How a restaurant should take iftar bookings by phone in Ramadan
Sado AI team · · 4 min read
In short
An iftar booking isn’t an ordinary booking: every guest arrives in the same minute, each table is used once a night, and a family that doesn’t come leaves a whole table empty. So write down the date, adults and children, seating, set menu, name and phone, and read it back. Call the day before with a reminder and give cancelled places to the waiting list. Don’t call guests in the hour before iftar or during it. An AI operator can take the daytime rush of calls too.
What’s different about booking calls in Ramadan
On a normal evening a table turns over two or three times. In Ramadan everyone comes for iftar: each table is used once, and if it stays empty there’s no filling it. Family and company iftars come as big groups, and most calls arrive in the daytime, during working hours.
In the evening the hall is full and staff are busy serving, so nobody answers the phone. Whoever calls then looks for somewhere else for tomorrow’s iftar.
An iftar booking: what to ask
- Date: “Which day?” Write the date, not the day of Ramadan.
- Guests: adults and children separately. Do they need high chairs or a kids’ menu?
- Seating: main hall, a booth or a family room.
- Menu: if there’s a set menu, give the price per person, only from your price list.
- Prepayment: if large groups pay ahead, say so and explain who will call. Never ask for a card number by phone.
- Name and phone, then read it back: “Thursday, 12 people, 4 of them children, family room, under Rustam. Is that right?”
- State the rule: “Please come 15 minutes before iftar and the table will be ready.”
When to call, and when not to
| When | Why | What to say |
|---|---|---|
| The day of booking | Confirmation | Date, guests, seating, menu |
| The day before, daytime | Reminder | “We’re expecting you tomorrow. Is the number of guests the same?” |
| When a place frees up | Waiting list | “A place has opened on Thursday. Shall I book you?” |
| The hour before iftar and during it | Don’t call | — |
| Evening, during taraweeh | Don’t call | — |
Iftar time shifts by a minute or two every day. Keep your city’s Ramadan timetable next to the script and give that day’s time when a guest asks.
Sample call: a family iftar
Sado: Assalomu alaykum, Bogi Eram restaurant, Malika speaking.
Caller: Assalomu alaykum. Do you have room for twelve at iftar on Friday?
Sado: The large rooms are taken on Friday. A family room is free on Saturday, or I can put you on Friday’s waiting list. Which suits you?
Caller: Saturday, then. How much is the set menu?
Sado: The iftar set is 150,000 so‘m per person, half portions for children. How many of the twelve are children?
Caller: Four.
Sado: Done: Saturday, eight adults and four children, a family room. Our administrator will call about the prepayment. Please come 15 minutes before iftar!
The restaurant name and price are only an example.
No-shows and cancellations
- Confirm every booking with a reminder call the day before: guest numbers often change that day.
- Keep a waiting list for each day and give a cancelled place to the first family on it at once.
- Say in advance how many minutes after iftar you hold the table.
- Let a manager run large company iftars: the hall, menu and payment are agreed separately.
Handing Ramadan calls to an AI operator
Sado’s AI operator answers daytime booking calls in about a second and talks with more than ten guests at once, in Uzbek or Russian. It records bookings, quotes the set menu and iftar time only from your facts, and transfers large groups to a manager by your rule. More: answering inbound calls.
Upload tomorrow’s bookings as an Excel file in the Auto-calls section and the operator calls each guest with a reminder. You set the calling hours, so no calls go out before or during iftar: AI outbound calls. It also takes delivery orders for iftar sets. Try it live or call 78 778 01 23.
Questions
How does the operator know the iftar time?
From the Ramadan timetable you give it. The operator speaks only from your facts and doesn’t calculate the time itself.
Can we take prepayment over the phone?
Don’t ask for card numbers or SMS codes by phone. The operator notes that prepayment is needed, and your administrator sends the payment details.
How many calls should we expect in Ramadan?
Look at last Ramadan’s call numbers. If the daytime rush is too much for one person, an AI operator takes more than ten calls at once with no queue.