Embracing new technology can give independent operators an edge.
For much of the last decade, artificial intelligence (AI) felt more like a Silicon Valley slogan than a tool for the everyday business owner. But that has changed. Today, many people use AI every day at work, including in the hospitality sector, says Conor McCarthy, co-founder of digital restaurant management platform, Flipdish. Here, he explores how restaurants can use AI to improve and grow.
Until recently, restaurants only tended to use AI indirectly. Spam filters on contact forms or fraud checks during online card payments operated invisibly in the background. Few operators would have described themselves as AI users. But the rise of generative AI — tools that produce text, images or decisions based on vast volumes of data — has opened up new, very tangible opportunities for efficiency and growth.
“It’s hard to think of any facet of the food industry that isn’t being transformed by AI,” said Mike Kostyo, vice president of food and beverage consultant, Menu Matters.
However, for someone running a busy restaurant, cooking food and getting orders out of the door often comes first compared to things like building a website, creating specialised marketing material and keeping track of customer loyalty. There doesn’t seem to be enough time in the day to do both, but using AI can change that.
From marketing to menus
A decade ago, a restaurant manager wishing to run a Valentine’s Day promotion would have had to consult a calendar, write the message, segment the customer list and schedule the emails, each a separate manual task. Today, software platforms such as Flipdish can do the lot. They identify key dates, generate appropriate messages and deploy them automatically across channels. Tasks that once took a morning can now be completed in minutes.
AI is also changing how restaurants build menus. For example, producing quality imagery used to require a well-lit kitchen, a decent camera and a good deal of patience. Now, image-enhancement tools powered by AI can upscale low-resolution photos, adjust lighting, remove backgrounds or correct imperfections. Restaurant staff can touch up professional marketing visuals using nothing more than a smartphone.
In addition, AI reduces the friction of running a modern, digital restaurant. Operational aspects of the business, such as menu management, have always been time-consuming. Items must be tagged for tax (hot or cold), for compliance (such as allergens or bottle deposit schemes) and for routing to the right kitchen station. Mistakes here can lead to fines and frustrated staff. AI now handles these tasks quickly and accurately, tagging thousands of items or checking existing tags in seconds and automatically routing orders to the right preparation area.
The new divide?
The result is a growing divide between the digitally native and the digitally hesitant. According to a 2025 report by customer service specialist, Zendesk, seven in ten customers see a clear gap forming between businesses that use AI well and those that don’t. In hospitality, tools that aren’t using AI are starting to feel archaic compared to those that do, and manual processes that once seemed normal are becoming barriers to competitiveness.
Customer service, too, is changing. AI tools can triage incoming support requests, directing them to the relevant department or in some cases drafting a resolution on the spot. This reduces wait times and helps small teams respond at scale. Restaurants using the Flipdish platform, for instance, find that their customers can receive instant, helpful replies to many support queries, something that would have been unthinkable without a staff member’s involvement a few years ago.
Augmenting the workforce
Critics may worry about the impact of AI on employment. But the same could have been said about spellcheck on a Word document. Instead of losing their job to those red underlines, writers just spent less time looking through dictionaries and no one has ever looked back. The same logic applies in restaurants. Greeting guests, preparing food and making judgement calls remain firmly human domains. The danger is not that AI will replace staff, but that those who do not learn to use it will fall behind those who do.
The rewards for doing so are growing. AI is beginning to reshape loyalty schemes, offering personalised incentives based on a customer’s history, habits and preferences. In the future, restaurants may be able to deliver a tailored discount not just to a returning customer, but to that particular customer, perhaps offering a tempting deal on their favourite meal on a rainy Tuesday when business is slow.
Websites are also easier to manage. For instance, Flipdish now uses AI to import existing online reviews, extract brand colours from logos and generate copy for restaurant pages. For many small businesses, this removes the last hurdle to building an effective online presence.
So where should a restaurant begin? Not by trying to build its own chatbot or image model. The more pragmatic route is to look for suppliers who already integrate AI into their offerings. Identify the repetitive, time-consuming tasks and ask whether there’s an AI-enabled solution. If not today, then soon.
AI will not transform restaurants overnight. But it will quietly, steadily make them faster, leaner and better connected. For those prepared to embrace it, the table is set.
Flipdish is an all-in-one digital ordering and management platform for hospitality. The company recently released a fully portable, handheld point of sale system. For more information on products and services, visit www.Flipdish.com.
