12 Best AI For Restaurants To Improve Operations

Published by: Mar 9, 2026

Vincent Nguyen

8 out of 10 restaurant executives are doubling down on AI investment in 2026, and they have every reason to.

In only three years, AI has completely transformed the way we work. That’s an impact no restaurant owner can afford to ignore.

AI is undoubtedly a powerful and transformative technology. Still, restaurateurs must apply it to the right use cases to fully realize its potential.

So, in this article, we’re going to:

Share statistics from Deloitte’s AI in Restaurants report and propose an AI investment strategy for your restaurant

Recommend the best AI-powered platforms/software for each category, with detailed reviews on features and pricing
Best practices I recommend when it comes to AI implementation in restaurants

Let’s dive right in!

The state of AI in restaurants

The Deloitte 2025 AI in Restaurants Survey interviewed 150 restaurant brand executives about the state of AI in the restaurant industry. Several key insights stand out from this report:

Restaurants are already seeing results from AI: AI use cases such as customer experience and inventory management are widely adopted and already generating economic value.
Investment is concentrated in high-impact, scalable AI technologies. The most common focus areas include Conversational AI (chatbots), Machine Learning, and Intelligent Automation.
Identifying the right use cases and managing risks are the top challenges. Other barriers to AI deployment include limited technical talent, regulatory compliance concerns, and insufficient governance frameworks.
Most feel underprepared for AI adoption. Across all brands, most respondents say their organizations lack readiness in strategy, operations, technology infrastructure, and other enablers; Asia stands out as the most AI-ready region.

In other words, AI is already making a big impact on how restaurants operate.

Core strengths of AI that restaurant operators should consider

AI is not a magic bullet that solves your problems.

A smart operator is one who knows where AI is best at and then applies it in a way that maximizes that capability.

I can see two major strengths of AI over human intelligence:

AI has incredibly strong pattern recognition at scale: AI can spot trends across thousands of data points that no human could manually review, across locations, shifts, suppliers, and time periods simultaneously.
AI never sleeps: AI never clocks out. It watches every interaction in real-time, 24/7.

That’s why owners should identify the high-volume, repetitive, and always-on tasks in their restaurants to hand off to AI.

That's where AI wins and yields the best ROI.

12 Areas Where Restaurants Are Investing In AI

Here are some of the best ways restaurants are embedding AI into their daily operations:

1. Customer Support

Customer support is the very first area impacted by AI, and it’s easy to see why.

High volume, repetitive queries: A large share of support tickets involve the same handful of issues, which makes them ideal for automation.
24/7 availability pressure: Customers expect instant help around the clock, which is expensive for staff but trivial for AI.
Structured workflows: Many support interactions follow predictable paths (diagnose → resolve → confirm), which AI can navigate reliably.

In fact, I think that AI and LLMs’ strength of large-scale data processing shines through the most in this area.

Three use cases instantly come to mind:

Automated review response: Restaurants can quickly generate thoughtful, consistent responses to customer feedback across multiple review sites.
Sentiment analysis: AI tools can easily assess the tone of each review to determine whether it’s positive, negative, or neutral, helping restaurants prioritize urgent issues and tailor the right responses.
Trend Detection: AI can extract insights from the reviews to help improve your operations, from table service to food quality.

For example, here is Momos' AI Review Manager in action:

As you can see in the image, here’s how the workflow of a customer support AI agent looks like:

2. Restaurant Marketing

Marketing is another field where AI is making waves.

Here are several ways in which you can use AI in the marketing process:

Image production

This is the most popular use case of Generative AI so far in restaurant marketing. Teams are using tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, Midjourney, Nano Banana, etc. to produce images and videos for their marketing campaigns.

For example, here’s the prompt to create an ultra-realistic, cinematic close-up of a gourmet burger:

Of course, you should use AI with caution. There always needs to be a human touch in all marketing materials you release to the public. AI can’t incorporate brand guidelines into its design very well, so make sure to take that into consideration.

AI Segmentation and Automation

Restaurants collect massive amounts of data (POS, reservations, feedback, birthdays, visit frequency), but most of it sits unused.

With AI, you can digest that data and segment guests based on:

Visit frequency
Average spend
Menu preferences
Satisfaction levels
Time since last visit
Channel behavior (email vs SMS responsiveness)

After that, the Marketing team can launch highly specific marketing campaigns for each segment:

Champions → Reward loyalty, increase spend
Regulars → Encourage one more visit per month
Churn-risk guests → Win back before they disappear
Dissatisfied guests → Repair the relationship quickly

Software recommendations

Momos Recommended

Built-in guest sentiment analysis, AI-powered segmentation, and automated campaigns for improved guest loyalty and experience.

Book a demo

Paytronix

Restaurant loyalty and engagement platform with predictive analytics.

3. Inventory Optimization

Inventory management is always one of the biggest challenges for any restaurant operator.

Food costs account for up to 30-35% of revenue for multi-unit restaurants. When planning does not align with operational reality, that cost quickly eats into the bottom line.

AI can provide the real-time information you need to understand your on-hand inventory and stay ahead of your costs.

Here are some major features that a good AI for restaurant inventory management should have:

AI-powered inventory forecasting
Suggested ordering
Suggested prep throughout the day

Software recommendations

Crunchtime Recommended

AI forecasting and suggested ordering built for multi-unit operators. Reduces waste and labor guesswork across all your locations.

MarketMan

Demand forecasting and automated reordering. Great for single or small multi-location operators who want to cut manual work.

Fourth (MacromatiX)

Purpose-built for QSRs with AI forecasting and digitized production plans. Best fit if you run a fast food or quick-service chain.

