RestoHost Rebrands as heytruffle and Secures New Funding to Scale Its Restaurant AI

Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA, August 6th, 2026, FinanceWire

The fully managed AI phone concierge for multi-location restaurant groups launches a new brand, an OpenTable integration, and fresh backing from Preface Ventures.

heytruffle, the fully managed AI phone concierge for multi-location restaurant groups, has rebranded from RestoHost and secured new funding from Preface Ventures to expand its fully managed service across the United States.

A Managed Service, Not Another Dashboard

heytruffle sells a service, not software. It trains a custom AI concierge for each restaurant and pairs it with a human team that monitors calls and improves performance every week.

The concierge answers the phone and handles reservations, pickup and delivery orders, catering inquiries, private events, and common guest questions. When a call needs a person, it routes to the restaurant's staff. The approach is designed to free front-of-house teams to focus on the guests in the room rather than the ringing phone.

That model reflects the company's origin. heytruffle was built out of the day-to-day operation of a real restaurant group, not from a software lab, and its positioning follows from that: “You operate the restaurant. We operate the phones.”

Proven in High-Volume Operations

One of its clients, Rreal Tacos, a 12-location group in Georgia, shows the model at scale. heytruffle handles more than 20,000 calls a month across its locations. In a typical month, the service helped seat 14,085 guests, capturing demand during peak hours that a stretched host stand could not always answer on its own.

Built for a Phone Channel Under Pressure

The launch arrives as full-service restaurants face persistent staffing constraints. The National Restaurant Association's 2025 State of the Industry report found that a large share of operators still do not have enough staff to meet the demand they already have.

When a dining room is short-handed, the phone is often the first thing to go unanswered, and the reservations, catering leads, and large-party bookings that arrive by call are among the most valuable demand a restaurant can capture.

A New Brand and New Backing

The rebrand from RestoHost to heytruffle accompanies the company's next stage of growth. The new funding from Preface Ventures, a New York-based venture firm, will support expansion of its fully managed model to more restaurant groups across the country.

A new OpenTable integration lets the AI concierge manage reservations directly within a platform many restaurants already use, reducing the operational lift of adopting the service.

“Restaurants do not need another piece of software to manage,” said Lucas Espina, founder and CEO of heytruffle. “They need the phone handled with the same care they give the guests in the room. That is what we operate, and this new backing lets us bring it to more restaurant groups across the country.”

heytruffle's concierge operates in multiple languages, including English, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and German, reflecting the increasingly multilingual reality of U.S. hospitality.

About heytruffle

heytruffle, formerly RestoHost, is a fully managed service that operates the phone channel for multi-location full-service restaurant groups in the United States. The company trains a custom AI concierge for each restaurant and pairs it with a human team that monitors calls and improves performance every week. heytruffle handles reservations, pickup and delivery orders, catering, private events, and guest questions in multiple languages. Learn more at heytruffle.ai.

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