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Customer story
When practice shows up in sales
Phil’s Burger combined its sales initiative with regular practice with AI guests. The results showed up in sales – and the higher levels were still there in the following year’s follow-up.
- Restaurants
- AI roleplay
- Point-of-sale follow-up
The challenge
A sales target is a start. The guest interaction makes the difference.
In the fall of 2025, Phil’s Burger wanted to develop sales and guest interactions across its restaurants. A sales competition can build energy around a goal. To succeed, employees also need to be able to do something differently when serving a guest.
How do you recommend a drink that goes with the food? Or offer a larger burger and a dip without sounding scripted? At the same time, employees need to listen, take the order correctly and create a great restaurant experience.
Phil’s Burger therefore combined the sales initiative with regular hands-on practice in Popscale.
The approach
New week. New situation.
Each week, employees met a new AI guest and a new situation from everyday restaurant life. Practice included:
Taking an order at the counter
Serving and recommending at the table
Helping a guest choose a drink
Recommending beer or wine with a meal
Suggesting sides that fit the order
Adding value through relevant upselling
It was about more than remembering to ask a question. The AI provided feedback on the whole guest interaction: how employees listened, communicated, recommended and moved the conversation forward. Then they could try again.
From a goal
“We need to sell more of this.”
To hands-on practice
“How do I do that with a guest?”
New guests. New recommendations. More opportunities to practice before the next real guest interaction.
The results
Practice showed up in sales.
Phil’s Burger tracked two of the practiced behaviors directly in point-of-sale data: recommending the larger burger size and offering a dip. The program’s peak weeks showed a clear change.
During the program’s peak weeks
- increase in the share of large burgers
- +12%
- more dips per main course sold
- +28%
Relative changes from Jan–Aug 2025. Large burgers: week 49, 2025. Dips: week 39, 2025.
Systematic training in recommending drinks and sides that elevate the taste experience quickly made an impact. Within just a couple of weeks, we saw a double-digit increase in both sales and average purchase value.
And once the program was over?
The results stayed at a higher level.
In the following year’s follow-up, both practiced behaviors remained above the baseline. This compares January–August 2026 with the same period in 2025.
- increase in the share of large burgers
- +9%
- more dips per main course sold
- +5%
Jan–Aug 2026 compared with Jan–Aug 2025 · relative change
The full measurement
From baseline to follow-up.
The same two behaviors, three measurement points. The baseline is indexed to 100. The bars show changes in levels, not the underlying shares.
Large burgers
index, baseline = 100
- Before trainingJan to Aug 2025
- 100
- Peak weekweek 49, 2025
- 112
- Follow-upJan to Aug 2026
- 109
Dips per main course
index, baseline = 100
- Before trainingJan to Aug 2025
- 100
- Peak weekweek 39, 2025
- 128
- Follow-upJan to Aug 2026
- 105
Measured in Phil's Burger's point-of-sale data. Peak weeks and follow-up are compared with the Jan–Aug 2025 baseline (index 100). The follow-up covers Jan–Aug 2026. The figures are relative changes, not percentage points or absolute sales volumes. The underlying shares are the customer's own.
Bring it to your team
Practice what you want to see more of.
A goal sets the direction. Practice gives employees a chance to work on the behavior that can get you there. Adapt situations to your products, ways of working and goals.
Better recommendations
Practice suggesting what genuinely fits the guest.
Better needs analysis
Practice asking, listening and understanding before recommending.
More confidence with objections
Practice moving the conversation forward when a guest hesitates.
Practice. Follow up. Improve.
Popscale lets restaurant teams practice real situations with AI and get concrete feedback. When the behavior is also tracked in the business’s own data, you can see what happens beyond the practice itself.
See how Popscale works