AI for restaurants and cafes: phones, menus and reviews

What can AI do in a cafe or restaurant this week?

Start with the jobs that pile up during service. In rough order of how quickly they help:

• The phone. An AI assistant answers when nobody can, takes a booking request or a message, and passes on anything urgent.
• Enquiries. Draft replies to emails, website forms and social messages, including catering and function requests.
• Words. Menu descriptions, specials boards, social posts and newsletter drafts.
• Reviews. A summary of what customers keep praising or complaining about, plus draft replies.
• Back of house. A first draft of next week's roster, or an order list from your par levels.

Check the systems you already pay for first. Your point of sale, booking tool or phone provider may include some of this on certain plans. Our tools directory marks which options have free and paid plans.

AI does not taste the food, know what is in today's sauce or see the queue at the door. It drafts and answers routine questions. You and your staff still make the calls on allergens, food safety, prices and anything a customer is upset about.

Can AI answer the phone and take bookings when you are flat out?

Friday at 7 pm is when the phone rings most and when nobody can pick up. There are three levels of help.

• A missed-call text. The caller automatically gets a message with your booking link and opening hours. Often that is enough.
• An AI assistant that answers, takes the booking details or a message, and sends them to you to confirm.
• AI phone ordering linked to your point of sale.

As one documented example of the third, Square's October 2025 release describes AI voice ordering that answers incoming calls, lets callers ask about specials or ingredients, and sends confirmed orders to the kitchen or point of sale. The release does not say which countries it covers, and we have not tested it. Ask your own provider what is available in Australia.

Before you switch anything on:

• Have the AI say it is an AI assistant.
• Set a rule that allergy questions, complaints and large groups go to a person.
• Ring it yourself during a noisy service.

Our guide to AI receptionists covers handover and privacy in more detail.

How do you reply to enquiries and catering requests faster?

Catering and function enquiries often arrive mid-service and sit unanswered for days. AI helps you reply the same day.

Keep a short fact sheet: opening hours, group sizes you can seat, your catering menu, minimum orders, deposit terms and how much notice you need. Give your AI assistant the enquiry and the fact sheet. Ask for a friendly reply that answers what it can and asks for what is missing, such as the date, numbers and dietary needs.

Then read it before it goes. Check three things:

• The date and numbers match what the customer wrote.
• Every price comes from your current menu, not from the AI.
• Nothing is promised that the kitchen has not agreed to.

Take out names, phone numbers and health details before pasting an enquiry into a public chat tool. The OAIC recommends that organisations do not enter personal information, and particularly sensitive information, into publicly available AI tools. A guest's allergy is information about their health, so treat it with care.

Our guide to replying to customers faster with AI goes further.

Can AI write menus, specials and social posts?

Yes, and this is where most owners should start. Give the AI the facts and let it handle the wording.

For example, type: 'Write three versions of a specials board line for slow-cooked lamb shoulder with roast carrots and salsa verde. Plain language, under 15 words.' Pick one and change it until it sounds like you.

It also works for:

• Menu descriptions that are clear instead of flowery.
• A week of social captions for photos you have already taken.
• A short email to regulars about a new seasonal menu.

Three rules keep you out of trouble.

• Describe only what is on the plate. If the AI adds 'locally sourced', 'organic' or 'gluten free' and you did not tell it so, delete it. Those are claims you must be able to back up.
• Do not use AI-generated pictures to show your dishes. Customers should see the real food.
• Read it aloud. If you would not say it across the counter, change it.

If you would prefer someone else to plan and write this, see our digital marketing service.

Can AI help with reviews, rosters and ordering?

These three are quieter wins.

Reviews. Copy the text of your recent public reviews into an AI assistant and ask what people praise most and complain about most. You get a short list to talk through with staff. It can also draft replies for you to check and post. Never use it to write reviews. The ACCC says it is against the law for a business to create fake or misleading reviews.

Rosters. AI can turn staff availability into a first draft. It does not know your award. The Fair Work Ombudsman says an employer who wants to change an employee's regular roster has to discuss it with them first, and awards can set extra rules. Check every draft against your award, and keep staff personal details out of public tools.

Ordering. Give it your par levels and a stock count, and it will produce an order list. Your inventory or point of sale software may do this better, because it holds your real sales data. Check there first.

A worked example: Friday at a suburban cafe

This is an illustration, not a client result.

For example, a 40-seat cafe that also does office catering could run a Friday like this.

At 7 am the owner pastes yesterday's catering email into an AI assistant with the customer's name removed. The draft reply confirms the date, asks for final numbers and dietary needs, and uses prices from the cafe's own catering menu. She checks the prices and sends it.

At 11 am she asks for three versions of a specials line for the soup. She picks one and writes it on the board.

During the lunch rush, two callers get the missed-call text with the booking link. One books a table for Sunday. A third caller asks whether the banana bread is safe for someone with a nut allergy. The rule sends that call to a person. The manager checks the recipe sheet and the supplier label, then answers.

At 3 pm she approves two drafted review replies.

She typed very little. People still made every decision about allergens, prices and what was promised.

Why must a person check allergens, food safety and prices?

Because a wrong answer here can hurt someone or break the law.

Allergens. For food that does not need a label, such as food from a cafe or takeaway, Food Standards Australia New Zealand says allergen declarations must be displayed with the food or provided to the purchaser on request. Its food service guidance asks businesses to give clear, up-to-date and accurate allergen information and to train all staff. AI cannot see your recipe cards, a supplier substitution or a shared fryer. The ACSC warns that AI can make up information that sounds correct but is not true. So AI should never answer an allergy or dietary question alone. Hand it to a trained person every time.

Food safety. Do not ask a chatbot for cooking temperatures or storage times. Use your food safety program and your state food authority.

Prices. The ACCC says businesses must not display prices that are wrong or likely to create a false impression, and menus with a weekend or public holiday surcharge must carry specific wording. Check every price an AI drafts.

When should you leave AI out of it?

Some things stay with people.

• Allergy, intolerance and dietary questions.
• Complaints about illness or injury. Call the customer yourself.
• Decisions about serving alcohol.
• Staff matters such as performance, pay or a change to someone's regular hours.
• Refunds and disputes about a bill.

Also skip it if the problem is small. A cafe that gets three phone calls a day needs a voicemail message and a booking link, not an AI phone agent. A saved reply template may be all your inbox needs.

Be realistic about limits. AI will mishear a name or a date on a noisy line. It will write a menu description for a dish it has never seen. It can sound sure and be wrong. It saves typing and gets a reply out sooner. It does not replace checking, and nobody can promise it will bring in more bookings.

If you would like this set up around the systems you already use, see our AI automation service or ask us a question. We will tell you if a simpler fix would do.

Common questions