Lead With AI: "This AI Answers Every Restaurant Call So That You Never Lose a $10,000 Party Reservation"

Host: Dr. Tamara Nall
Guest: Alex Zamvani, CEO & Co-founder of Slang AI
Release Date: October 21, 2025

Episode Overview

In this episode, Dr. Tamara Nall sits down with Alex Zamvani, the CEO and co-founder of Slang AI, an AI company transforming how restaurants handle customer calls. The conversation delves into how conversational AI can capture missed opportunities, increase revenue, and fundamentally improve the hospitality industry's operations. Alex shares the inspiration behind Slang AI, its real-world impact, technical underpinnings, and perspectives on the future of AI in hospitality.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Founding Story: From Culinary Dreams to AI Solutions

• Alex’s Early Inspiration: Alex was inspired by his grandmother's prowess in the kitchen and initially wanted to be a chef.
  • "I wanted to be a chef. And I was inspired by my grandmother, who was an absolute beast in the kitchen." — Alex Zamvani [03:01]
• The Pivot to AI: After a detour through engineering, Wall Street, and business school, Alex became passionate about AI, leading to work at Spotify before founding Slang AI.
• Connection to Restaurants: Living in New York and frequently dining out, Alex noticed how restaurants struggled to efficiently manage guest communications.

2. Identifying the Problem: Missed Calls = Missed Revenue

• The Restaurant Struggle: Many restaurants, even high-performing ones, fail to capture all customer inquiries.
  • "I reached out to six restaurants here in New York...only two out of the six that I reached out to got back to me." — Alex Zamvani [06:07]
• Economic Impact: Every missed call represents a potential lost opportunity, sometimes up to a $10,000 party or corporate booking.
  • "Every missed guest could be, you know, a $10,000 private party...you really need to stay on top of every single guest interaction." — Alex Zamvani [07:29]

3. Slang AI in Action: The 'Holy Smokes' Moments

• Early Proof Points: A client proactively requested to install Slang in their new location after positive results in their existing restaurants.
  • "It was just like, this just has to be a part of every single restaurant that we have." — Alex Zamvani [08:35]
• Validating the Product: Initially cautious about AI’s acceptance pre-ChatGPT, the early successful deployments and real-life call data gave the team confidence.
  • "When we first launched it...I got chills because it actually worked...This is the future for sure." — Alex Zamvani [11:20]

4. How It Works: Lifting the Hood on Slang AI

• Massive Specialized Dataset: Slang AI is trained on over 20 million restaurant-focused phone calls, enabling it to recognize diverse phrasing, accents, and customer needs.
  • "We have a database of over 20 million phone calls all focused on restaurants." — Alex Zamvani [12:52]
• Broad Deployment: Active in 49 states, serving a huge variety of restaurants—from independents to enterprise groups.

5. Ideal Customers & Use Cases

• Target Market: Hospitality-driven venues, especially those handling reservations and private dining (think OpenTable or Resy type spots).
• Scalability: Serves clients from single-location independents to large hospitality groups.

6. Ethics and Data Privacy

• Transparency and Control: Clients are given full control over their call data, with strict separation of sensitive and proprietary information.
  • "We make it super transparent in the way that we store data with our clients and we also give them full control over their data." — Alex Zamvani [15:10]
• Vendor Security: Focused on partnering with secure cloud providers.

7. The Future of Hospitality AI

• Agent Platforms: Alex predicts that AI agents will disrupt every industry, especially hospitality, through smarter guest engagement, operational efficiencies, and new marketing opportunities.
  • "Our vision is really to be an agent platform for the hospitality industry that has many different agents, specialized agents that can engage your guests..." — Alex Zamvani [17:56]
• Features in Development: Includes cross-selling (booking you in a sister restaurant if the original is full), marketing, re-engagement, and more.

8. COVID-19’s Accelerating Effect

• Tech Adoption: The pandemic forced restaurants to rapidly adopt technology, benefiting companies like Slang AI during a period of industry upheaval.
  • "Covid forced an interest and orientation towards technology in the industry that wasn't there as much before." — Alex Zamvani [18:39]
• Adaptability: The AI fielded constant pandemic-era questions—mask policies, social distancing, changing guidelines.

Notable Quotes & Moments

• On AI's Real-World Impact:
  "If you don't respond to someone quickly, there's, you know, 10 other restaurants on your block that someone else can go to." — Dr. Tamara Nall [08:01]

• On Product Validation:
  "When we launched our first client, we were so nervous...But when I was listening to these calls...I got chills because it actually worked." — Alex Zamvani [11:16]

• On Restaurant Survival:
  "We do see even some great restaurants that we love shut down, because the economics are just difficult, and you really have to squeeze every single dollar out of every part of your business." — Alex Zamvani [07:31]

• On AI’s Underhyped Trend:
  "Deep research is a feature...It's basically the ability to research a topic...you can now have AI do it in five minutes." — Alex Zamvani [24:29]

Important Timestamps

• [03:01] Alex on his grandmother’s culinary influence and the engineering-food connection.
• [06:07] Alex recounts the missing responses from top NYC restaurants.
• [08:35] The “holy smokes” moment: a client proactively requesting Slang for new locations.
• [11:16] Early chills: Listening to real customers interact with Slang AI.
• [12:52] Infrastructure: 20 million call dataset details.
• [15:10] Ethics, privacy, and data infrastructure practices.
• [17:56] Vision: Becoming a multi-agent platform for hospitality.
• [18:39] COVID’s role in accelerating restaurant technology adoption.
• [21:00] Favorite AI product (besides Slang): N8N for sales workflow automation.
• [23:38] Overrated tech trend: Crypto.
• [24:21] Underrated AI trend: Deep research tools.
• [25:13] Book recommendation: The Innovator’s Dilemma.
• [25:37] Bold prediction: In 10 years, robots will do our laundry and cook in our kitchens.

How to Try Slang AI or Connect

• Restaurant Owners: Request a demo at slang.ai.
• Consumers: Calling restaurants in 49 states—many use Slang AI already (notable clients mentioned include Texas de Brazil, Don Angie, Catch Hospitality).
• Contact Alex: Email (alex@slang.ai), Twitter (@zamvani), LinkedIn.

Rapid Fire Q&A Highlights

• Most Overrated Tech Trend: Crypto [23:38]
• Most Under Hyped AI Trend: Deep research in generative AI tools [24:21]
• Recommended Book: The Innovator's Dilemma by Clay Christensen [25:13]
• Bold Prediction: Household robots will do laundry and cooking within 10 years [25:37]

Takeaway

This episode offers a compelling, practical look at how AI—built on a foundation of deep empathy and technical rigor—can dramatically improve both the bottom line and guest experience for restaurants. While rooted in hospitality, the stories and lessons from Alex Zamvani and Slang AI reveal a broader transformation powered by domain-savvy conversational AI. As Dr. Nall reflects: “If you’ve called your favorite restaurant lately, you might have already met Slang AI—without even knowing it.”