Best AI Phone Agent for Multi-Unit Groups
Six phone agents for a group running several restaurants, ranked on price, the book, limits, and payment. Kovo scores 93; Loman wins when any card must be taken.
On this page
The best phone agent for a multi-unit group is the one whose per-store price and per-store phone you can account for. On the seven criteria below that is Kovo at 93/100: $99 for 750 connected minutes at each store, or $299 for 5,000, a book included, and limits each manager sets. Loman is second at 80/100 because it takes any card in the call and sells to groups.
Kovo is ours, so competitor lines come from the vendors' own public pages, read in October 2026, and the enterprise prices are quoted per group rather than published.
Monday morning, four stores, four phone numbers. The east side runs a different menu, the airport unit closes at 9, and the manager at the newest location still answers the phone himself because the headset never arrived. If each store misses 60 calls a month at a $41 ticket, that is 240 calls and $9,840 that lands in four separate P&Ls where nobody sees the total.
TL;DR:
- Kovo scores 93/100: $99 or $299 per store, a ticket on each store's own POS, a book included, and no pooled minutes between shops.
- Loman scores 80 and wins the payment row — any card, captured inside the call — from $199 per location, and it sells to multi-unit groups (published pricing, October 2026).
- Certus AI (57), ConverseNow (57), Synq3 (55), and PolyAI (46) sell on a quote or an enterprise contract, so the per-unit line is a negotiation.
- Four Kovo Starter stores are $396 a month against $796 for four Loman locations, and the quoted four are unknown until the contract lands.
- Run the same six calls in two stores with two different menus, then compare the printed tickets before you commit to twelve.
The rubric, and why these weights
We sell Kovo. The weights and the inputs are printed so the ranking can be checked.
Ranking phone agents by how natural the voice sounds is unmeasurable, and every vendor on this page claims it. Ranking by what a group pays for is checkable, so this is the table the ranking uses.
| Weight | Criterion | Why it decides |
|---|---|---|
| 25% | Price per answered call | The bill is the first objection |
| 20% | Reservations included, no platform fee | A table call is the highest-value call |
| 15% | Order limits the owner controls | One fixed cap does not fit four restaurant types |
| 15% | Payment that closes on the call | An unpaid ticket is a kitchen waiting |
| 10% | POS depth you actually run | A ticket that needs retyping is not an integration |
| 10% | Channels on one brain (phone, chat) | Two menus is two truths |
| 5% | Setup without a scheduled onboarding | Speed to first call |
Each vendor is scored 1 to 5 on every row against public information checked in October 2026, then weighted to a total out of 100. A vendor wins a group contract on procurement terms, but the phone it installs still has to answer, ticket, and take payment, which is what these seven rows measure.
The ranking
| # | Product | Score | Price | Reservations | Card on the call | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kovo | 93 | $99 / $299 per store; nothing pooled | Own book, included | Known card charged on the line; link for a first-timer | A group happy to buy store by store at a fixed price |
| 2 | Loman | 80 | From $199 per location | OpenTable write-back | Any card, captured in the call | A group that needs one vendor across every store |
| 3 | Certus AI | 57 | Quote | Documented, with orders | Not publicly documented | Stores whose callers open in Spanish |
| 4 | ConverseNow | 57 | Quote | Not publicly listed | Not publicly documented | QSR brands where the lane carries the volume |
| 5 | Synq3 | 55 | Quote | Not publicly listed | Not publicly documented | A chain that wants tenure and custom scope |
| 6 | PolyAI | 46 | Enterprise contract | Not publicly listed | Not publicly documented | A large brand with an implementation team |
Kovo takes price, an included book, owner-set limits, and chat per store. Loman takes payment and ties the POS row. The four quoted vendors can beat Kovo on procurement terms and none of them publishes a price a reader can check.
The arithmetic that decides the first row is per store, never per group:
- Four Kovo Starter stores are $396 a month, 3,000 connected minutes, roughly 1,200 calls across the group.
- Four Kovo Unlimited stores are $1,196 a month, 20,000 minutes, well past what four stores at 320 calls each need.
- Four Loman locations start at $796 a month at its published per-location price, with no per-minute fees.
Kovo — 93/100
Kovo is ours, and it is deliberately one store at a time. It answers the phone, takes the order the way the caller says it, reads it back, and writes the ticket to Toast, Square, Clover, Olo, or a printer. $99 buys 750 connected minutes, or $299 buys 5,000.
Each shop is its own subscription with its own menu, hours, and line; a new shop can be duplicated from an existing one and then edited alone. A card the shop already holds is charged while the caller is on the line, and the book is Kovo's own. The two-store test below is how a group checks one store before buying four.
Loman — 80/100
Loman is the closest thing here to a per-store product with a group story: it sells to single sites, multi-unit groups, and enterprise brands. It publishes from $199 a month per location with no per-minute fees and lists nine POS integrations plus unlimited concurrent calls (published pricing, October 2026).
If one vendor across every store matters more than the lowest cost per answered call, Loman is the answer, and it wins the payment row. The limit is the evidence under the headline: the 99.6% order accuracy it publishes is a vendor claim, operator-reported and not audited. Kovo vs Loman is the row-by-row.
