Palona

Palona develops a restaurant-specific AI platform that handles phone operations, catering coordination, and quality monitoring to capture revenue and maintain operational excellence. The platform comprises three core products: Hosting AI, which answers every call during rush hours, takes complex orders, upsells naturally, and takes reservations while sounding like the restaurant's best team member through voice cloning and custom personalities; Operations AI, which uses in-store security cameras to analyze operational signals including queue lengths, table turnover, prep bottlenecks, and cleanliness without requiring new hardware; and Catering AI, which grows first-party catering business through AI-assisted coordination. Palona integrates with existing systems including Toast, Square, Yelp, POS platforms, and reservation services, enabling restaurants to go live in days with zero staff training and zero service disruption. The platform is powered by generative AI rather than scripts, delivering personalized on-brand experiences with increased order accuracy and natural upselling. Voice cloning technology ensures guests cannot distinguish AI interactions from human staff. Case studies include Cali BBQ achieving an 18% sales lift driving $26,000 in sales across 268 orders and slashing table turnaround time nearly in half on its busiest day, San Pedro Fish Market handling every call, and Paris Baguette powering smarter guest conversations. The platform serves multi-location restaurant groups, with Pizza Guys at 95+ locations selecting Palona after evaluating three different AI phone ordering companies. Founded in 2024 and headquartered in Palo Alto, California, Palona has raised $10.0M in seed funding from investors including UpHonest Capital, Fusion Fund, and NEO Investment Partners.