Inbox
The AI catering inbox reads your Gmail, sorts catering inquiries from the rest, drafts replies from your own prices and answers, and turns each inquiry into a lead.
The Inbox brings catering inquiries from your Gmail into CurbsideOps. It sorts real inquiries from everything else, turns each one into a lead, and has a reply drafted in your brand's voice by the time you open it. Nothing goes out until you press Send.
Before you start
Three things need to be in place:
- Gmail connected on the Integrations page.
- The Catering Inbox automation turned on in Automations.
- Your Telegram linked as the owner.
New mail is checked every few minutes. The refresh button asks Gmail right away and tells you if one of the three steps above is missing.
The four lists
| List | What is in it |
|---|---|
| Open | Catering conversations you are working on. |
| Needs review | Emails that may not be inquiries, ones that hit a problem, and inquiries that still need a brand. No reply is drafted for these. |
| Other mail | Email that is not a catering lead, plus spam. |
| Handled | Conversations you marked handled. |
Whose turn it is
You never have to move a conversation between lists to keep track of it. In Open, a conversation where the customer spoke last shows their name in bold with a Reply needed tag, and the count on Open is how many are waiting on you. Turn on Needs reply to see only those. A Draft ready tag means a reply is waiting for your review.
When a conversation is done, click Mark handled. It moves to Handled and comes back to Open on its own if the customer writes again.
Replying
Open the conversation
The header says whose turn it is, for example "Reply needed" with when the customer wrote.
Review the draft
Click Review & send. If there is no draft yet, click Draft with AI or Write my own. Use Rewrite, Shorter, Ask for missing or Add quote to adjust it, or edit the text yourself.
Check anything flagged
If the draft mentions something it could not confirm, it is marked so you can check it before sending.
Send
Click Send, then Send reply.
Drafts come from your data
The assistant writes only on the customer's turn. It drafts one reply per customer message and never answers your own last message (unless you ask for a follow-up). Every fact in a draft comes from what CurbsideOps knows: your packages and menu, your pricing, the lead's details, your policies, your brand FAQ and the customer's history. Prices can only come from your menu, your pricing and your FAQ, and a draft that quotes any other price is flagged. What the AI knows shows exactly what the draft was written from.
Once you edit a draft, the AI never overwrites it. If the customer writes again while you are working, you can Refresh draft or Keep mine.
Drafting uses AI Credits
If your AI Credits run out, mail keeps arriving but new drafts pause until you top up.
Sending from the right address
A reply always leaves from the Gmail mailbox the customer wrote to. If that mailbox has several "Send mail as" addresses, choose one under From. Picking an address that belongs to another brand files the whole conversation under that brand, after you confirm. Your brand's signature is added when the reply is sent, so it is always the current one.
The brand on each conversation
Each conversation belongs to one brand: the brand of the address the customer wrote to, or of the mailbox it arrived in. When CurbsideOps cannot tell (a mailbox several brands share, for example), it asks Which brand is this email for? and waits for your pick before creating a lead or drafting.
To move a conversation, click its brand and choose another. Its lead moves too, and the draft is rewritten with that brand's packages, prices and answers. An edited draft is kept and marked out of date. You cannot change the brand once the lead is booked or a proposal went out.
Attachments and agreements
Click the paperclip to attach a file From your computer (up to 10 files and 25 MB per email), From your documents (permits, W-9), or An agreement:
- Send a copy attaches the agreement as a PDF.
- Ask to sign adds a link to review and sign under your reply.
Only the brand's own documents and shared ones are offered. See Agreements.
This is an inquiry
Sometimes a real inquiry gets filed as other mail. Open it and click This is an inquiry. It moves to Open as a catering conversation for good, and the assistant reads it again and drafts a reply.
Emails that were not inquiries may have their text removed after 30 days. Gmail still has it, and Show the original brings it back.
FAQ answers
Answers you save in the brand's FAQ tab (under FAQ for replies) go into drafts whenever a customer asks something similar, and prices in them count as yours to quote.
- Add answer writes one by hand.
- Import your FAQ reads a PDF, Word or text file, or pasted text. It uses a few AI Credits, then lets you check every answer before Add saves the ones you ticked.
- Save to FAQ on a reply you sent turns a good answer into a saved one.
The brand's Catering Inbox tab holds reply settings such as the signature, default quote terms and reply templates.
Still stuck? Email support@curbsideops.com or use Report an Issue in the portal. Checked against CurbsideOps 1.105.4.