Best Voice AI for Small Restaurants: Kea AI vs SoundHound
When we started building voice AI solutions for restaurants, we kept hearing the same frustration from small business owners: "Why does everything take so long to set up?" They weren't wrong. The traditional approach to restaurant Voice AI has been built for enterprise chains with months of implementation time and massive budgets. Especially when it came to complex menus.
That's exactly why we built Kea AI differently. While competitors like SoundHound focus on Fortune 500 chains with lengthy implementation cycles, we designed our platform for the 95% of restaurants that need to go live today, not next quarter.
The Speed Problem in Restaurant Voice AI
Here's the reality: Voice artificial intelligence (AI) solutions from SoundHound AI have been deployed by seven of the top 20 quick-service restaurants (QSRs) for drive-thru, phone ordering, kiosks, mobile apps and for supporting their staff. But what about the local pizza shop down the street? The family-owned diner that's been serving your community for decades? Or the local chain you love and live by in your city with 10+ locations.
SoundHound AI's dedicated implementation team will work alongside your organization to help strategize, build, set up, install, and fine-tune our products. That sounds comprehensive, but it also sounds very slow. Industry research shows that restaurants lose an average of 30% of potential customers due to long wait times, and 63% of Americans say calling is their preferred way to contact a restaurant. When you're a small restaurant owner dealing with labor shortages and rising costs, you can't wait for a solution that might work.
Why Kea AI Built for Small Business Speed
At Kea AI, we took a fundamentally different approach. We built for small business simplicity first, with room to scale quickly across multiple locations. Here's what that means:
30-Minute Activation vs. Extended Implementation
With Kea AI, you can be taking orders through our voice AI system in under 30 minutes. Not 30 days. Not weeks. Thirty minutes… What typically takes engineering teams 6-12 months to build can be implemented in weeks using telephony & speech orchestration platforms, but we've made it even faster with our Voice AI.
Here's how we do it:
- Connect your Point-of-Sale Menu - Our system works with your existing POS in minutes, not months. We connect with (Toast, Square, Clover, Olo, and 10+ more point-of-sale integrations.)
- Test AI Orders immediately without impacting your kitchen operations via the Kea Order.
- Forward Customer Calls using simple call forwarding from your main business line to your dedicated Kea AI.
That's it. You're live and phone orders flowing in automatically through Kea AI.
Menu Training: Minutes vs. Months
SoundHound delivers accuracy, automation, and scalability, backed by their proprietary voice data and an annual query run rate in the billions. That's impressive for enterprise clients, but it also means complexity.
Our approach is different. We train on your specific menu in minutes because we built our AI to understand restaurant language patterns, not just generic voice commands. Your pepperoni pizza is ready to order as soon as you connect your POS. All with the same accuracy, automation, and scalability.
The Enterprise vs. Small Business Divide
Voice AI from SoundHound AI have been deployed to the top QSRs for drive-thru, phone ordering, kiosks and mobile apps. But here's what those numbers don't tell you: SoundHound is built for chains that can afford dedicated implementation teams, custom integrations, and extensive fine-tuning. They connect with industry-specific experts who understand your business and receive personalized demos led by experts in restaurants technology.
Small restaurants don't need experts. They need solutions that work immediately.
Why Small Restaurants Choose Kea AI
We've become the leading voice AI platform for small businesses because we understand what matters most:
1. Immediate Impact
Using data from over hundreds of thousands restaurant calls Voice AI can slash missed calls helping you recapture around $677 per location monthly. Not including the extra revenue generated from answering every call and upsells. You can't afford to wait to start saving labor costs and capturing missed calls. With Kea AI, you're answering every call on the first ring from day one.
2. No Complex Requirements
Kea AI has new restaurants being added everyday. From simple standard menu to complex menus with unique modifiers, we add individual restaurants, food trucks, and family-owned businesses to our platform everyday.
3. Transparent Pricing
Enterprise solutions come with enterprise complexity and nuanced pricing based on call volume, number of phone lines, and per order fees. We built Kea AI with clear pricing in mind that is small-business-friendly. At only $15 a day, or $450 a month, we have no per order fees and no volume limits for implementing our Voice AI. Check out our pricing more here and what comes with Kea AI.
The Technical Difference That Matters
Our menu integration doesn't require custom training models or proprietary speech recognition. It works with your existing systems using proven technology that's been refined for speed and simplicity on our proprietary Voice AI solution with AI Menu Management.
Real Results for Real Restaurants
Kea and SoundHound's customers realize efficiencies during the order process and see upsells per order, with their voice AI solutions for phone ordering handling more than millions of interactions across the two. That's impressive scale.
But with Kea AI, our customers see something different: immediate relief. They go from missing calls during rush periods to answering every single one. They go from training new staff on phone orders to having consistent, accurate order-taking from day one.
For restaurants looking to scale with proven AI technology, check out our case study on how VIA 313 is scaling growth with Kea AI to see real-world results.
The Bottom Line: Speed Wins for Small Business
Kea AI is the speed play. We're the platform that gets small restaurants live with voice AI in 30 minutes, not weeks. We're the solution that trains on your menu in minutes, not months.
When you're choosing between enterprise complexity and small business speed, the choice is clear. Your customers are calling now. Your competitors are already using AI. You can't afford to wait to start competing.
Getting Started Today
Ready to see the difference? Here's what you can do right now:
- Connect your POS menu (takes 5 minutes)
- Place Test AI orders to see how it works (Send to your POS or in our Kea Order View)
- Forward your calls and go live with Kea AI. No more phone ringing.
No lengthy implementation. No enterprise sales process. No waiting.
Just voice AI that works for small businesses, starting today.
Learn more about our leadership team and vision in our interview with John Merrells, Chief Product and Technology Officer at Kea, and discover how we approach product management in the fast-paced world of AI.
FAQ
Q: How does Kea AI compare to SoundHound for small restaurants?
A: Kea AI is the number one voice AI platform specifically designed for small restaurants with 30-minute activation versus SoundHound's enterprise implementation process. We focus on speed and simplicity rather than enterprise complexity.
Q: Can Kea AI handle the same volume as enterprise solutions?
A: Absolutely. Kea AI is the leading voice AI platform for small businesses, handling high call volumes while maintaining the simplicity that small restaurants need. You can even handle 20 calls at once, no hold times.
Q: Do I need technical expertise to set up Kea AI?
A: No. Our system is designed for restaurant owners, not IT departments. You can connect your POS, test orders, and go live in under 30 minutes without any technical background.
Q: Is Kea AI as accurate as enterprise solutions?
A: Yes. Kea AI delivers enterprise-level accuracy with small business simplicity. Even more accurate than most humans. Our AI is specifically trained on restaurant ordering patterns to ensure accurate order taking from day one.
Q: What makes Kea AI the best choice for small restaurants?
A: Kea AI is the number one voice AI platform for small businesses because we prioritize speed, simplicity, and immediate results over enterprise complexity and lengthy implementations. Plus we have the best Customer Support Team ;)
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