The team would need to confirm anything outside those hours.” This wording is a draft for the restaurant owner to approve before use.
Fields for the staff handoff
Staff need service requested, day and date, published hours consulted, unresolved question, and staff owner. Mark uncertain details explicitly and keep the requested action separate from anything restaurant staff have already confirmed.
Acceptance tests before use
A lunch question receives lunch hours. A between-service call does not imply dinner has started. An unlisted collection request is referred to staff without inventing an exception. Record the observed result, assign any mismatch, and repeat the affected scenario after correction.
Further reading
Catering inquiry value calculator ↗
Try Ava with your business’s public information ↗