Chowbus and Maple announce strategic partnership to bring multilingual voice AI ordering to restaurants. Guests order out loud in Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, or English, and the order flows straight into the Chowbus POS NEW YORK & CHICAGO - Chowbus, the all-in-one restaurant technology platform, and Maple, the leading voice AI platform for restaurants, today announced a partnership that brings multilingual voice AI ordering to Chowbus merchants across the United... September 2, 2026 at 2:41 p.m. Guests order out loud in Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, or English, and the order flows straight into the Chowbus POS NEW YORK & CHICAGO - Chowbus, the all-in-one restaurant technology platform, and Maple, the leading voice AI platform for restaurants, today announced a partnership that brings multilingual voice AI ordering to Chowbus merchants across the United States and Canada. Chowbus was built for immigrant restaurant owners, and language has been the through line of the platform since 2016. Menu items carry names in multiple languages. Kitchen tickets print in the language the station reads. The support staff on the other end of the phone speak the owner's language too. That combination of software, hardware, and people is why thousands of operators run their restaurants on Chowbus, across hot pot, sushi, Korean BBQ, bubble tea, dim sum, pho, and more than 30 Asian cuisine formats that each run a different service model. Maple now extends it to voice, the channel where a guest speaks an order out loud. The Voice Gap Chowbus already handles multilingual ordering at the counter, on a kiosk, at the table by QR code, and online. While these workflows have all been managed over screens, voice-based workflows have been the exception. A guest who orders in Cantonese reaches whoever happens to pick up, so whether the order gets taken depends on who is on shift and how busy the room is. Restaurants miss roughly 21% to 43% of calls during busy periods, costing a single location around $30,000 a year in unrealized orders. The same gap appears at a kiosk or a drive-thru, where a guest who would rather order in their first language gets a screen in English instead. Maple is a voice AI automation platform. The same engine takes orders by phone, at a kiosk, and at a drive-thru in English, Mandarin, Cantonese, and Korean, staying in the language the guest uses and sending the finished order to Chowbus, where it routes like any other order. Support for Mandarin, Cantonese, and Korean is generally available now, and Chowbus merchants are among the first to get it. Spanish, French, and other languages run on the same engine. "Chowbus started because immigrant restaurant owners needed technology that spoke their language and met their unique needs. Ten years later, that's true across our POS, our kitchen printers, and our support team. Now, with Maple, we close the last gap: the phone. Every order lands in the same system, in any language," said Julie Gu, VP of Marketing at Chowbus. How the Integration Works Maple pulls menu data directly from Chowbus, so there is no manual menu programming step and orders are accurate from the start. Key integration capabilities include: * Native POS sync: Orders captured by Maple flow into Chowbus instantly, appearing on kitchen display systems and receipt printers alongside in-store, kiosk, QR, and online orders. * Multilingual voice ordering: Maple works in English, Mandarin, Cantonese, and Korean, with Spanish, French, and additional languages available on the same engine. It identifies the guest's language on the first exchange and stays in it through payment, around the clock. * One voice layer across channels: The same engine runs on phone, kiosk, and drive-thru, so an operator adding a lane or a kiosk later inherits the menu sync and language coverage already in place. * More than order taking: Maple also handles reservations, catering inquiries, hours and directions, and frequently asked questions, so a guest gets an answer whichever way they ask. * Real-time menu synchronization: Maple pulls live items, modifiers, pricing, and availability from Chowbus, including the modifier logic Asian formats depend on, from hot pot broth selections to sugar and ice levels on a bubble tea order. "Restaurant owners tell us they cannot afford to hire dedicated staff to work the phone and the counter, and they cannot afford to lose the orders that come through them," said Aidan Chau, CEO and Founder of Maple. "We built one voice system that works everywhere a guest talks to a restaurant. For a lot of the operators Chowbus serves, those are the moments where their most loyal customers show up, and they have never worked in the customer's language. Chowbus has spent ten years earning the trust of these owners, and we wanted to meet that standard before we shipped." Since launching in December 2023, Maple has handled over 1 million conversations for restaurants with a 92% resolution rate without human intervention. A graduate of Amazon's AWS Generative AI Accelerator, Maple serves over 1,000 merchant locations nationwide across phone, kiosk, and drive-thru. The company integrates with major POS systems including Toast, Square, Oracle, Clover, and now Chowbus. Availability The Maple integration is available to Chowbus merchants in the United States and Canada. Restaurants can activate the service through their Chowbus representative. Resellers and payment processors interested in offering Maple to their restaurant portfolios can contact [email protected]. About Chowbus Chowbus is the all-in-one restaurant technology platform that pairs a dedicated People + AI team with over 40 connected products, covering point of sale, guest marketing, staffing, payments, and more. Every Chowbus restaurant gets real support staff working alongside AI tools, so owners get technology and a true operating partner. Founded in Chicago in 2016 by Linxin Wen and Suyu Zhang, Chowbus started as a delivery service for immigrant-owned restaurants before fully pivoting to restaurant technology by 2024. The company now processes more than $4 billion in annual transaction volume across the US and Canada, and focuses on Asian cuisine restaurants with active plans to expand to more cuisines and cities. Learn more at chowbus.com. About Maple Maple (formerly Argo Labs), the leading voice AI platform for restaurants, automates guest conversations across phone, kiosk, and drive-thru, handling orders, reservations, and customer inquiries around the clock. A graduate of Amazon's AWS Generative AI Accelerator, Maple has scaled to serve over 1,000 merchants since launching in December 2023. The platform integrates with major POS systems and partners with leading restaurant technology platforms. Headquartered in New York City, Maple is on a mission to ensure no restaurant ever misses a customer again. For more information, visit maple.inc.

Chowbus, a restaurant technology platform, has partnered with Maple to bring multilingual voice AI ordering to merchants across the US and Canada. The integration allows restaurants to handle orders in English, Mandarin, Cantonese, and Korean via phone, kiosk, and drive-thru, with additional languages available. Maple's AI platform synchronises directly with Chowbus's point-of-sale system, eliminating manual menu programming. The service addresses a significant gap, as restaurants miss 21% to 43% of calls during busy periods, costing individual locations around $30,000 annually. Since launching in December 2023, Maple has processed over 1 million conversations with a 92% resolution rate. The platform now serves over 1,000 merchant locations and integrates with major POS systems including Toast, Square, and Oracle.

OrderCounter, a hybrid point-of-sale provider, has partnered with Maple, a voice AI platform for restaurants, to offer automated phone ordering. The integration allows Maple's AI to answer restaurant phone calls and route orders directly into OrderCounter's system, which combines on-site servers with cloud access for reliability during internet outages. Maple pulls menu data directly from OrderCounter, eliminating manual programming. The AI handles orders, reservations, and customer inquiries 24/7, with a 92% resolution rate without human intervention. Orders appear instantly on kitchen displays and printers through OrderCounter's local server infrastructure. Since launching in December 2023, Maple has answered over 1 million calls and serves over 1,000 merchant locations nationwide. The integration is immediately available to OrderCounter merchants in the United States. Maple also integrates with major POS systems including Toast, Square, Oracle, and Clover.