UK takeaways
Indian takeaway phone orders, spice level and all
Zogu answers a curry house's phone, takes the order from the menu in your POS, asks for a spice level where a dish needs one, reads the whole order back once and sends it on a clear yes.
It isn't live anywhere, and no real curry menu has been tried. For this page we built a made-up curry menu with invented prices and scripted the AI model's decisions, so every Zogu line quoted is what our code actually said.
A family order, read back once
A ten-line order on our test menu, with one change at the read-back ("pickup" stands in for the word it used):
Caller: "Right, can I get two chicken tikka masalas, a chicken korma, a lamb bhuna and a chicken dhansak."
Zogu asks the spice level for the bhuna and the dhansak, one at a time. The caller adds rice, naans, poppadoms and a chutney, says that's everything and gives the name Sam.
Zogu: "Thanks, Sam. So that's two Chicken Tikka Masalas, one Chicken Korma, one Lamb Bhuna with Hot, one Chicken Dhansak with Mild, three Pilau Rices, ... for pickup, under the name Sam. The total is seventy-one pounds thirty-five, paid on pickup. Shall I place the order?"
Caller: "Oh, make it three garlic naans."
Zogu makes the change and reads all 10 lines again, now seventy-four pounds sixty.
Caller: "Yeah, go ahead."
The read-back is built from the same lines that go to your POS, so what the caller hears is what's sent. "Yeah" and "mhm" during a long list don't cut Zogu off; "hang on, two garlic naans" does. More on how the read-back works.
Spice level is an option on the dish
Zogu has no heat scale of its own. It uses each dish's options in your POS, like a crust on a pizza.
- A required Spice Level group gets "which spice level would you like? We have Mild, Medium, Hot or Extra Hot."
- Levels are priced from your POS, so a 50p Extra Hot is added to the dish.
- Several dishes are asked about one at a time, in the caller's order.
- An optional group isn't asked about, but the caller can still choose from it.
- "Extra hot" on a korma with no spice options gets "Sorry, the Chicken Korma doesn't come with a hot option."
- "No coriander" goes on the line as a note for the kitchen.
"How hot is the madras?" is answered from the dish's description and spice options. With no description, Zogu says it doesn't have the details and saves the question for your team.
How the voice says jalfrezi and pilau
Hard dish names are respelled in plain syllables just before they're spoken. Some of the built-in list:
| On the menu | What the voice is given |
|---|---|
| Jalfrezi | jal-fray-zee |
| Bhuna | boo-nah |
| Pilau | pil-ow |
| Saag Aloo | sahg ah-loo |
| Gulab Jamun | goo-lahb jah-moon |
Nobody has listened to these on a live call yet, and your way wins: we set your version and it's used from the next call. Dhansak, Peshwari and Keema aren't on the list. The Teach page picks words like these out of each menu. Restaurants don't have a login yet, so our team makes the change.
When the caller says it differently
Close spellings count as the same word.
- "Dansak" finds the Chicken Dhansak, and "pilaw rice" the Pilau Rice.
- "Peshawari naan" finds the Peshwari Naan, and "poppadums" the Poppadom.
- "A jalfrezi" gets "We've got the Chicken Jalfrezi and the Chicken Tikka Jalfrezi. Which would you like?"
Short words are the weak spot: nan and naan, or dal and dhal, are different words to the search. Zogu says it couldn't find the dish and offers the nearest. "Papadums" found nothing. One Teach page entry ("nan" means "naan") fixes a miss from the next call.
Rice and naan as the add-on
After "that's it", Zogu can make up to two add-on offers, and a no ends them. Automatic offers come from categories named side, dessert, drink or beverage, so a Rice or Naan Breads category is never offered.
The fix is your own question, asked first: "Would you like any rice or naan with that?" It's asked even when the caller already has rice, so word it to work both ways ("Any more rice or naan with that?"). Add-ons can also be switched off. More on how add-on offers work.
What it won't do
- Take orders for later, so the 8pm Saturday party order still needs your staff.
- Take more than 20 of one item.
- Apply deals like free poppadoms over a set spend. A deal set up as a menu item works.
- Speak anything but English, or take card details.
- Transfer a call or promise a call-back.
- Tell the caller if the kitchen turns an order down afterwards.
The full list is on What Zogu doesn't do.
Questions and answers
Is Zogu different for a curry house?
No. Same rules: one read-back, one yes, up to two add-ons, no transfers. What changes is your menu.
Does Zogu read the spiciness tag on POS dishes?
No. It stores the tag but doesn't use it on calls. Heat comes from the dish's options and description.
Will a regular's usual come back at the right heat?
Yes, if it was a Zogu phone order. "Same as last time" puts their last order back with its options, checked against today's menu. App, web and counter orders don't count.
Has Zogu taken orders for a real curry house?
No. As of 5 November 2026 it has only run on our integration platform's test system, and no Indian menu has been tried there.