Uncommon Sense

What Restaurants Actually Use AI For (And Why It Works)

16 Jan 2026•David Ashenden

I was told recently, over a perfectly acceptable lunch that cost more than it should have, that artificial intelligence is about to revolutionise the food business.

This is usually the point where someone mentions robots. Or drones. Or a chrome-plated arm that flips burgers while wearing a hairnet and filing its own tax return. None of which is happening in any kitchen I’ve been in. And I’ve been in a few.

What is happening, however, is far less cinematic and far more annoying if you’ve spent years insisting that "this is just how the business works".

Because AI, it turns out, isn’t interested in the romance of food. It doesn’t care about provenance, plating, or the chef’s backstory. It cares about waste, missed bookings, broken fridges, and the phone that rings three times before being ignored.

Recent figures show that food and drink businesses actually using AI are seeing returns, not in the future, not in a pitch deck, but now. Sixteen percent say more than half their AI projects are already live. Not "piloted", Live. Doing things. Replacing guesswork with something closer to arithmetic.

The most telling part is where companies aren’t spending the money. Procurement is the biggest problem in food production. Everyone knows this. Ingredients arrive late, cost more than expected, or don’t arrive at all. And yet AI budgets wander off elsewhere, like a Labrador that’s spotted a sandwich. People complain about one thing and spend money on another.

Where the sums become awkward for the sceptics is reservations. Restaurants miss calls. Constantly. Especially when they’re busy. Especially when they’re closed. AI systems that answer every call and take bookings regardless of the hour are reportedly delivering returns north of 700 percent. Who knew answering the phone could yield such results?

The same applies to no-shows, poorly planned menus, and staff rotas that seem to have been drawn up by someone who hates Saturdays. AI can already tell you which dishes make money, which ones look pretty but quietly rob you, and how many people you actually need on a Tuesday.

And that’s the uncomfortable bit.

Because for years the food business has relied on instinct, experience, and a sort of heroic exhaustion. Long hours. Constant firefighting. Pride in coping. AI doesn’t admire any of that. It just notices that the same mistakes happen again and again, and stops them repeating.

This doesn’t mean every café needs a data scientist or a talking fridge. It means the sensible use of a tool that spots the obvious things humans miss because they’re too busy running around with a clipboard.

AI isn’t changing food by being futuristic. But instead it is changing the industry by being boring, consistent, and right more often than people care to admit.

Some further reading