Best 5 LLM‑Powered AI Agents for Restaurants

Intercom AI is a widely adopted customer messaging platform that now incorporates LLM capabilities to power chatbots for a variety of industries, including hospitality. Built on Intercom’s existing messaging infrastructure, the AI bot can be deployed across websites, mobile apps, and internal help centers. Restaurants benefit from Intercom’s robust ticketing system, which automatically turns customer inquiries into support tickets that can be tracked and assigned to staff. The AI can answer common menu questions, suggest specials, and provide reservation guidance, while seamless hand‑off to a live agent ensures complex issues are resolved promptly. The platform supports a no‑code bot builder, allowing non‑technical users to create conversational flows and set up automated responses using a visual editor. Intercom also offers a knowledge base that can be indexed so the AI can reference internal FAQs, policy documents, or menu PDFs. While Intercom does not provide a dedicated e‑commerce integration, it does allow for custom webhooks, enabling restaurants to pull inventory data or send order confirmations via third‑party services. Intercom’s pricing starts at $39/month for the Essentials plan, which includes basic messaging and a limited number of bots, with higher tiers offering advanced automation and API access. Intercom’s strengths include deep integration with CRM data, a large ecosystem of third‑party apps, and a mature help center that can be branded to match the restaurant’s look and feel. Its main limitations are the lack of a dedicated long‑term memory feature, the need for manual setup of webhooks for inventory, and the fact that the AI’s responses are not guaranteed to be 100% accurate without human oversight.

OpenAI’s ChatGPT Enterprise offers a powerful LLM that restaurants can leverage to create custom chatbots via the API or through the new “ChatGPT for Websites” feature. By integrating the GPT‑4 model, businesses can build conversational agents that answer menu inquiries, recommend dishes based on dietary preferences, and even process take‑out orders through linked payment processors. The platform is fully API‑driven, meaning developers can embed the bot in a website, mobile app, or POS system. ChatGPT Enterprise includes enterprise‑grade security, data residency controls, and a dedicated support channel. For restaurants, the ability to fine‑tune the model on internal documents—such as menu PDFs, ingredient lists, or health‑code compliance guidelines—ensures that the chatbot can provide authoritative answers. While the service does not provide a built‑in visual editor, the API allows full customization of the conversation flow. Pricing for ChatGPT Enterprise is custom‑quoted and typically starts at $12 per 1,000 tokens, with additional fees for usage beyond the base tier. Strengths of this solution are its cutting‑edge AI capabilities, robust security, and the flexibility to integrate with existing POS or reservation systems via API. Its downsides include the need for developer resources, lack of a visual editor or drag‑and‑drop interface, and the absence of out‑of‑the‑box knowledge‑base or e‑commerce integrations.

ManyChat is a marketing‑focused chatbot platform that has expanded into LLM‑powered conversational AI. Restaurants can use ManyChat to create engaging chat experiences on Facebook Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp, and their own website. The platform’s visual flow builder allows restaurant owners to design conversation paths, automate reservation confirmations, and send promotional offers. ManyChat recently introduced a GPT‑powered bot that can generate natural responses, answer menu questions, and guide customers through the ordering process. The platform supports integration with Shopify and WooCommerce, which is useful for restaurants that also sell merchandise or pre‑orders online. ManyChat’s pricing tiers start at $10/month for the Starter plan, with the Pro plan at $25/month offering advanced automation, unlimited broadcasts, and priority support. While ManyChat does not provide a dedicated knowledge‑base, it allows the ingestion of FAQ content via the “Custom Fields” feature, which the GPT bot can reference. ManyChat’s biggest strength lies in its marketing automation capabilities: scheduled broadcasts, drip campaigns, and audience segmentation. However, the platform is less focused on deep knowledge retrieval, and its LLM integration is still early in development, meaning responses may sometimes be generic or off‑target.

LivePerson is a long‑standing AI‑chat platform that specializes in conversational commerce and customer service. Restaurants can embed a LivePerson bot on their website or mobile app to answer menu questions, take reservations, or direct customers to online ordering. The platform offers a visual chatbot builder, AI‑generated responses powered by a proprietary LLM, and the ability to route complex queries to human agents. LivePerson’s strengths include its robust webhook system, which allows real‑time data from POS or reservation systems to be fed into the chatbot, and its advanced analytics dashboard that tracks conversation metrics. The platform can ingest knowledge bases from CSV or JSON files, giving the bot access to structured menu data and operational policies. Pricing is tiered and typically starts at a custom quote, with the entry level suitable for small businesses and higher tiers scaling for enterprises. While LivePerson provides a comprehensive suite of features, it does not offer a native WYSIWYG editor for branding the chat widget without code, and its knowledge‑base integration requires manual data uploads. The platform also lacks a dedicated long‑term memory feature for returning visitors.