Donatos Case Study:
Established more than 60 years ago in Columbus, Ohio, Donatos Pizza is a family-owned brand known for its famous thin-crust pizzas loaded Edge to Edge®. With 179 restaurants across multiple states and nearly 300 non-traditional locations, Donatos is a household name in the Midwest and beyond.
In early 2025, the phone channel at Donatos needed to do more, such as answer immediately, sound like a seasoned team member, handle payments and convert without dragging staff off the line or the dining room. At the same time, the vendor landscape was shifting. Donatos had previously piloted an automated phone-ordering service via DoorDash and evaluated top-tier voice AI for restaurant providers, including SoundHound and Kea.
Scaling across 174 restaurants meant Donatos had to address three critical challenges before choosing the right voice AI partner.
Rising Call Volumes, Stretched Staff
Donatos restaurants were fielding more phone orders than staff could manage, leading to longer hold times, missed calls, and staff pulled away from serving in-store guests.
Limited Payment & Integration Options
Prior phone solutions couldn’t process secure in-call payments or integrate cleanly into Donatos’ proprietary POS, creating friction and errors in order handling.
Inconsistent Guest Experience
Automation pilots lacked natural, human-like conversations. Guests wanted a seamless order flow that felt like talking to a team member — without dragging crew away from the makeline.
“Our focus was simple: deliver a better guest experience on the phone and increase order conversions across the system... Revmo’s voice AI for restaurants is natural to talk to, processes payments securely and flows straight into our POS. The AI ordering system rollout to 174 locations has met our expectations on both customer experience and revenue.”
— Kevin King, President, Donatos Pizza
Donatos selected Revmo AI as its systemwide ordering solution. Key reasons:
Revmo AI handles the entire ordering experience from start to finish, just like a seasoned crew member. Guests can navigate the full Donatos menu, apply coupons, and securely pay over the phone — all without needing staff to step away from the makeline.
Donatos needed a solution that could handle the dinner rush without missing a beat. Revmo AI was stress-tested at “Insano Mode” levels of concurrency, ensuring phone lines stayed open, wait times dropped, and guests could place orders quickly even during peak demand.
Unlike third-party pilots that created friction, Revmo AI was engineered alongside Donatos’ IT team for seamless integration with its proprietary POS. Orders flow directly into the system like any other channel, improving accuracy and consistency across all 174 stores.
301,388
Calls Handled (April–August)
71%
Conversion Rate (vs. 58% benchmark)
99.9%
Order Accuracy (~1 in 1,000 corrected)
1. Faster Rollout
2. More Orders
3. Higher Accuracy
4. Staffing Impact
5. Operational Insights
“The smooth launch reflects how Ops and IT operated as one team ... The launch went tremendous, and our teams worked great. I’ve done several launches, and this was by far the smoothest and most collaborative one yet.”
—Ben Smith, Director of Operations, Donatos Pizza
4,841
Staff Hours Reallocated (in August)
30 FTE
Reclaimed FTE-Months (in August)
“Revmo gives our people air cover on the phones, and we can apply those minutes to what guests notice, such as accuracy, speed and hospitality.”
—Ben Smith, Director of Operations, Donatos Pizza
With Revmo handling routine calls and phone orders, Donatos reclaimed nearly 4,841 hours in August alone — the equivalent of 30 full-time team members’ worth of labor. That time was redirected back to what matters most: serving guests, improving throughput, and maintaining speed and accuracy during rushes.
Ready to transform your operations? Contact us to see how Revmo AI can unlock new revenue and efficiencies for your brand.
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