AI for restaurants

What can AI do in a restaurant?

It can take the tasks that interrupt service off your floor team. Booking calls arrive at 12:30 and 7:00 pm, when nobody can pick up calmly. WhatsApp questions about outdoor seating, dogs or a gluten-free menu pile up. And reviews go unanswered because the manager has no time.

An AI agent covers those channels with your venue's information, books into your system and alerts you only to what needs a person: a large party, a complaint or a special request.

Which automations work best for restaurants?

These are the ones that work best in hospitality:

• Phone bookings: a voice agent answers when the team cannot, checks availability, books and sends the confirmation by SMS or WhatsApp. See AI receptionist.
• Bookings and questions on WhatsApp: the same agent on the written channel, with a reminder the day before to cut no-shows. See WhatsApp AI agent.
• Review replies: AI drafts personalised replies for Google and Tripadvisor in your tone; you approve the negative ones before they are published.
• Menu and allergens: answers which dishes contain each allergen from your sheet, without improvising.
• Supplier orders: from inventory or POS sales, proposes the week's order and sends it to the supplier by email or WhatsApp after your approval.
• Social content: ideas and copy for Instagram from the daily specials or from photos the team uploads.

Is it safe for an AI to answer allergen questions?

It is safe if the agent answers only from your official information and refers any doubt to a person. In the UK, Natasha's Law requires full ingredient and allergen labelling on food pre-packed for direct sale, and UK and EU rules require you to tell customers about 14 major allergens. In the US, the FDA recognises nine major food allergens, and federal and state rules apply to labelling and food service. A mistake can have serious consequences for a guest.

So we configure the agent with three rules: it answers only from the allergen sheet you maintain, it makes no assumptions about traces or recipe changes, and in the case of a severe allergy it recommends confirming with staff on arrival. If you change a dish, you update the sheet and the agent answers with the new version from that moment.

Does it connect to OpenTable, Resy and delivery apps?

With booking systems, yes, in most cases. Tools such as OpenTable, Resy, SevenRooms or Tock, or whatever calendar you use, allow checking availability and creating bookings through an API or integration. If your system has none, the agent can work with a shared diary.

With delivery platforms such as Uber Eats, DoorDash, Deliveroo or Just Eat, access to orders and data depends on each platform and your account type. The usual approach is to automate what surrounds delivery: consolidating each platform's sales into a daily report, spotting repeated issues or updating dish availability. We review it in the diagnostic call.

A Friday in a restaurant with AI

A 70-seat restaurant in Boston gets about 40 calls on Fridays. Before, half were lost during service. Now, if nobody picks up within three rings, the voice agent answers.

At 12:45 a customer asks for a table for six on Saturday at 7:30 pm. The agent checks the system, offers 7:00 or 8:30 and confirms 8:30. At 2:10 someone asks whether the risotto contains dairy: the agent reads the sheet and says yes. At 4:00, the manager reviews five draft replies to Google reviews, changes one sentence and publishes. At night, the system proposes Monday's fish order based on the week's sales. This example is illustrative.