What’s going to be the hottest topic at the Restaurant Leadership Conference in Scottsdale next week?
If I had to guess, it’s AI.
Not “what is AI,” but how restaurants are actually using it right now, what the future looks like, and how the brands that are winning are already leveraging it.
AI is growing faster than my kid. By the way, how is he already 10?
It’s starting to become part of every technology we’re using or evaluating. At the same time, there are more and more AI-based solutions popping up every day. We’re getting to a point where it’s almost impossible to know what to even look at.
And most of that comes down to one thing: operators are still trying to figure out how to use it today.
I hear a lot of early use cases, but I’m getting asked exponentially more questions than I am seeing real, tactical ways to leverage AI.
That’s part of the reason I put together my AI Playbook for Restaurants (⬅️ DOWNLOAD!)
I’ve learned some things that are really useful for operators right now, and I wanted to put them in one place.
As part of that, there’s a section with contributions from people who are on the forefront of AI adoption in optimization. There are many ways to use it, so I wanted to get advice from people who actually know what they’re doing.
The response has been strong. It’s the most downloaded thing I’ve ever put out.
But this isn’t about that. It’s about getting you something useful.
With conference season kicking off, here are some practical ways to think about AI from people who are actually doing it.
After spending decades working with Artificial Intelligence, the question I get most from operators isn't "Should we use AI?" - it's "Where do we even start?" My answer is always the same, and it's fundamental to all business problems (it's not sexy):
Start with your biggest pain point and work backwards, because AI might not even be the solution.
Is the LTO working?
How busy will we be on Friday night?
How do we know who our "regulars" are?
Once you know the business problem, the next step is to write it down, and also to write down what happens if you solve it. Will you be more profitable? Will the team be happier? Will customers come back more often?
Imagine the problem solved and the outcomes you will have once you achieve that solution. Manifest a world where the problem no longer exists, and communicate that vision to your team.
These business fundamentals don't change in the world of AI, and without their foundation, the starry lights of AI and AI vendors will distract you.
Anthony Presley, CEO & Founder, TimeForge
Most restaurant owners are still thinking about AI the wrong way. This is not about writing cute captions or playing with a shiny new toy. This is about getting more done, making better decisions, and creating more profit without adding payroll, overhead, discounts, or freebies.
he operators who are using AI well are using it to think more clearly, market more consistently, and delegate faster. That is the shift. AI gives you leverage, and in an industry where most owners are buried in the day to day, leverage is everything.
A practical place to start is with competitive positioning. Drop this prompt into the AI tool of your choice:
“Act as a restaurant growth strategist. Analyze my restaurant against my local competitive set and identify where I am underperforming, where I have an advantage, and the 3 clearest opportunities to increase sales in the next 30 days without adding staff or using discounts. Use my website, menu, Google Business Profile, reviews, and social presence, then compare me to the most relevant restaurants in my market across positioning, offer structure, marketing consistency, guest experience signals, and revenue opportunities like catering, events, gift cards, and LTOs. Then give me a prioritized action plan.”
Then take the output and do one thing with it: pick the biggest missed opportunity, build a simple campaign around it, and launch.
That is how AI creates value. It helps you see faster, decide faster, and execute faster
Josh Kopel , Michelin-Awarded Restaurateur & Marketing Expert
Ai is now a must for ALL restaurateurs! You can now use Ai, like Claude, to not only review and report insights in single reports like Menu/P Mix to highlight your sales trends, monitor food costs, and manage inventory much more closely, but you can now get contextual relationships illuminated by feeding it multiple kinds of reports to see correlation and potential causation.
If you give it your sales data, your staffing plan, a reputation/sentiment report, menu mix, and inventory on hand reports; you can get robust cross referenced reports showing the relationship between the various connected departments in your business.
You can then ask detailed questions about what’s in the data to understand how specials or LTOs affect other categories, or how specific staffing schemes affect customer reviews and sentiment keywords and much more.
Troy Hooper | Chief Executive Officer, Hot Palette America
If you found that useful, let me know. If you have an alternate idea or tactic, share it. If you have questions for any of the people featured here, reach out to them directly.
And if you haven’t downloaded the playbook yet, go do it: https://www.restaurantsgrow.com/AI-Playbook-for-Restaurants
You’re going to be able to use this stuff immediately, and you’ll be glad you did.
Do you have any questions? Send me an email: [email protected]
— Rev Ciancio
What do I do?
I help restaurants build guest marketing programs.
I help hospitality tech companies with lead generation and content marketing.
