kea, the cashier in the cloud empowering restaurants with revenue-boosting voice ordering, today initiated its partnership with California Fish Grill. The collaboration focuses on upgrading the restaurant chains traditional phone ordering systems to keas human-centered conversational AI. The goal is to streamline California Fish Grills operations, freeing restaurant staff to focus on the customer experience inside the restaurant.

We believe in creating a supportive and collaborative environment for our employees at California Fish Grill, said Patrick Waiyawaytar, Vice President of Information Technology. We are working to reduce stress for our valued front-of-house team, especially when dealing with phone orders. Keas AI technology allows us to streamline processes, easing the workload for our cashier team and ultimately enhancing the overall customer experience.

A cornerstone of keas human-centered approach is its innovative the human in the loop feature. Rather than using only AI, which often has a low call completion rate, keas system integrates live agents that monitor the order, increasing order accuracy, call completion and customer satisfaction. If the customer ever needs to speak to someone in real time, agents can jump in, or if the call drops, the agent will call the customer back.

California Fish Grill has integrated kea into all 55 locations first, and kea handles the majority of the restaurant chains call volume. So far, California Fish Grill has seen a boost in average ticket size due to keas upselling feature. Keas natural language processing understands the difference between menu items so it can suggest what to add to a customers order and is guaranteed to identify intelligent selling opportunities on 100% of calls.

Our mission is to empower local restaurant chains to thrive, said Adam Ahmad, CEO and Founder of kea. With kea, California Fish Grill can continue to focus on what they do best, serving high-quality, sustainably sourced seafood, and we can focus on handling their to-go orders for them. Its a win-win.

Restaurants interested in trying AI to enable hospitality and scale through digitization can book a demo at kea.ai.

About kea

kea is on a mission to empower local restaurant chains by enhancing customer service, streamlining operations, and boosting revenue through human-centered conversational AI. CEO Adam Ahmad founded the cashier in the cloud in 2018, and has since digitized phone ordering for 10 enterprise-level restaurant chains. Kea uses natural language processing to customize, upsell, confirm orders, and process payment through a PCI-compliant system, and features a human in the loop to ensure a smooth ordering process. The company has served over 1,000,000 guests and has raised $29.6M from VCs including Marbruck, Xfund, Streamlined Ventures, Deepcore, Heartland Ventures, and Morningside Ventures.

About California Fish Grill

With more than 50 locations in the West and counting, California Fish Grill is celebrating its 25th anniversary. The fast casual restaurant is the perfect destination for seafood lovers who appreciate great taste, value and a welcoming environment. Offering an array of sustainably sourced seafood varieties including Atlantic Salmon, Branzino, wild-caught Mahi Mahi, and classics like Fish and Chips, California Fish Grill prepares each dish to order using fresh ingredients and a wide variety of flavorful sauces. California Fish Grill invites guests to join the brand on an inspiring journey towards sustainable seafood practice, knowing that your choice supports positive change in the seafood industry.

For more information about California Fish Grill, please visit our website and social media channels.