Decision: what guests hear when they call your venue. Three options. Pick the one that fits your phone setup and how willing you are to change your published number.
The three options
Option A — We provide a Tablevoice number
We give you a fresh number. You publish it on your website, Google Business Profile, and any directories.
Foodie answers every call from this number.
Your old number can still ring through to your front desk in the background, or be retired.
Pick this if: you don't have a VoIP system that's easily configurable and don't mind changing your published phone number - it's the cleanest setup.
Skip this if: hotel concierges, regulars, and print materials reference your existing number.
Option B — We forward from your existing number
Your existing number stays public. Nobody updates anything.
Your phone provider sets up a forward to a Tablevoice number we give you.
Two flavors: always-forward (Foodie picks up everything) or conditional forward (your line rings 3–4 times first; Foodie picks up only if no one answers).
In both scenarios, your provider needs to provision a secondary phone number to enable Tablevoice to forward calls to a team member (usually $5/month).
Pick this if: you have a modern VoIP system and a known phone number people already dial — most upscale venues land here.
Skip this if: your phone provider won't play nicely or you don't have someone who can configure forwarding.
Option C — We ship you a Tablevoice phone
We ship a Grandstream Wi-Fi VoIP handset to your venue.
You plug it in. It auto-configures over Wi-Fi. Done in about 5 minutes.
$20/month/phone, at our cost.
Pick this if: your existing phone system is analog, ancient, or otherwise too much friction.
Skip this if: you have a working VoIP system you can configure.
Should Foodie pick up everything?
This is the big sub-decision: do you want Foodie answering all calls, or just the ones your team can't get to?
Mode | What guests hear | Best for |
Always-AI | Foodie picks up immediately, every call, every time. | Venues where the phone is a constant interruption during service. |
Conditional | Your line rings 3–4 times. If nobody picks up, Foodie does. | Venues where your team wants to take calls when they can, and Foodie is the safety net. |
Most venues that switch from a traditional phone setup pick conditional at first. Many move to always-AI within a few weeks once they see how Foodie performs.
What changes vs. what stays
Stays: your existing number on your website (if you pick Option B).
Stays: your existing front-desk phone for staff to make outbound calls.
Changes: voicemail. You'll want to disable it on the lines Foodie answers — otherwise both Foodie and voicemail try to handle missed calls.
A note on porting
If you eventually want to bring your number fully into Tablevoice (so we own it directly instead of forwarding to it), we can do that on request. We don't publish an SLA — porting timelines depend on your current carrier and can run from a few days to a few weeks. Forwarding works perfectly well in the meantime, so there's no urgency.
How to change it later
Reversible. Switching between always-AI and conditional is a settings toggle plus a small change at your phone provider. Switching between Options A, B, and C is bigger — we'd schedule a call to plan it.
Common questions
Will my existing number still work?
Yes. Whether you pick Option A, B, or C, your existing number keeps working. The only question is whether Foodie answers it, or whether it rings through to your team first.
Can Foodie transfer back to a human?
Yes. When a call needs a human, Foodie can transfer to a number you specify (front desk, manager's cell, etc.). You control when transfers are allowed via Call Transfer Hours — see Live transfers.
What if my phone provider can't do conditional forwarding?
Three options: switch to always-AI on Foodie, switch to Option A (new number), or switch to Option C (we ship phones). The Option C path is what we used at upscale dining groups when their analog system couldn't do what we needed.
Wizard decision_key: phone-routing