Boost your restaurant with AI: 7 must-have tips

It doesn't replace humans, but it saves them an incredible amount of time: that's the main advantage ofartificial intelligence. After transforming many sectors, AI is now tackling the restaurant business. Better quality of life, better customer experience, but also, better profitability... What if AI made our jobs easier? Zoom in on what AI brings to the restaurant industry in 7 innovations.

I. The benefits of AI in Foodservice: a way to revitalize the sector?

As we at Malou often say, time is a restaurateur's most precious resource. That's why an innovation is particularly interesting when it allows you to get rid of low value-added tasks and concentrate on your core business. 

💡According to the McKinsey Institute, 54% of operations performed in the CHR sector could potentially be carried out by robots 🤖

Because it produces a lot of data and involves a lot of processes, the foodservice industry is directly concerned by advances in artificial intelligence and digital communication.

A bit of definition: according to the CNIL, artificial intelligence is the set of technologies capable of reproducing human-related behaviors, such as reasoning, planning and creativity. (Source)

👉 Here, of course, we're not talking about culinary or service skills, but rather task automation, operations optimization and predictive analytics.

Based on algorithms that can be "fed" and evolved as they go, AI solutions could improve working conditions for teams, but also, restaurant profitability. 💸 The proof in 7 points. 

II. 7 Ways in which AI Changes Restoration

1. Generating royalty-free images

As you've probably experienced when testing Chat GPT, for example (the Open AI technology), an AI is capable of generating text that looks natural and well-written from a "prompt". But that's not all: it can also generate images.

💡To remember: the word "prompt", very common in the AI world, refers to the instructions you give to an artificial intelligence so that it can generate a relevant response. The more precise your prompt, the better the result. An AI learns as you feed it prompts (we speak of "training" an AI).

A restaurant can thus create a visual from scratch for its menu, website or social media. Another advantage: the image is infinitely customizable and free of copyright. 

⚙️Les tools to try out: Canva (the "text to image" feature), Craiyon and Night Cafe.

2. Local referencing

Reaching #1 in Google results is the lifeblood of many a restaurant. This is what we call local SEO. To achieve this, you need to follow a number of best practices:  

• Systematically update your schedules on all platforms (TripAdvisor, La Fourchette, etc.);
• Create and complete your Google business listing (Google My Business);
• Using the right keywords in online content;
• Systematically respond to your notices within 72 hours...

These are sometimes time-consuming and repetitive tasks, which can be automated using AI.

⚙️L the tool to try out: the MalouApp. With just one click, you can update your schedules from a single platform. You'll also find all your reviews and posts, which you can automate in a matter of seconds using the application's built-in artificial intelligence. These texts are not only well-written, they are also programmed to integrate the right keywords to enable you to position your restaurant at the top of Google searches.

Want to find out more about local search engine optimization (SEO) for restaurateurs? Check out our guide!👇

3. The notice revolution

AI makes it possible not only to automate the writing of responses to customer reviews, but also toanalyze these comments.

⚙️L tool to test: the new version of AI in the MalouApp. 

The latter detects customer sentiments (negative in red, positive in green) to help you spot what worked (or didn't work) at a glance. Responses to these reviews can then be personalized according to their content, but also to your own past responses. Inspired by your own responses, the AI imitates your tone of voice (tutoiement, vouvoiement, "Hello" at the beginning of a sentence, etc.), for a natural result that sounds just like you.

See an example below 👇

Malou's AI in action (on the left, notice generation, on the right, keywords to be integrated)

4. Generating posts for social media

For restaurateurs, managing their presence on social media is as crucial as it is time-consuming. One of the great advantages of the MalouApp is its ability to centralize, plan and automate the creation of this content. 

AI simplifies this task by generating relevant content proposals. Need to pose on Instagram but running out of ideas? Simply enter a prompt via the "ask AI to generate a post about..."function and you're done. You're free to edit the post afterwards.

Video example below👇

4. AI in catering: chatbot and customer service

You're probably familiar with the chatbot principle. Integrated into websites, these little robots can manage reservations and answer customers' questions in real time. Restaurant owners can use this functionality to optimize their customer service and ensure greater satisfaction.

New versions of chatbots based on advanced AI make it possible to answer increasingly personalized questions. Such is the case with Liv, the MalouApp chatbot.

5. Service and order taking

AI and robotics are finding their way into fast-food restaurants in particular. In fast food outlets, for example, service professionals waste less time on tasks such as ordering, thanks to interactive kiosks. Equipped with AI technologies such as voice recognition, these kiosks enable customers to place orders orally. 

Another interesting example: in New Zealand and Australia, Domino's Pizza has implemented artificial intelligence to control pizza quality via an algorithm. Based on criteria predefined by the algorithm, the AI determines whether a pizza is compliant or not. 

6. Automated inventory management

Every restaurateur knows that inventory management is time-consuming, error-prone and costly when poorly managed (over- or under-investment).

Predictive intelligence is one of the major advantages of AI tools. This is the case ofInpulse, a French platform thatautomates inventory management to save time, maintain margins without increasing prices and avoid waste, thus reducing food waste and associated costs.

7. Delivery

Restaurants are turning to AI to take full advantage of the meal delivery boom. Platforms like DoorDash and UberEats use AI to integrate map data to find the best routes and help drivers avoid traffic jams. It also keeps customers informed about the location of their meal and the precise time of delivery. All of which enhances the overall customer experience.

Simply put: AI is transforming the foodservice industry by automating repetitive tasks, optimizing operations and enhancing the customer experience. From inventory management to content generation for social media, it offers innovative answers to human problems. Ready to test? 🔥