Integrate

Los Mariachis: an AI host that answers the menu — and takes the order

Los Mariachis Tex-Mex

A family-owned Tex-Mex restaurant got a modern website with “Paco,” an AI host that answers menu questions 24/7 and takes phone-verified pickup orders — pay at pickup or online — turning the site into an always-on front-of-house with no per-order commission.

24/7: AI menu host, always on
AI: takes & confirms pickup orders, writes blogs automatically
$0: per-order commission
Verified: real-customer orders only

How it was delivered

About 2 months — consultation to live deployment

1
Consultation & architecture
1 week
Scoped the menu, ordering rules, and the AI host’s persona; designed the Next.js + Payload architecture and the AI ordering flow.
2
Infrastructure procurement
2 weeks
Provisioned hosting, Postgres, object storage, domain and TLS, plus the AI, SMS, and payment provider accounts.
3
Development & internal testing
4 weeks
Built the site, the menu CMS, “Paco” the AI concierge, and the phone-verified ordering + payment flow — with strict internal testing across the full order lifecycle.
4
Code & security audit
4 days
OWASP-aligned review: prompt-injection hardening on the AI, rate limits and AI spend caps, phone-verification anti-abuse, and PII handling.
5
Production deployment
2 days
Staged rollout with monitoring, DNS cutover, then live.

Estimated investment

$4,000–$7,000

Rough estimate; final scope varies.

Rough estimate, shared with the client’s approval. Every project is scoped individually.

The challenge

Los Mariachis wanted a website that did more than sit there. After-hours menu questions went unanswered, and third-party delivery apps took a cut of every order. They needed their own front-of-house online — one that could answer guests and take orders without paying a commission on each one.

What we built

A fast, modern site on Next.js and Payload, with a menu the owner edits themselves — no developer needed. On top of it sits “Paco,” an AI host powered by Claude that answers questions about dishes, ingredients, spice level, hours, and the family story, and can take a full pickup order right in the chat. Orders are gated by a one-time SMS code so only real customers get through, with pay-at-pickup or secure online card payment.

How it holds up

Because the AI is public, it is hardened. A deterministic pre-screen blocks prompt-injection attempts before they ever reach the model, daily spend caps and per-visitor limits keep costs predictable, and every order is re-priced server-side so the live menu is always the source of truth. The whole system passed an OWASP-aligned security review before it went live.

The result

The restaurant now has an always-on host that answers guests instantly and turns its website into a real ordering channel and friendly online concierge trained on its history and information.

Gallery

Tap any image to view it full-screen.