Whether you use it or not, AI technology is here to stay. The good news is there are all kinds of ways you can use it to your advantage, from simple to more complex, depending on your experience. To help, we put together six ways that AI can help with menus, staffing, marketing and more. (And we know what you’re thinking: no, we didn’t use AI to write this article.)

But First: Prompting Success

One of the most important parts of using an AI tool is the way you phrase your requests. Just talk to it as if it were a person—being clear, direct and detailed.

For example: “I own a Nepalese restaurant in New York City. My average plate costs $24. Our most popular dish is a lamb tarkari. What are some ways to draw in more customers, specifically on Mondays and Tuesdays when business is slow?”

1. Create Compelling Menu Descriptions

During your busy days, writing a clear and captivating menu description of a new dish is probably last on your to-do list—so leave it to an AI writing tool like Gemini, ChatGPT or Grammarly. Include details like your restaurant’s theme, the ingredients in your recipe or your type of customers. Then review and tweak to make it accurate.

2. Avoid Ingredient Waste

Have an unexpected surplus of an ingredient? Get some ideas from a tool like ChatGPT for how to use it up before it’s tossed in the trash and money goes down the drain. You can even copy and paste your entire menu into the tool to give it a better understanding of what you serve.

3. Plan Out Social Media Posts

While marketing is necessary, it can also take a lot of time out of your day. Instead of brainstorming social media post ideas, see what an AI tool can do to either give you the exact wording you need, or to inspire you in writing your own posts.

4. Adjust, Add To and Expand Your Photos

Sometimes you might have a photo that isn’t large enough or doesn’t have exactly what you want in it. If you have Photoshop, use its AI Generative Fill tool to fix imagery for everything from in-store posters to social media posts. Just start with a photo you have and type in what you need to set your scene. You can also use a free online version, like Fotor.

5. Create Staff Training Guides

Employee training can be equally as time-consuming as it is important. As an aid to the onboarding process, AI tools can create training and reference guides that help get your new employees ready in their first days.

Start by asking a tool like Gemini to create an outline of a training guide.

From there, prompt the tool to fill in the areas that are more universal (like how to handle customer complaints). Then start manually adding parts specific to your restaurant, like how to clock in each day. You can also create reference guides about your guests or your competition. As always, revise the AI’s input as necessary.

6. Set Your Ambiance with Specific Music

It’s easy to start up a playlist on your phone or turn on a streaming station to have some background music for your guests to enjoy, but AI can suggest specific styles that better fit your theme and your audience.

Use a tool like ChatGPT and ask for a genre, artists or songs to play. Then use this to build out a playlist on a streaming platform. You can even adjust the music meal-by-meal as your customer demographics change throughout the day. Just make sure you’re following proper protocol when playing licensed music in your restaurant.

Important to Know

Many free AI tools can store and use any data you give it, so don’t add confidential information into your prompts, like intellectual property, copyright-protected content, trade secrets—even secret ingredients in a dish! And remember to adjust the outputs to make them unique and ownable to your operation.

Hormel Foods does not endorse any one of the AI products mentioned, and is not liable for any actions related thereto.

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