“That Phone Is Our Lifeline.” How Italian Pizza and Pasta Stopped Losing Calls with Certus AI

“That phone is our lifeline to our business. So when you can have AI as part of your lifeline — what are you going to do? Say no?”

Michelle Esposito · Owner, Italian Pizza and Pasta · Hinesville, GA

Michelle and Jerry Esposito run Italian Pizza and Pasta together. For a pizzeria like theirs, the phone isn’t a convenience — it’s the business. And during a rush, it was the one thing they couldn’t get to. 

Before Certus AI 

Every call was a fork in the road: serve the people at the counter, or pick up the phone? 

“When you have six people at the counter and you’re on the phone taking all these calls — it’s really, it’s a lot. You’re not concentrating on your customers the more you’re concentrating on the phone.” 

Michelle Esposito · Owner 

And the calls weren’t quick. Jerry described the constant menu questions that pulled a staff member off the floor mid-rush. 

“How many slices in a pie? You gotta tell them — six. Extra large, eight. How much is that? Can we do this, can we do that? You try to rush to get off the phone because you’re busy.” 

Jerry Esposito · Owner 

There was no dedicated phone person. Whoever was up front answered — the pizza guy, the cook — and then had to jump right back into the line.

With Certus AI 

Now the phone takes care of itself, and the team stays on the people in front of them. 

“Certus shows up. Certus has a very well-speaking voice. It takes care of what we can’t. Takes the load off our worries of answering the phone all day long. It’s a lot.” 

Michelle Esposito · Owner 

The focus shifted back to where Michelle and Jerry wanted it — the counter, the walk-ins, the room.

From Naples to a New York slice 

The New York style on the menu traces back to Naples. Jerry came to the United States from Naples, Italy, in the late 1970s, joining family who had already settled in upstate New York. That lineage is where the New York slice comes from. 

Michelle and Jerry learned the trade, took their first shop in 1981, and have run pizzerias ever since — around five over the years.

Michelle doesn’t romanticize the road. 

“They all weren’t successes. They were attempts. You fail along the way, and you learn. You have to really be seasoned. This is not for the lighthearted — stay away if you’re not equipped to take the bull by the horns.” 

Michelle Esposito · Owner 

That’s the lens they bring to any new tool: it has to earn its place in the business.

Why they chose Certus 

They first came across AI phone answering online, through Facebook and Instagram. They looked at another service before Certus — but it couldn’t check the boxes that mattered, starting with the POS.

Certus did, and fast. 

“Then I seen Certus, and I gave you guys a call. It was overnight. You hit all the boxes I was looking for — you integrated all my POS.”

‍Jerry Esposito · Owner‍

It knows the regulars by name 

For a neighborhood pizzeria, the relationship is the product. What sealed it for Michelle and Jerry was that Certus protects that — it greets repeat callers by name and remembers what they ordered last time. 

“When the customer calls — ‘Hello Bob, how are you today? What can we get for you?’ They remember their name. And Certus repeated items they’d ordered before: ‘Is this what you’re ordering today?’ That was impressive.” 

Michelle Esposito · Owner 

Jerry has spent decades opening and running pizzerias, and he knows exactly what belongs in a kitchen and what doesn’t.

So when another operator tells him they’re still on the fence about AI on the phones, he doesn’t hedge.

“He’s wrong. There’s no more trying to hire somebody to pick up the phone at $14 an hour. This keeps you going. Keeps your mind going. Keeps you young.” 

Jerry Esposito · Owner, Italian Pizza and Pasta · Hinesville, GA