Budget questions in AI menus: Find options using recorded prices
Interpret budget limits, currency and total prices correctly in an AI menu assistant. Check product cards and follow-up messages with example questions.
'What is available under 300 TL?' looks like a simple question, but the meaning of its answer depends on the price record, currency and whether the guest wants one product or several. A good budget experience in a menu assistant requires correct calculations and a clear scope before fluent wording. Businesses can check it through a few concrete scenarios using their own products.
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Establish what the budget limits
If a guest writes only '300 TL', they may mean a meal, a choice including a drink or several products in total. More explicit examples in business tests make expected results easier to assess. 'Show me a dessert under 300 TL' specifies one product and a category. 'Drink and dessert options totaling no more than 300 TL' requires a combined calculation. These amounts are hypothetical budgets used only for explanation.
Even if one product's price fits, adding other products can exceed the total. Check any total line as well as reading the cards individually. When a guest specifies quantities, accounting for those quantities is part of the same task. Changing the portion size or price to make the selection appear suitable is not a correct solution.
Check prices and totals with a simple example
Suppose a fictional menu prices tea at 60 TL, dessert at 180 TL and a sandwich at 260 TL. Tea and dessert total 240 TL. A sandwich and tea do not fit a 300 TL total limit; together they cost 320 TL. Small calculations like these provide useful test cases for checking the prices on the assistant's product cards and the resulting total.
Keep test data separate from your real menu. If a product's published price changes, recalculate the expected total. In Orvunai, product and price information in responses comes from recorded menu data; a language model's estimated price should not be the source for a product card. A business should be able to see that distinction in its test results.
| Hypothetical selection | Total | 300 TL limit |
|---|---|---|
| Tea + dessert | 240 TL | Within |
| Sandwich + tea | 320 TL | Over |
| Two teas + dessert | 300 TL | At the limit |
Test a changed budget in a follow-up message
After seeing initial choices, a guest may say 'Something a little cheaper' or 'Let's make the budget 400 TL'. Accidentally retaining the first budget after the new message or forgetting it entirely produces different results. Check an explicit budget change through the new products' prices and total. If the category request still applies, examine whether the results retain that context too.
When menu currency changes, do not assume the previous number has the same meaning. 300 TL and 300 euros are different budgets; it is incorrect to behave as though an automatic currency conversion has occurred. Currency context matters in Orvunai's menu flow. In tests, check that the currency displayed beside prices matches the published menu.
Handle the absence of suitable products correctly
Try a budget below the lowest price in your menu. The expected behavior is to state clearly that no suitable option was found, rather than generate a nonexistent product. If the budget needs to increase, that should be a new choice made by the guest. A 'close' option that silently exceeds the original limit can undermine expectations, especially with combined totals.
Finally, mark a product that fits the budget as unavailable during service and verify that a new search does not recommend it. An affordable price does not justify including a product that cannot be served. For the business, budget checking is a task in which price, currency, quantity and daily availability must work correctly together.
Explore the relevant Orvunai product guide to put these steps into practice with your own menu.
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