heytruffle, rebranded from RestoHost, has closed a new funding round from New York-based Preface Ventures to scale its managed AI phone service for multi-location restaurant groups nationwide. Unlike self-serve voice-AI tools that operators configure and maintain independently, heytruffle positions itself as a fully managed channel — building a bespoke AI concierge for each restaurant and pairing it with a human team that reviews calls and refines performance every week.
How the Service Works
The model is deliberately distinct from the broader push to automate restaurant communications as fast as possible. Each client receives an AI concierge trained on that specific restaurant's menu, tone, policies, and workflows — not a generic assistant shared across accounts. The system supports reservations, pickup and delivery order-taking, catering inquiries, and private-event bookings, and it operates in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and German. When a caller requires a live person, the call routes to the restaurant's own staff. A newly announced integration with OpenTable enables the concierge to manage reservations directly inside a booking platform many full-service operators already use, reducing the adoption lift for teams already stretched thin.
Scale in Practice
Rreal Tacos, a 12-location group operating in Georgia, offers the clearest picture of throughput. heytruffle handles more than 20,000 inbound calls per month across those units. In a representative month, the service facilitated the seating of 14,085 guests — demand captured during peak periods when a fully booked host stand could not consistently reach the phone. That data point matters to operators and foodservice automation observers alike: the value case is not labor elimination but demand capture, particularly for reservations, large-party bookings, and catering leads that go unanswered when dining rooms run short-staffed.
Staffing Context
The rebrand and capital raise land against a well-documented backdrop. The National Restaurant Association's 2025 State of the Industry report indicated that many operators report insufficient staff to meet existing demand. In that environment, incoming calls are often the first casualty — and the phone channel carries some of the highest-value transactions a restaurant receives. For operators building or retrofitting locations, the promise of a managed front-of-house communication layer that integrates with existing POS and reservation platforms fits the same logic driving interest in back-of-house automation and kitchen technology: reduce operational drag without adding a new system for already-lean teams to manage.
Founder and CEO Lucas Espina framed the investment accordingly: "Restaurants do not need another piece of software to manage. They need the phone handled with the same care they give the guests in the dining room. This funding lets us bring that to more restaurant groups." The company plans to use the Preface Ventures capital to expand its managed service to additional multi-unit groups across the United States.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
