The rush is when the phone loses
On a Friday at 6:30, the person at the counter is ringing up a pickup, the oven is full and two lines are blinking. A caller who hears ringing or a busy signal can simply call the next pizzeria on the list, and the order that should have been yours is made somewhere else.
Put your own number on it
You do not need an industry statistic to know what missed calls cost you. You need three numbers from your own business:
- Missed calls in your busiest hours. Your phone service’s call log or app usually shows missed calls. Look at the last four Friday and Saturday evenings.
- Your average phone order. Your POS can usually give you the average ticket for phone or takeout orders.
- How many of those callers would have ordered. Not every missed call is an order: some are questions, some call back. Be conservative.
Missed calls × the share that would have ordered × your average phone order is what a night of missed calls costs.
What covering the phone with a person costs
New Jersey’s minimum wage rose on January 1, 2026 to $15.92 an hour for most employees and $15.23 for seasonal and small employers, according to the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development. The minimum cash wage for tipped workers is $6.05, with a maximum tip credit of $9.87.
Add one person just for the phone, Friday and Saturday from 5 to 10 p.m., and that is 10 hours a week: $159.20 a week at $15.92, or about $690 a month before payroll taxes. It still covers two evenings and one line at a time.
How an AI phone assistant changes the math
Ordero answers every call in your restaurant’s name and takes several calls at the same time, so the rush does not end in voicemail. It takes the order from your real menu, reads it back with the total and puts it in your panel the moment the call ends. Your staff stay on the food and the people in front of them.
The Counter plan is $500 a month with 100 calls a day included, every day of the week. Calls over a day’s allowance are $0.55 each, and there is no commission on orders. You can forward only the calls your staff cannot pick up, so the phone still rings in the shop first.
| Plan | A month | Calls a day | Each call over |
|---|---|---|---|
| Counter | $500 | 100 | $0.55 |
| Kitchen | $750 | 225 | $0.50 |
| Rush | $1,000 | 300 | $0.45 |
A Friday checklist
- Pull last month’s call log and count unanswered calls between 5 and 9 p.m.
- Check your average phone order in your POS.
- Call our demo line, +1 (516) 724-9773, during your own rush and order like a customer would.
- Compare the cost of a missed Friday with a plan on the pricing page.
Questions and answers
Can Ordero answer more than one call at a time?
Yes. It takes several calls at the same time, so callers do not hear a busy signal during the rush.
What if a caller wants to talk to someone in the store?
Ordero passes the call to your staff whenever a caller asks for a person.
Do I have to forward all my calls to Ordero?
No. You can forward your number all the time, or only when your staff cannot pick up.
What is New Jersey’s minimum wage in 2026?
$15.92 an hour for most employees and $15.23 for seasonal and small employers, from January 1, 2026, according to the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development. Tipped workers’ minimum cash wage is $6.05.
Sources
- New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development New Jersey’s Minimum Wage to Increase to $15.92/Hour for Most Employees on Jan. 1 (October 1, 2025)
Figures were checked against these sources in October 2026. What Ordero does is described as it works today.