The Role of AI in Modern Restaurant Management Systems – The Global Tofay

The restaurant industry, which encompasses everything from restaurants and bars to food trucks and cafes, is a notoriously difficult one. A lot goes into managing these businesses—creating a menu, setting up online and offline bookings, processing reservations, taking orders, accepting payments, hiring and paying employees, etc. Since efficiency and customer satisfaction are the backbone of service businesses in general, restaurant owners can’t afford to drop the ball and lose their customers.

That’s why restaurant management systems have become essential tools, enabling businesses to streamline operations, manage inventory, track sales, and enhance the overall dining experience. These systems serve as the pillars of modern eateries, offering integrated solutions that simplify everything from ordering to payroll.

Integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into these systems transforms how restaurants operate as technology advances, offering data-driven insights, predictive analytics, and automation that significantly boost productivity and profitability.

In this article, I’ll explore AI’s critical role in restaurant management and some of the best AI-powered restaurant management systems you can use.

What is a restaurant management system?

A restaurant management system (RMS) is a software platform designed to help restaurant owners and managers refine their operations, manage resources efficiently, and improve customer service.

These systems integrate various functions of a restaurant into a single platform, which makes it easier for restaurant managers to oversee and control different aspects of the business.

The key functions of a restaurant management system include:

1. Point of Sale (POS): The POS system is the heart of an RMS as it handles all transactions, including taking orders, processing payments, and managing receipts. It’s often connected to other parts of the system to update inventory and sales data automatically.
2. Inventory management: This feature tracks inventory levels in real-time, helping restaurants monitor stock, manage suppliers, and reduce waste. It alerts managers when supplies are running low and can even automate the ordering process.
3. Employee management: A good RMS allows scheduling, payroll management, and tracking employee performance. It can handle clock-ins, breaks, and clock-outs, ensuring accurate wage calculations and efficient staffing.
4. Customer Relationship Management (CRM): The CRM tools within a restaurant management system help manage customer data, track preferences, and manage loyalty programs. This allows managers to offer personalized service and run targeted marketing campaigns.
5. Table management: This function assists in organizing reservations, seating arrangements, and waitlists. It ensures the optimal use of space and helps reduce customer wait times.
6. Reporting and analytics: An RMS generates reports on various aspects of the restaurant’s operations, such as sales, inventory usage, and labor costs. These insights help managers make informed decisions to improve efficiency and profitability.

How a restaurant management system works

Here’s a rundown of how a typical RMS works:

When a customer wants to patronize a restaurant, they often start by making a reservation. The RMS springs into action, allowing the customer to easily book a table online, selecting their preferred time and party size. The RMS instantly confirms the reservation, updating the restaurant’s table management system to optimize seating arrangements based on existing reservations and expected walk-ins.

As the customer arrives at the restaurant, the RMS ensures their table is ready and waiting. The host uses the system to check them in, and the RMS assigns them to the most suitable table to maximize space and minimize wait times. If the restaurant is busy, the RMS can also manage the waitlist, providing the customer with real-time updates (through an app notification or text message).

Once seated, the customer’s order is taken through the POS system and sent directly to the kitchen, where the staff sees it on their kitchen display system (KDS). The POS system also handles the payment process when the meal is over, supporting various payment methods and ensuring a smooth transaction.

Behind the scenes, the RMS manages the restaurant’s inventory. As each order is placed, the system automatically deducts ingredients from the inventory, ensuring that stock levels are always up-to-date. If a dish runs out, the system will flag it and alert the manager, preventing further orders until it’s restocked. Some RMS tools can even place an automatic recorder from the supplier, ensuring the kitchen is well-stocked and ready to serve.

Meanwhile, the employee management feature tracks the staff’s clock-ins, work hours, and breaks, ensuring that the right number of employees is scheduled based on anticipated demand. It also monitors employee performance, providing managers insights into who’s excelling and who might need additional training. Payroll is handled seamlessly, with the RMS calculating hours worked, overtime, and tips, ensuring that employees are paid accurately and on time.

