Max Jacobson-Fried is with Freed's Bakery in Las Vegas. The bakery specializes in desserts and custom cakes for weddings, birthdays, and anniversaries. When a customer calls at 2 AM about a wedding cake, someone has to decide if it can wait.
Challenge
Custom cakes are a big part of the business at Freed's Bakery. The occasions behind them carry real weight.
"A big part of our business is custom cakes, and these are weddings, these are anniversaries, these are birthdays," Max says. "These are big events in people's lives. And if there's an issue or a concern, we want to make sure that we're available to people."
That sense of obligation meant the phone was always on. Calls came in at all hours, and there was no way to know what was on the other end.
"We're picking up a call at 2:00 AM, not knowing is this somebody asking for our hours? Is it somebody just wanting to place an order? Is it somebody that's having an issue?" Max says.
The bakery tried a phone tree to filter calls. Customers could press a number if they had an issue. But the tree still wasn't properly triaging commonly asked questions and real emergencies or inquiries.
"It still meant that we're getting a call at 9:00 PM and it could just be somebody saying, 'Hey, are you guys open?'" Max says.
The result was constant availability with no way to prioritize. "There was a lot of just being available, in a way that probably wasn't healthy for us," he says.
Solution
When AI answering options hit the market, Max saw a fit. The bakery has multiple locations with different hours and needed a way to triage after-hours calls.
"With the advent of AI options, it just felt like a really good fit where we could actually train something on all of our locations' hours and what to do in certain scenarios," Max says.
The goal was simple. Know what the customer needs so the team can respond appropriately.
"We really just wanted to know what the customer needed so that we can make the appropriate decision on whether to reach out that night or have our team reach out the next day," Max says.
Upfirst met both requirements. "And Upfirst provided that. Provided a good cost," he says.
Results
The biggest change is after-hours peace. Max no longer fields calls in the middle of the night.
"It's really nice not to get phone calls all hours of the night," Max says.
Every after-hours call now comes with context. The team knows who called, what they need, and how urgent it is before anyone picks up the phone.
"It's a very small piece of our business, but it's really made a big impact because it just means that we know the reason for an after-hours call," Max says.
Max is straightforward about the experience. "I appreciate the quality of the product you guys are putting forth," he says. "I also appreciate the level of service you guys have provided. It's always been great."
"This is so much better than it was before," Max says. "So pleased not to have to field calls after-hours."
