During service, nobody can pick up every ring. Heep messages the guest you missed, on WhatsApp or by SMS, within seconds, then handles their request all the way to the booking.
Your team is on the floor, in the kitchen, in the thick of service. The phone rings. Nobody can pick up. The guest hangs up and tries the restaurant next door.
Three steps, nothing for your team to do.
Line busy, nobody free, a call outside opening hours: as soon as a call goes unanswered, Heep detects it and switches to writing. Two ways to get there, a Heep number with Heep Phone, or your provider's call forwarding to your Heep number.
Within seconds, they get a WhatsApp message in your restaurant's name, or an SMS if their number isn't on WhatsApp. They know someone is looking after them, even though nobody picked up.
Booking, change, cancellation, a question about opening hours or the menu: Heep replies like a member of your team, following your rules, and writes the booking into your software.
The guest who hung up receives a message in your restaurant's name. They reply as they would to a friend: “a table for 4 tonight, around 8:30?”. Heep checks your availability, offers a slot, confirms, and writes the booking into your software. If the guest mentions an allergy, a pushchair or a wish to sit on the terrace, the information is noted on the booking.
Everything happens in your Heep inbox, on the web, in the mobile app or in the desktop app. Every conversation that started as a missed call carries the “missed call” label, and you can take over at any time. Bookings, reminders and follow-ups are covered in detail on the Bookings page.
Two things: a way for the call to reach Heep, and a WhatsApp Business number (provided by Heep, or your own). For the first, you choose between Heep Phone, which ports or creates your number and sets the ringing inside Heep, and no-answer call forwarding set up with your provider. The Heep team handles the Meta verification with you, and you test on your own phone before opening it up to guests. Count on a few days end to end, including one to two days of Meta verification.
To estimate what your missed calls represent and how many Heep can recover, see our pricing.
Every missed call is counted, timestamped and followed through to the booking. You know when the phone rings unanswered, what Heep did about it, and what it brought in.
We would rather tell you before the demo.
The conversation appears in your Heep inbox like any other, labelled “missed call”.
Heep recognises a landline and never sends it an SMS. These calls are still counted and listed in your call log, so your team knows which ones deserve a callback.
You decide what Heep handles on its own and what it passes to you. On a complex request, it notifies you and hands over. You pick up the conversation from the inbox or the mobile app, without the guest changing thread.
You explain to Heep how your restaurant works by writing to it, as you would to a new colleague. Opening hours, booking rules, tone: that's it.
Heep works in the background. You keep your number, your phones ring as before, and your reservation software remains the source of truth.
Two ways, your choice. With [Heep Phone](/en/fonctionnalites/heep-phone), your number is ported or created inside Heep: your handsets ring in the order you set, and a call nobody takes switches to writing on its own. Without Heep Phone, you set up call forwarding with your provider, on no-answer and on busy, to your restaurant's Heep number, with a code such as *21* or in your VoIP settings. Either way you keep your number, your phones ring as before, and a call that reaches Heep is counted as missed.
No. Heep doesn't take the call: it recovers it in writing. The guest receives a WhatsApp message or an SMS straight away, and Heep handles their request in that thread. It's a deliberate choice: in writing, the guest keeps a record, replies when it suits them, and you can reread and pick up the conversation.
WhatsApp if the number can be reached there, SMS otherwise. The guest replies in the channel they already use, and the conversation carries on in the same place in your inbox. The first message is yours: restaurant name, tone, a mention that service is under way, the question asked. Heep then applies your rules for what follows.
A landline can't receive a message. Heep recognises the line type and never sends an SMS to a landline. These calls are still counted and visible in your call log and your analytics, so your team can decide whether to call back.
It doesn't guess. For an allergy, a group enquiry outside your rules or a decision that's yours to make, it alerts your team with a notification and waits for your answer. You pick up the conversation without the guest changing thread, and you can pause the AI on any exchange at any time.
Yes, 24 hours a day. Heep applies your opening hours: it can offer the next open service, take a booking for another day or simply answer questions. You can also restrict Heep to certain time slots, for example only during service or only outside opening hours.
It is Heep's built-in telephony. We port your restaurant's number from your carrier, or we create one for you. The call then rings on the handsets you have chosen, one after the other or all at once, following your escalation rules. Every incoming call leaves a line in your log, and if the number is known to your reservation software, the guest's name shows up.
Heep Phone does not answer. When nobody takes the call, the guest receives a WhatsApp message or an SMS, exactly as with your carrier's call forwarding. What Heep Phone replaces is that makeshift forward, not your team.
Within seconds of the unanswered call. The guest is looked after while their phone is still in their hand, even though nobody could pick up on the floor.
The sending delay is set venue by venue. Some restaurants leave the team a moment to call back, others send the message straight away.
Two ways, your choice. With Heep Phone, your number is ported or created inside Heep: your handsets ring in the order you set, and a call nobody takes switches to writing on its own. Otherwise we give you a dedicated number and you switch on call forwarding to it when nobody answers, after a set number of rings. Either way, as soon as a call goes unanswered, Heep sees it and writes to the guest on WhatsApp, or by SMS if it is a mobile without WhatsApp.
A call from a landline is never chased by SMS: Heep checks the line type before sending. Calls your team answers trigger nothing.
Yes, with every provider that offers call forwarding on no answer, which is very nearly all of them in France and across Europe: Orange, SFR, Bouygues, business providers and company phone systems.
You switch it on by dialling a code from your handset or from your provider's customer area. We give you the exact procedure for your line. If several handsets ring in your restaurant, we set the forwarding up with you.
You can also do without forwarding altogether: with Heep Phone we port your number or create one for you, and the ringing order is set inside Heep.
Heep writes to you on WhatsApp exactly as it would write to your guests, with your hours and your rules. You judge it on the evidence, then start whenever you are ready.