Certus AI — 57/100
Certus AI handles orders, deliveries, reservations, upselling, and complaints in English, Spanish, and French, and its public positioning points at multi-unit groups and drive-thru operations (its own description, October 2026).
If three of your stores take a real share of calls in Spanish, that is the strongest single argument any vendor on this page makes. It is a product decision rather than a checkbox. The limit is implementation: Certus publicly describes roughly five days to set up per deployment, so a twelve-store rollout is a project with a calendar. Kovo vs Certus covers the trade.
ConverseNow — 57/100
ConverseNow is voice AI for QSR and drive-thru, aimed at high-volume chains (its public pages, October 2026).
If most of your volume arrives at a lane rather than a handset, that focus is an advantage: the throughput story is the one your ops team wants, and the group contract is the shape you already buy in. The limit is the phone: ask whether it is a first-class channel with its own roadmap, and ask for a store where the phone is the only thing in scope. Kovo vs ConverseNow has the side-by-side.
Synq3 — 55/100
Synq3 is restaurant voice ordering with a long track record and an enterprise-leaning posture, and it is the vendor a chain shortlists when it wants tenure rather than a signup page.
For a group whose buying runs through procurement and a custom scope, that framing is the reason it makes the list. A scope written to your brand standard is worth real money in a twelve-store rollout. The limit is that custom scope is a negotiation, not a price: Synq3's pages publish no per-unit number, so ask for the per-store line and the term. Kovo vs Synq3 sets the two side by side.
PolyAI — 46/100
PolyAI builds enterprise voice assistants for large brands and contact centers, and its published strength is conversational quality at scale with deep customization.
For a group with an implementation team and a brand standard to hit, that is a real product rather than a reseller. It scores last here because nothing it sells is priced or scoped for four stores. The limit is whether a group your size can buy at all: PolyAI sells on enterprise contracts, so ask the minimum, the timeline, and whether one location can be added without renegotiating. Kovo vs PolyAI explains why the two rarely meet.
The test call: two stores, one week
Pick the two stores whose menus differ most, then run the same calls in both on a live line.
- A plain item, then the same item with two modifiers.
- An item one store deleted and the other still sells.
- A price that changed this week.
- An order past the store's limit. Kovo's defaults are 10 items in total and 8 of one item, and an owner can change either or add a value limit. Above one, the call rings the handset if large-party routing is on.
- A caller who asks for a person, to see whether a real handset rings.
- One card order from a number that has paid before, to see the charge land mid-call.
Compare the printed tickets afterwards. If the two stores produce different quality, the risk in your rollout is menu onboarding and four stores will multiply it. The order-taking comparison is where to check what each call should have left behind.
FAQ
Which AI phone agent is best for a multi-unit restaurant group?
The one whose per-store price, contract, and per-store reporting survive contact with your finance team. On the rubric above that is Kovo at 93/100: $99 for 750 connected minutes per store, or $299 for 5,000, with a ticket on each store's POS and limits each manager sets. Loman scores 80 and is the pick when one vendor has to cover every store and any caller must pay by card inside the call, from $199 per location.
How much does phone AI cost for four locations?
At published prices, four Kovo Starter stores are $396 a month for 3,000 connected minutes, roughly 1,200 calls across the group. Four Loman locations start at $796 from its $199 published price per location (published pricing, October 2026). Synq3, Certus, ConverseNow, and PolyAI are quoted per group, so ask for the per-unit line before you compare a total against $396.
Can I run one menu across every store and override one location?
Not as a linked catalog, and Kovo is one subscription per store: a second location is a second line, a second number, a second menu, and a second bill, with nothing pooled. A new shop can be created or duplicated from an existing one, so the menu starts as a copy rather than a blank page, but the two are not kept in sync afterwards. A group that needs one catalog with store-level price exceptions should ask Synq3, Certus, or Loman to show that screen before signing.
What should a group test in two stores before a rollout?
The same six calls in two stores, on two menus that genuinely differ. Compare the printed tickets, the time from ring to ticket, and how many items the agent offered that the kitchen had already run out of. If the two stores produce different quality, the rollout risk is menu onboarding rather than the voice, and four stores will multiply it. Then price the difference: one store's failure is a Friday, four stores is a quarter.
Do these agents report per-store numbers?
Ask, because it decides who owns the phone at 8 p.m. on a Saturday. Kovo stores per-turn latency for every leg of a call, so a slow reply can be attributed to speech, text, voice, phone, or dispatch, and calls forward to that store's own phone when its minutes run out for the month. A group needs that view per store in writing, not a summary in a quarterly review, and a vendor that reports only a group total is telling you where its dashboard ends.
Final Thoughts
A group decision has two halves. Pick the commercial shape you can live with — per store, per group, or per contract — and then prove the product in two stores before you sign for twelve.
On the rubric above the answer is Kovo at 93/100: $99 a month per store, 5,000 minutes for $299 when a store runs hot, a book included, and limits each manager sets. Loman is the answer when one vendor has to cover every store and any card has to close in the call, and the table says so. Start with one store and let a manager verify the ticket alone. Take a test call.