Cafés
Cafés: supplier invoices, part-time rotas, office catering orders and weekly posts, with allergen claims checked against your own records.
4 ideasTypical saving about £55€64 a month
AI for Restaurants & Hospitality
Hospitality businesses run on bookings, rotas, supplier invoices, reviews and a lot of dates, usually with a handful of staff in the middle of service. Software and AI can take bookings, build rotas, capture invoices, send consented emails and draft replies, but a person checks every message and owns the decisions. Allergen information, food hygiene records, Challenge 25 and licensing conditions stay with trained people and your own records, never with an AI assistant, and guest and customer data stays within UK GDPR and PECR.
20 ideastypical cost £10€12 a monthtypical saving about £52€60 a month
Types of business
Hotels & B&Bs
Hotels and B&Bs: channel manager and guest messages, dietary requests, review replies and enquiry replies, with guest data and dietary needs handled carefully.
4 ideasTypical saving about £48€56 a month
Pubs
Pubs: function room viewings, backup compliance date reminders, consented what's-on emails and staff briefings, with licensing decisions left to people.
4 ideasTypical saving about £64€74 a month
Restaurants
Restaurants: table bookings, private dining, staff rotas and review replies, with allergy questions always handled by a trained person.
4 ideasTypical saving about £116€135 a month
Takeaways
Takeaways: direct online ordering, consented repeat-order emails, complaint reply drafts and cash-and-carry receipts, with allergens kept to your records.
4 ideasTypical saving about £195€227 a month
All ideas for Restaurants & Hospitality
Cafés
Part-time staff rota for cafés in RotaCloud
RotaCloud handles student and part-time availability, shift swaps and the weekly rota. About £20 a month for 6 to 10 staff.
- Costs £20–24€23–28/mo
- Worth £78€91/mo
- Pays for itself in about two weeks
- Easy to set up
Weekly social posts for cafés, drafted and checked by you
ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini turn your specials and events into a week of post drafts that you check. Free to about £20 a month.
- Costs Free–£20Free–€23/mo
- Worth £51€59/mo
- Pays for itself in about a week
- Easy to set up
Office catering order form for cafés with Zapier
A Google Form collects catering orders and Zapier emails the customer a receipt note. Free, using Zapier's free plan.
- Free
- Worth £40€47/mo
- Free to run
- Some setup needed
Supplier invoices for cafés captured by Dext into Xero
Dext reads supplier invoices and receipts and sends them to Xero. From about £24 a month, plus Xero Grow at £39 if you don't have it.
- Costs £24–30€28–35/mo
- Worth £58€67/mo
- Pays for itself in about two weeks
- Some setup needed
Hotels & B&Bs
Channel manager and guest messages for B&Bs: Beds24
Beds24 syncs rooms across Booking.com and Airbnb and automates guest messages. About €32 (about £27) a month for 6 rooms.
- Costs £27–32€31–37/mo
- Worth £135€157/mo
- Pays for itself in about a week
- Some setup needed
Guest dietary requests form for B&Bs with Zapier
A Google Form collects guests' dietary needs before arrival and Zapier emails the cook. Zapier free; Google Workspace from about £6 a month.
- Costs £6–12€7–14/mo
- Worth £48€56/mo
- Pays for itself in about a week
- Some setup needed
Guest enquiry reply drafts for B&Bs and small hotels
ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini draft replies to pre-booking questions from a fact sheet you keep. Free to about £20 a month.
- Costs Free–£20Free–€23/mo
- Worth £48€56/mo
- Pays for itself in about a week
- Easy to set up
Review replies for B&Bs and small hotels, checked by you
ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini draft replies to Booking.com, Google and TripAdvisor reviews for you to edit and post. Free to about £20 a month.
- Costs Free–£20Free–€23/mo
- Worth £40€47/mo
- Pays for itself in about a week
- Easy to set up
Pubs
Weekly what's-on email for pubs to opted-in locals
Brevo sends a weekly what's-on email to locals who have opted in. About £6 a month for up to 500 contacts.
- Costs £6–13€7–15/mo
- Worth £387€450/mo
- Pays for itself in a few days
- Some setup needed
Function room viewing slots for pubs with Calendly
A Calendly link lets function room enquirers pick a viewing slot, with reminders on Standard. From $10 (about £8) a month.
- Costs £8–9€9–10/mo
- Worth £64€74/mo
- Pays for itself in about a week
- Easy to set up
Weekly staff briefings for pubs, drafted from your notes
ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini turn your weekly notes into a clear briefing sheet for bar staff, which you check. Free to about £20 a month.
- Costs Free–£20Free–€23/mo
- Worth £45€52/mo
- Pays for itself in about a week
- Easy to set up
Backup compliance date reminders for pubs with Zapier
Zapier emails you 30 and 7 days before each safety or licence date in your calendar, as a backup to your main system. Free.
- Free
- Not measured in money
- Not a money saving
- Some setup needed
Restaurants
Table bookings and reminders for restaurants with resOS
resOS takes online table bookings and sends confirmations and reminders. From about £39 a month for up to 350 bookings.
- Costs £39–58€45–67/mo
- Worth £189€220/mo
- Pays for itself in about a week
- Some setup needed
Staff rota and shift swaps for restaurants in RotaCloud
RotaCloud builds the rota, lets staff request swaps and shows labour costs. About £40 a month for up to 20 staff.
- Costs £40–48€47–56/mo
- Worth £180€209/mo
- Pays for itself in about a week
- Easy to set up
Private dining call booking for restaurants with Calendly
A Calendly link lets private dining enquirers pick a time for a planning call. Free on the free plan; reminders from about £8 a month.
- Costs Free–£9Free–€10/mo
- Worth £50€58/mo
- Pays for itself in a few days
- Easy to set up
Review replies for restaurants, drafted and checked by you
ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini draft replies to Google and TripAdvisor reviews for you to edit and post. Free to about £20 a month.
- Costs Free–£20Free–€23/mo
- Worth £52€60/mo
- Pays for itself in about a week
- Easy to set up
Takeaways
Repeat-order emails for takeaways to opted-in customers
Brevo sends a weekly offer email to customers who have opted in at ordering. About £6 a month for up to 500 contacts.
- Costs £6–13€7–15/mo
- Worth £340€395/mo
- Pays for itself in a few days
- Some setup needed
Direct online ordering for takeaways with Square
Take orders on your own website with Square for Restaurants. £0 a month, plus 1.4% + 25p on UK online card payments.
- Costs £30–60€35–70/mo
- Worth £240–480€279–558/mo
- Pays for itself in about a week
- Some setup needed
Cash-and-carry receipts for takeaways captured by Dext
Dext reads cash-and-carry receipts and supplier invoices and sends them to Xero. From about £24 a month, plus Xero Grow at £39.
- Costs £24–30€28–35/mo
- Worth £50€58/mo
- Pays for itself within the month
- Some setup needed
Complaint reply drafts for takeaways, checked by you
ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini draft replies to wrong-order and late-delivery complaints for you to edit. Free to about £20 a month.
- Costs Free–£20Free–€23/mo
- Worth £30€35/mo
- Pays for itself in about two weeks
- Easy to set up