Guide

How to evaluate a QSR order-taking vendor: the 12-question checklist

The questions procurement, operations and IT should ask any restaurant call center or Voice AI vendor — POS integration, SLAs, hand-off design, PCI DSS, contract terms — with the answers that should worry you.

Key takeawayTwelve questions separate a vendor that will run your order line from one that will run up your abandonment rate. The three that matter most: does the order go directly into your POS, what exactly happens when the AI or agent can't handle a call, and can you see the compliance reports.

Most vendor decks look the same. The differences show up in the answers to specific questions — and in whether the vendor will put those answers in writing. Use this list as the scorecard for every shortlisted vendor, TSourcing included.

Integration

  1. Do your agents (and your AI) enter orders directly into our POS, or into your own portal? — 'Portal' means your staff re-key at peak.
  2. Which of our POS platforms do you already integrate with, and what is the integration fee and timeline for ours?
  3. How are menu changes, LTOs and store-level specials pushed to agents, and how quickly?

Service levels

  1. What speed-of-answer and abandonment targets will you commit to in the SLA, and how are they reported?
  2. How is peak overflow handled — additional sites, Voice AI, or a queue?
  3. Are all calls recorded and QA-scored, and can our operators listen to them?

AI and hand-offs

  1. If you use Voice AI, what happens when it cannot complete the order? Who picks up, and do they see what the AI captured?
  2. Can we configure human-first, AI-first or hybrid routing per store and daypart, and change it ourselves?

Security and compliance

  1. Are you PCI DSS compliant for call-centre card handling, and can you provide the attestation? Do you hold SOC 2 Type II and ISO/IEC 27001 — and will you share the report under NDA?
  2. Where are agents located, and what site redundancy exists if one goes down?

Commercials

  1. What is the all-in price per call or per order, including telephony, and are there set-up fees or minimums?
  2. What is the contract term, and can we pilot a store group before rolling out?

Answers that should worry you

You askWorrying answerWhat good sounds like
POS entry'Orders come to you via our portal / email / fax.''Agents work directly in your POS; the order is in your queue before hang-up.'
AI hand-off'The bot transfers to the store.''It hands to a live agent on our floor with the transcript.'
Compliance'We follow best practices.''PCI DSS AoC, SOC 2 Type II report and ISO 27001 certificate under NDA.'
Pricing'Per seat, 12-month minimum, set-up fee.''Per call, no set-up fee, no long-term contract.'
Reporting'Monthly summary.''Weekly, per store, with recordings and QA scores.'
Put it in the RFPCopy the twelve questions into your RFP verbatim and score each vendor's written answers before the demo. Demos are designed to be smooth; written answers are where the differences live.

Questions this guide answers

How does TSourcing answer these?

Direct POS entry per brand; SLA targets for speed of answer and abandonment reported weekly; Ezra Voice AI with warm hand-off to agents on the same operation; PCI DSS compliant, SOC 2 Type II audited, ISO/IEC 27001 certified under the Tribe Standard; four redundant sites; per-call pricing with no set-up fees and no long-term contract, pilot first.

Should IT or operations own the evaluation?

Both, with procurement. Operations owns the SLA and routing questions, IT owns integration and security, procurement owns commercials. Score separately, then decide together.

See it on your own numbers.

A 20-minute demo: a live order, the Ezra hand-off, and a written per-call quote for your store count.

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