Where Hospitality Meets Results: This Is Why We Built Palona
It was 6:00 a.m. on Father’s Day when my phone rang. The words “Cali BBQ” flashes through my screen. As one of our earliest and most dedicated partners, they were gearing up for their busiest day of the year. Their team was in the final stretch, and they needed a few last-minute tweaks to Shawn AI, their AI-powered voice agent named after the owner of Cali BBQ.
Minutes later, our team was fine-tuning the details and streamlining the guest flow, making sure every detail was dialed in. By noon, the results spoke for themselves: an 18% boost in sales and a service experience completely transformed.
The Magic Behind Shawn AI
The real magic wasn’t in the numbers, it was in what made those numbers possible. Every improvement was rooted in a simple goal: to bring more hospitality to every guest interaction.
Every feature we shipped, every line of code we wrote, every guardrail we tuned was in the service of the people running the restaurants. We built Shawn AI for the people, not for the numbers. It wasn’t tech innovation we were pursuing when we designed Shawn AI, but a simple, human vision: that no call would be missed, no guest left frustrated, and no staff member stretched thin
With the motivation, Shawn AI became the key to unlock that vision. By having a thorough understanding of Cali BBQ’s operations inside out, Shawn AI handled guest inquiries with ease while scaling effortlessly as demand increased, removing friction between customers and staff to foster smoother and more satisfying experience throughout.
The Palona Impact
In a single day, Cali BBQ hit $26,000 in sales across 268 orders, an 18% increase over Father’s Day in 2024. Same menu. Same kitchen. The only difference? Palona. While servers rushed between packed tables and the kitchen worked at full capacity, Shawn AI calmly managed what used to be the chaotic aspect: the phones. It handled 150 calls in total with zero missed calls, resulting in a 92% jump in pickup orders compared to last year. As staff spent more time serving without worrying about the ringing phones, the table turns became faster and customer satisfaction rate increased with a 10% drop in discount requests.
We build Palona for you.
That 6:00 a.m. call ended up being the best part of my day: it reminded me that we’re not just building AI, we are building trust, partnership, and hospitality. We are not chasing innovation for its own sake. We build technology to solve real problems and deliver tangible results.
To Shawn and the Cali BBQ team: thank you for letting us be part of your story.
To every operator who has ever wished their phones were answered, their customers were happier, and their team was a little less overwhelmed: we build Palona for you.
When service runs smoother, everything else follows: better guest experiences, stronger teamwork, and yes, better business. That’s why Cali BBQ’s story was recently featured in Adweek as a real world example of how AI can enhance hospitality without losing the human touch.
Let’s keep scaling hospitality together.
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Maria Zhang
Founder & CEO, Palona AI