The RMS collects and analyzes data throughout the day, generating reports on sales, labor costs, and customer preferences. These insights inform managers’ decisions—be it adjusting the menu based on popular items, tweaking staffing levels for peak hours, or launching a marketing campaign targeted at loyal customers.

In this way, the RMS acts as the restaurant’s central nervous system, ensuring that every aspect of the operation is coordinated, efficient, and focused on delivering an exceptional dining experience.

Where AI can improve restaurant operations

Like other software tools, restaurant management systems are now integrating AI into their functionalities to make them even faster and more efficient. Here are some benefits of using AI solutions in restaurant management:

• Streamlined operations: AI automates routine tasks such as order processing, inventory management, and scheduling, which frees up restaurant staff to focus on customer service and other critical areas.
• Improved marketing: AI-driven analytics can segment customers based on their preferences and behaviors, which enables marketers to run personalized campaigns that increase customer engagement and loyalty.
• Cost reduction: By optimizing inventory management, labor scheduling, and energy usage, AI helps reduce waste and operational costs, which, in turn, contributes to higher profitability.
• Improved customer experience: AI-powered systems like chatbots and personalized recommendations improve the dining experience by providing faster service, tailored menu suggestions, and efficient problem resolution.
• Translation tools. AI can use natural language processing (NLP) and machine translation technology to translate your website, marketing materials, and platform to customers worldwide.
• Predictive analytics: AI can analyze historical data to forecast demand, helping restaurants anticipate busy periods, optimize staff levels, and ensure adequate stock. This reduces the risk of shortages or overstaffing.
• Data-driven decision-making: AI provides actionable insights from vast amounts of data, which allows restaurant managers to make informed decisions that drive business growth.

7 AI tools for more seamless restaurant management

If you’re having a hard time choosing from the multitude of AI-based RMS tools, we’ve done the research for you. Below are the best AI solutions for seamless restaurant management (with their features and pricing):

1. OpenTable

OpenTable is a popular online reservation platform that connects diners with restaurants, allowing customers to make reservations easily through a website or mobile app. This reduces the need for phone bookings and minimizes the risk of double bookings or errors.

It can also help with:

• Table management. OpenTable offers a comprehensive table management system as it optimizes seating arrangements by balancing reservations and walk-ins, reducing wait times, and ensuring efficient use of dining space.
• Customer experience. OpenTable helps you keep a guest database on an iPad or iPhone app filled with individual guest profiles, including their diner preferences and notes. This allows you to identify and serve guests according to their behavior and preferences.
• Personalized and dynamic dining experiences. OpenTable’s AI systems track and analyze customer dining habits, preferences, and feedback to personalize recommendations, such as favorite dishes or seating preferences.
• Marketing reach. OpenTable has a built-in marketing team to help you do display ads, social media marketing, and more. The tool’s open diner network also gives you access to millions of people actively looking to dine out.
• Integrations. OpenTable offers over 250 free integrations with POS systems, loyalty solutions, and marketing tools.

Pricing: OpenTable offers a 30-day free trial. The paid plans range from $149/month to $499/month.

2. SevenRooms

SevenRooms is a comprehensive marketing and operations software designed specifically for the hospitality industry, including restaurants, hotels, and nightclubs. Used globally by restaurants like Marriott International, Tao, and Jumeirah, SevenRooms provides businesses with tools to manage reservations, streamline operations, increase sales, and build stronger relationships.

Here are a few ways SevenRoom helps in restaurant management:

• Reservation and table management. SevenRooms allows you to accept reservations directly through your website, social media platforms, and third-party channels. It also intuitively manages table assignments, waitlists, and floor plans in real time to optimize seating capacity and reduce wait times.
• Automated guest database. SevenRooms automatically creates detailed profiles for each guest, including contact information, dining history, preferences, and feedback. This allows you to tailor experiences to individual guests, such as remembering dietary restrictions, celebrating special occasions, and offering personalized recommendations.
• Marketing and engagement tools. SevenRooms allows you to create targeted email and SMS marketing campaigns based on guest data, such as sending birthday offers and promoting special events. The platform also allows you to create and manage loyalty and rewards programs to incentivize repeat visits and increase customer lifetime value.
• Business analytics. SevenRooms provides detailed reports on reservation trends, table turnover rates, and staff performance. It also analyzes guest data to identify spending patterns, visit frequency, and preference trends. Then, it produces detailed financial reports to help you monitor sales performance, measure the success of promotions, and identify revenue growth opportunities.
• Integrations. SevenRooms seamlessly integrates with over 100+ platforms, including popular delivery services and  POS systems, ensuring efficient order processing and minimizing errors. It also offers a flexible API to simplify operations.

