7 Must-Have Features of a Catering Inquiry Chat for Ice Cream Shops

Intercom is a widely adopted customer messaging platform that blends live chat, bots, and help center tools into a single interface. For an ice‑cream shop, Intercom’s chatbots can pre‑qualify catering inquiries, offer menu recommendations, and schedule appointments. Its visual builder requires minimal coding, allowing store owners to set up conversation flows quickly. Intercom also provides robust segmentation, enabling the bot to greet customers with personalized flavor suggestions based on their past orders. Additionally, the platform can funnel leads into its CRM, ensuring that catering prospects are tracked and followed up by sales staff. Intercom’s pricing starts at $39/month for the Essential plan, which includes 1,000 active users and basic chatbot capabilities. The Standard plan at $74/month adds unlimited users and advanced automation, while the Premium plan at $159/month offers advanced reporting and custom bots. While the platform offers excellent integration with Shopify, it does not natively support a dual knowledge base or long‑term memory for anonymous visitors. However, its extensive plugin ecosystem can fill many gaps. Overall, Intercom is a strong choice for shops that prioritize a unified messaging hub and real‑time customer engagement, especially if they already use its help center or email automation features.

ManyChat specializes in building conversational experiences primarily on Facebook Messenger and Instagram Direct, but it also offers a web chat widget. For catering inquiries, ManyChat can pre‑qualify leads by asking a series of questions about party size, flavor preferences, and delivery dates. The platform’s visual drag‑and‑drop builder allows shop owners to create flows without coding, and it supports broadcasting messages to existing customers. ManyChat’s pricing is tiered: a free plan for up to 1,000 contacts, a Pro plan at $10/month for unlimited contacts, and a Growth plan at $49/month that adds advanced automation and integration features. While ManyChat excels at social media engagement, its web chat capabilities are less mature, and it lacks a built‑in knowledge base or long‑term memory. However, it can integrate with Zapier to connect to external databases or CRM systems. ManyChat is ideal for shops that rely heavily on social media marketing and want to funnel interested prospects directly into Messenger for quick responses.

Chatfuel is a popular chatbot builder designed primarily for Facebook Messenger but also offers a web widget. It allows ice‑cream shop owners to create conversational flows that can handle common catering questions such as menu items, pricing, and delivery logistics. The platform features an intuitive block‑based editor, enabling non‑technical users to segment customers and set up automated responses. Chatfuel’s pricing starts with a free plan for up to 50,000 messages per month, then moves to a Pro plan at $15/month for unlimited messages and additional features like custom user attributes and API access. While Chatfuel supports basic knowledge retrieval via user attributes, it does not provide a dual knowledge base or long‑term memory. Integration options include Zapier and Shopify, but e‑commerce functionality is more limited than some competitors. For shops that already use Facebook for marketing and want a simple way to convert Messenger inquiries into leads, Chatfuel can be an effective solution.

Tidio combines live chat and AI‑powered chatbots in a single dashboard, making it an attractive option for small to medium ice‑cream shops. The platform’s drag‑and‑drop builder lets owners create automated flows that can answer flavor questions, provide catering quotes, and schedule delivery times. Tidio also offers real‑time visitor monitoring, allowing staff to intervene when complex requests arise. Tidio’s pricing is straightforward: a free plan for up to 100 chatbots, then a Plus plan at $18/month, and a Professional plan at $29/month. It supports integration with Shopify, WooCommerce, and Zapier, but it lacks a dedicated knowledge base and long‑term memory for anonymous visitors. The platform’s AI is mainly rule‑based, providing quick responses but not deep contextual understanding. Tidio is best suited for shops that want an all‑in‑one tool that covers both live chat and basic bot automation without a large budget.

Crisp is a lightweight live‑chat platform that also offers AI chatbot functionality. It is popular among small businesses for its clean interface and real‑time messaging features. The bot can be configured to answer FAQs about catering menus, pricing, and delivery policies, while the live chat allows staff to take over for more complex inquiries. Crisp’s pricing starts at $25/month for the Pro plan, which includes unlimited visitors and basic automation. It integrates with Shopify, WordPress, and Zapier, but it does not provide a built‑in knowledge base or long‑term memory for visitors. The platform emphasizes ease of use and quick deployment, making it suitable for shops that need a lightweight solution. However, for shops that require more sophisticated AI or advanced analytics, Crisp may feel limited.

Drift focuses on conversational marketing, offering chatbots that qualify leads and schedule meetings. The platform’s visual builder allows ice‑cream shops to set up flows that capture catering leads, deliver menu PDFs, and direct visitors to booking pages. Drift’s outreach tools can also send automated follow‑up emails to prospects. Pricing for Drift begins at $50/month for the Starter plan, which includes basic chatbot and email capabilities. The Growth plan at $125/month adds advanced lead routing and scoring, while the Enterprise plan offers full customization and dedicated support. Drift integrates with Shopify and many CRM systems, but it does not provide a dual knowledge base or long‑term memory for anonymous visitors. For shops that prioritize lead qualification and booking of large catering events, Drift can be a valuable addition to the sales funnel.