The Hardest Part of Running a Restaurant Is People. Jimmy's Seaside Solved the Phone Part with Certus AI

“When we’re busy, we just do not have the opportunity to answer the phone. It would probably just ring. Seriously — it would just ring.”

Rico Gray · Owner, Jimmy’s Seaside Burgers and Wings · Tupelo, MS 

Rico’s rule never wavered: take care of whoever’s in front of you first. The phone lost that contest every time — and so did the orders on the other end of it. 

Before Certus AI 

A busy day at Jimmy’s Seaside looks like a drive-thru lined up to the road and a walk-up counter packed with people. 

Running that takes about five hands — two or three in the kitchen, two up front — and Rico is the first to say the hardest part of the whole business is having enough of them. Nobody on that line was going to drop an order to grab a ringing phone. 

“We’re going to always take care of what’s in front of us. We’re not going to stop taking your order to answer the telephone. So it would just ring until we got the opportunity to start answering it again.” 

Rico Gray · Owner 

The customers noticed. And they let him know. 

“I was getting a lot of customers saying, ‘Y’all don’t ever answer your phone. Y’all don’t ever answer your phone.’ And I was like, ‘So?’”

Rico Gray · Owner 

But every one of those was an order trying to reach him. So he went looking for a way to take care of the customers who wanted to call theirs in — and that’s how he found Certus AI.

With Certus AI 

Now the phone gets answered whether or not a single hand is free — and more than one caller at a time. 

“That person can answer more than one call at a time. You never miss a call. The main thing was to make sure we could get customers’ phone calls answered.” 

Rico Gray · Owner 

Cooking he learned from his grandmother 

Rico’s grandmother taught him to cook, and he’s loved it ever since — especially the part where people sit down and enjoy the food. 

He sharpened the operating side working with a restaurant chain, learning how to run a kitchen successfully, then took what he’d learned and built his own place. 

“What motivates me is the idea that people come, like the food, and come back. I like seeing people happy and eating. That’s the drive.”

Rico Gray · Owner 

The hardest part was always the people 

Ask Rico what makes or breaks a restaurant and he doesn’t hesitate: it’s staffing. Finding people, keeping them, covering a short-handed rush, and starting over every time someone leaves. 

That’s exactly the slot Certus fills. It’s the one role he never has to recruit for, train, or replace — and it shows up the same way on every shift.

“With AI, that person never calls in sick. Never has an attitude. Never quit, where you’ve got to retrain and rehire. I would definitely recommend it — and definitely say it’s worth trying.” 

Rico Gray · Owner, Jimmy’s Seaside Burgers and Wings · Tupelo, MS