Pricing: SevenRooms’s pricing is not publicly available, but you can request a free demo here.

3. CrunchTime

CrunchTime is a restaurant management system that optimizes back-of-house operations, particularly inventory management, labor management, and supply chain management. It’s designed to help restaurants reduce costs, improve efficiency, and increase profitability through automation and data-driven insights.

Here’s how CrunchTime does this:

• Inventory management. CrunchTime automates tracking inventory, forecasting sales, managing recipes, and purchasing from vendors, lowering food costs by 3-5%, reducing food waste, saving employees’ time, and streamlining the ordering process.
• Labor management. CrunchTime uses proprietary forecasting algorithms to automatically create schedules, track time, and manage labor costs. This ensures optimal staffing and skill levels based on the expected demand for the day. There’s also a mobile app that makes it easy for teams to view and tweak schedules from anywhere.
• Operations execution. CrunchTime’s operations platform, Zenput, helps you improve the quality of work done daily by assigning recurring and ad-hoc tasks to the right people. The platform helps you see if those tasks are being completed and how the store is performing in real time.
• Learning and development. CrunchTime allows you to deploy skill, compliance, and leadership programs to your new and existing hires using ready-to-launch 100+ restaurant courses. With this tool, you can provide mobile access to training resources, while ensuring that your employees only train at work. This can help you reduce employee turnover by over 50%.

Pricing: CrunchTime’s pricing is not publicly available, but you can request a free demo here.

4. Square

Square is a comprehensive payment processing and business management platform that provides tools for small to medium-sized businesses, including restaurants.

Here are some Square features that can streamline your restaurant operations and improve efficiency:

• Flexible payments. Square’s POS system reliably handles payments, order processing, and sales tracking, both in-person and online. It accepts all major credit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Tap to Pay, so you can rest assured that you won’t have to turn a potential customer away.
• Faster order entry. Square allows you to create and customize your menus remotely, from the office, or directly from your POS. It also helps your staff get every order right and allows you to take orders with QR codes when you’re short-staffed.
• Employee management. Square’s user-friendly interface allows you to train your employees with no courses required. You can also set shift schedules and manage time-off requests easily. And when your staff gets tips, Square Payroll tracks and imports these tips so you can give them to staff.
• Add-ons and integrations. Square offers valuable add-ons to boost your business operations, including Square Marketing, Square Loyalty, Square Payroll, and Square Checking. It also offers 100+ partner integrations with platforms like OpenTable, DoorDash, UberEats, 7shifts, and Chowly.

Pricing: Square has a free plan. The paid plans range from $69/month to $165/month. If you make over $250,000 annually, contact Square’s sales team for a tailored payment plan.

5. 7shifts

Trusted by companies like Pizza Ranch, Nothing Bundt Cakes, and Joe Coffee, 7shifts is a restaurant team management platform. This platform is built for busy restaurant managers (like you) to automate time-consuming and strenuous tasks like tip management and payroll.

7shifts also has other functionalities, such as:

• Employee scheduling. 7shifts allows you to create employee schedules quickly and efficiently using its intuitive drag-and-drop interface. The system uses historical sales data and demand forecasts to recommend optimal staffing levels, ensuring that the restaurant isn’t overstaffed or understaffed at any given time.
• Employee communication. Employees can view their schedules, request time off, and swap shifts directly through the 7shifts mobile app. The app includes messaging features that help you and your staff communicate, address issues, share updates, and announce schedule changes.
• Compliance management. 7shifts ensures that you comply with labor laws, such as break requirements and overtime rules. The platform automatically tracks employee hours and flags potential violations, which reduces the risk of legal issues and fines. The tool integrates with time clocks and payroll systems to facilitate accurate tracking of employee hours and seamless payroll processing.
• Forecasting. 7shifts uses historical data and sales projections to predict future labor needs and prepare for busy periods and slow times. The platform also provides detailed analytics on labor costs, sales, and employee performance, which you can use to inform your strategic decisions, optimize operations, and improve profitability.

