White paper · 6 levers · 14 min read

Automate your restaurant without changing your stack.

A complete document of 6 concrete levers, based on the practices that work across the industry. No "you have to rebuild everything" — each lever is added on top of Combo, Skello or whatever you already use.

01

Capture Instagram DMs before they go elsewhere

A growing share of bookings now comes through Insta DMs + story replies + comments — not through TheFork or The Reservation Book. If no one answers during service, those customers go next door.

The AI agent replies in under 2 min, in your tone, captures the variations (gluten-free, allergies, group), and offers an available table.

Pro tip: a DM answered within minutes converts clearly better than one answered an hour later. The window is what counts.
02

Anti no-show via personalized day-before reminder

Average no-show rate for restaurants in France 2026: 11-14%. On 300 covers/week = 35-40 missed covers = €1,200-1,600 in lost revenue/week.

Day-before reminder sent via WhatsApp or SMS, with a direct link to change or cancel. The goal: bring it back down toward 4-6%.

Pro tip: avoid the "GDPR robot" tone. Prefer "Hey! We can't wait to welcome you tomorrow at 7:30pm — all good?". The response rate improves immediately.
03

Handle team absences in under 10 min

A cook reports being sick at 9am for the lunch service. Combo sees it. Skello sees it. But no one acts in the critical 10 minutes.

The AI agent detects the absence, scans the pool of documented replacements (extras, students, alumni), sends an SMS to the 3 most likely, and waits for confirmations.

Pro tip: document your replacement pool in Notion or Airtable with availability by weekday, languages spoken, evening vs lunch availability. The agent does the matching.
04

Daily team briefing generated automatically

Every morning at 9am, your lunch service briefing: who's in, how many confirmed bookings, special events (birthday, severe allergy, press table), weather, dish-of-the-day suggestion.

The agent compiles from Combo/Skello + bookings + yesterday's sales, and generates a Slack message or WhatsApp group message in 60 seconds.

Pro tip: add 1 "service focus" line to align the team on 1 priority (wine upsell, table turnover speed, birthday experience). Measurable difference on the end-of-service NPS.
05

Reactivate dormant customers >90 days

Out of 500 loyal 2025 customers, 30-40% haven't set foot in 90 days. Organic reactivation = nearly zero.

The agent sends a personalized message ("your last visit was on February 14, we missed you — here's our new spring menu + a glass on the house"). Even a fraction of reactivated dormant customers is near-free revenue.

Pro tip: never >1 message per half-year. Otherwise you become spam. Scarcity is the weapon.
06

Measure real ROI over 6 months

Hypothetical scenario on a typical bistro of 50 covers/service (assumptions to adjust to your real numbers):

Additional Insta DM capture+25 covers/wk × 35€
No-show reduced from 11% to 5%+18 covers/wk × 35€
90d+ reactivation (15% × 500)+75 visits/month × 35€
Additional monthly revenue~6 600€/month
Orkelia Restaurants costquoted on your case
Net monthly gainmost of the recovered revenue

On these assumptions, the theoretical ROI exceeds ×20 — the only way to really know is to run it on your numbers. The barrier is never the price of the tool — it's the initial calibration time (typically 7-14 days).

Want to test these 6 levers at your place?

30 min on a video call with me to audit your restaurant against these 6 levers and estimate the Orkelia ROI. No pitch.

Book a 30-min audit →