Wok & Karahi is a family-run Chinese, Indian and Pakistani restaurant in Spring, Texas. When its only server walked out, the owner, a former software engineer, built an AI host named Haniya within 24 hours. Guests order through QR codes at the table or by phone, in seven languages, and pay before the kitchen starts cooking. She also answers the phone when the restaurant is closed.
Business type: Restaurants & cafés. Tool used: Haniya, an AI host the owner built (works with the restaurant's POS). Result: The owner says the restaurant saves or wins back about $9,650 a month, about $3,500 of it the server's pay. The AI costs about $300 a month to run, and the kitchen staff and chef now get all the tips.
Source: FOX 26 Houston (Owner's own story) · Added Mon, Oct 26 · Last updated 2026-10-26
The owner says the restaurant saves or wins back about $9,650 a month, about $3,500 of it the server's pay. The AI costs about $300 a month to run, and the kitchen staff and chef now get all the tips. (as reported by the source)
Guide: AI receptionist for small business: real examples and how to set one up
Guide: AI phone ordering for restaurants: real examples and how to set it up
Wok & Karahi is a family-run Chinese, Indian and Pakistani restaurant in Spring, Texas. When its only server walked out, the owner, a former software engineer, built an AI host named Haniya within 24 hours. Guests order through QR codes at the table or by phone, in seven languages, and pay before the kitchen starts cooking. She also answers the phone when the restaurant is closed.
Haniya, an AI host the owner built (works with the restaurant's POS).
About $300 a month to run, the owner says.
The owner built it within 24 hours.
The owner says the restaurant saves or wins back about $9,650 a month, about $3,500 of it the server's pay. The AI costs about $300 a month to run, and the kitchen staff and chef now get all the tips. (as reported by the source)
Answers come only from the source. Questions it doesn't answer are left out.
Our own prompt for copying this setup. Swap in your details. Not quoted from the source.
You are the host for [Restaurant]. Take orders only from this menu: [menu]. Speak the guest's language. Take payment before sending any order to the kitchen. If we're closed, take the order for [next opening time]. For anything you can't answer, take a name and number for [owner].
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A voice agent takes phone orders from a live menu, suggests add-ons, adds tax and reads back the total, then the order appears in a Google Sheet the kitchen watches.
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