The Claude Playbook for Restaurants & Food Service

Restaurants do not need an AI strategy. They need ninety minutes back between services. Here is where Claude actually helps.

The five jobs

1. Menu descriptions that sell without sounding like a thesaurus.
2. Review replies — every review, same day, in your voice.
3. Catering and event quotes built from your own price sheet.
4. Prep lists and par levels from last week's sales export.
5. Staff scheduling sanity checks against forecast covers.

Prompts to copy

Rewrite these 12 menu items in 18 words or fewer each. Warm, specific, no words like "delicious" or "mouth-watering." Name the technique and one hero ingredient. Flag anything that needs an allergen note.

Here is a 3-star review. Write a reply under 80 words: thank, name the specific issue, say what changed, invite them back without a discount unless the issue was service speed.

Using this price sheet and this inquiry, produce a catering quote with per-person cost, staffing, rentals, tax, and a 20% service charge. Show the math and a short friendly cover note.

Here is my POS export by hour for the last 14 days. Which shifts are consistently overstaffed? Propose a schedule that cuts 8 labor hours without touching Friday or Saturday dinner.

Guardrails

Never let AI publish allergen claims, nutritional numbers, or wine vintages without a human check. Keep customer names out of prompts.

Measure it

Track three numbers for a month: minutes on review replies, catering quotes sent per week, and labor as a percent of sales. If none move, change the workflow, not the tool.