WISK.ai

Specializes in bar inventory with real-time tracking and recipe costing. The go-to if beverages are a major part of your revenue.

Supy

Built specifically for multi-location restaurant groups. Strong centralized purchasing and supplier management across sites.

4. Operational Insights

AI can surface patterns and anomalies of your restaurant operations for you to make informed decisions.

Key features include:

Anomaly Detection: Automatically flags unusual drops in sales, rising food costs, labor overruns, or sudden review score declines.
Root Cause Analysis: Connects data across POS, labor, inventory, and guest feedback to explain why something is happening, not just that it happened.
Shift & Location Benchmarking: Compares performance across managers, dayparts, and stores to identify operational gaps.

Software recommendations

Momos Recommended

Incident Report gives you instant, location-level operational insights, so your team can spot and fix issues before they escalate.

Book a demo

Restaurant365

All-in-one restaurant ops platform combining accounting, labor, inventory, and performance analytics with AI-driven insights.

Tenzo

AI-powered restaurant analytics platform focused on real-time performance insights, anomaly detection, and predictive forecasting.

5. Employee Scheduling & Training

Many local restaurants manage employee scheduling in Excel and rely on experienced staff to train new members.

As they scale, it’s important to have a system that can handle the increased volume. Of course, that’s where AI comes in:

Smart staff forecasting per shift based on historical data analysis
Automatic schedule builder based on demand
Real-time labor cost tracking
Personalized employee training based on role and performance

Software recommendations

HotSchedules (by Fourth) Recommended

AI-driven labor forecasting and automated scheduling aligned with demand patterns, great for multi-unit restaurant groups.

Deputy

AI-assisted shift scheduling with recommendations to reduce overtime and coverage gaps.

7shifts

Restaurant-focused workforce and schedule management software with POS integration and automated scheduling tools.

6. Phone Answering & Voice Ordering

There are AI voice agents with incredibly realistic tones to help you handle phone calls during peak hours. They come with all the benefits of an AI-powered service:

24/7 AI Call Handling
Automated reservation & order taking
Smart call routing if the case is too complex
Call insights & analytics

Software recommendations

Hostie.ai Recommended

Handles reservations, FAQs, and order taking over the phone with a natural conversational voice, fully integrated with major POS systems.

Slang.ai

A voice AI platform built specifically for restaurants that answers calls 24/7, handles reservations, and provides analytics on call trends and guest intent.

7. Compliance & Payroll

For HR tasks, most HR platforms do the job well. However, I highly recommend that you go with a restaurant-specific platform. Some restaurant management systems come with built-in payroll features.

Software recommendations

7shifts Recommended

AI-driven labor forecasting and smart schedule suggestions that sync with payroll & HR features.

Gusto

AI-assisted payroll accuracy checks that catch errors before they become costly compliance issues.

Restaurant365

Integrated restaurant ops platform with AI labor demand forecasting, automated compliance, and payroll engine.

8. Loyalty Programs

As competition increases, relying on punch cards as a loyalty program is no longer enough.

Here’s how AI can help you build a more targeted loyalty program to increase repeat visits:

Segment guests based on their engagement
Personalize rewards
Trigger automated campaign based on events such as birthdays, 30 days since last visit, spending milestones, etc..

Software recommendations

Momos Recommended

As a guest experience management platform, Momos helps you take care of the end-to-end guest journey.

Consolidate guest feedback from all sources
Analyze sentiment to segment guests
Automate workflows to trigger personalized offers based on key actions like purchases or birthdays
Send timely promotions via email and SMS without the manual work
Make data-driven decisions to boost guest lifetime value and ROI

Book a demo

Paytronix

A restaurant loyalty platform with AI-driven segmentation, predictive analytics, and omnichannel engagement (email, SMS, app).

Punchh (by PAR Technology)

AI-powered loyalty and guest engagement platform for multi-unit brands, offering advanced personalization and real-time campaign automation.

9. Menu Optimization

AI-powered menu optimization platforms connect directly to your POS and continuously analyze:

Sales mix (what sells the most)
Contribution margin (what makes the most profit)
Item performance by daypart
Modifier and combo behavior
Seasonal trends and demand shifts

Software recommendations

Upserve (by Lightspeed) Recommended

Combines POS data with AI insights to analyze item profitability, recommend pricing and upsell opportunities, and forecast revenue impacts.

Wisely (by Olo)

Although focused on guest experience, it includes menu performance and demand analytics that help restaurants refine menu mix and pricing based on guest behavior.

10. Table Management

Here are the features of a good software for table management:

Smart seating optimization
Waitlist prediction
Service pacing control to prevent kitchen overload or front-of-house bottlenecks.
Turn-time forecasting

Software recommendations

SevenRooms Recommended

Intelligent reservation and table management system that uses demand forecasting and guest behavior insights to optimize table pacing.

OpenTable

Advanced table management with predictive seating recommendations, waitlist optimization, and real-time capacity adjustment.

Resy

Table and waitlist management platform that uses AI-informed pacing tools and dynamic availability controls to improve seating efficiency.

Conclusion

AI is no longer a fad. It's delivering real revenue impact. And the bar keeps rising.

Investments must prove business value, integrate into daily workflows, and reduce complexity. That's exactly where Momos stands out.

Momos is built specifically for F&B brands that want AI to drive real operational and revenue outcomes. Put simply, Momos helps major restaurant groups to:

Unify reviews across all locations and review platforms in one place
Leverage AI to understand those reviews and see what guests think about your restaurant
Respond to every single customer with deep personalization, all while maintaining a consistent brand voice
Build dashboards to show guest experience and operational excellence insights
Send surveys for customers to leave 5-star reviews as effortlessly as possible — more reviews mean better SEO rankings, which ultimately drives more revenue