Pronunciation fixes

You need admin or manager access to the Maple dashboard, and access to your POS for menu items. For words the AI hears wrong rather than says wrong, see Speech recognition limits.

Restaurant name in the greeting

Write the name phonetically in the welcome message. The name keeps its correct spelling everywhere else.

1. Go to AI Agents and open your agent.
2. Under Message, edit the Welcome Message, spelling your restaurant name the way it sounds.
3. Click Save Changes, then call your AI line to check.

Menu items

The AI reads item names and descriptions as they appear in your POS, and Maple syncs both. Fix them in the POS, not on Maple’s Menus page, where synced edits are replaced.

1. In your POS, open the item and update its description with:
   • Phonetic spellings (for “kulfi”: “kulfee” or “kool-fee”)
   • Alternate names or slang customers use (“burger” for “Grilled Smash Burger”)
   • A short description of the dish, so the AI knows what it is
2. Spell out abbreviations in the name or description: “NY Strip” → “New York Strip”.
3. Avoid special characters and unusual formatting in item names.
4. Save, wait for the menu to sync to Maple, then call and ask about the item.

Toast, for example, has a customer-facing name (on menus), a POS name (on receipts and kitchen displays) and a description. Use the description to connect your branded names to the words customers say.

Pronunciation dictionary

For words the AI keeps getting wrong, Maple support can add them on the backend:

• Words the AI says wrong go into Maple’s pronunciation dictionary. It applies when the AI speaks English and is shared by all Maple locations.
• Words the AI hears wrong go into your location’s difficult-words list.

Send support (Get Help at the bottom left of the dashboard; texting is fastest) a list with, for each word: how the AI says it now, the correct pronunciation written phonetically, and the correct spelling. There’s no limit on how many words you can add, and you can send more later.

If it still sounds wrong

Issue	What to try
Phonetic spelling doesn’t change the pronunciation	It may be cached. Save, wait a few minutes and test again.
AI doesn’t recognize an item when customers say it differently	Add alternate names and phonetic spellings to the item description in your POS.
Several phonetic spellings tried, none sound right	Ask support to set the pronunciation on the backend.
Greeting is right but the name is wrong later in the call	You may need the phonetic greeting and a dictionary entry. Contact support.

Test after every change, and keep a running list of mispronounced words to send in batches.