Pricing: 7shifts offers a free plan. The paid plans range from $29.99/month to $135/month. If you need enterprise assistance, contact 7shifts’ sales team.

6. Toast

Toast is a comprehensive restaurant management platform that offers a range of tools designed to streamline and optimize restaurant operations. From cafes and pizzerias to hotels and fine dining, Toast caters to everything from the POS system and inventory management to employee management and customer engagement.

Here are some ways Toast helps with restaurant management:

• POS system. Toast’s POS system allows you to efficiently process customer orders, be it dine-in, takeout, or delivery. You can take orders via mobile device and send them directly to the kitchen, reducing errors and improving speed.

The POS system also processes payments quickly and securely, accepting multiple payment methods such as cash, credit/debit cards, and mobile payments.

• Inventory management. Toast’s inventory management feature automatically updates inventory levels as orders are placed, ensuring that stock is always accurate. When inventory levels fall below a certain threshold, Toast can automatically generate purchase orders to suppliers, reducing the risk of running out of key ingredients.
• Employee management. With Toast, you can assign shifts based on anticipated demand, ensuring that the restaurant is adequately staffed during peak times. Employees can clock in and out directly through the Toast system, and their hours are tracked automatically. This data is used to calculate payroll, including overtime and tips.
• Customer engagement. Toast allows you to create and manage customer loyalty programs, which reward repeat customers with points, discounts, or special offers, encouraging them to return. Toast’s marketing features also enable you to send targeted and personalized promotions via email or SMS.

Pricing: Toast offers a free plan (Starter Kit). The Point of Sale plan costs $69/month, and there’s an option to build your own custom plan with the tools you need.

7. TouchBistro

TouchBistro is an iPad-based RMS that combines the functionality of a traditional POS system with advanced features tailored specifically for the restaurant industry.

Here are some key features and benefits of TouchBistro:

• POS system. This system allows servers to take orders quickly and efficiently on iPads and send them instantly to the kitchen. It supports multiple payment methods, including credit/debit cards, mobile payments, split bills, and tips, making transactions seamless and flexible.
• Table and floor plan management. TouchBistro helps manage table assignments, reservations, and waitlists, ensuring optimal use of dining space and lowering customer wait times. It also allows you to create customized floor plans that reflect your restaurant’s actual layout, making it easier to manage seating and track table status in real time.
• Customer relationship management. TouchBistro allows you to set up and manage loyalty programs, encouraging repeat business and cultivating customer loyalty. It also stores customer information, preferences, and order history, which helps you personalize your services and execute targeted marketing efforts.
• Reporting and analytics. TouchBistro provides detailed sales reports that give insights into revenue, popular menu items, and peak hours, allowing you to refine your offerings based on customer preferences and profitability. It also tracks labor costs and compares them against sales, helping you optimize staffing levels and improve profitability.
• Integration and customization. TouchBistro integrates with various third-party applications, including accounting software, payment processors, and online ordering platforms, creating a cohesive management system. The platform is also highly customizable, so you can tailor it to meet your specific needs and preferences.

Pricing: TouchBistro’s pricing starts at $69/month for the POS system. To get additional functionalities, you’ll need to get a custom quote.

Choosing the right AI restaurant management tool

The AI restaurant management system you choose depends on a few factors, including your budget, the size of your restaurant (or bar, cafe, pizzeria, etc.), and your needs. For example, if your business is still small or you’re working with a tight budget, you might want to go for a tool that has a free plan like Square, 7shifts, and Toast.

Mid-sized companies will do well with affordable tools like 7shifts, Toast, and TouchBistro. But if you run a large restaurant (or other hospitality-based companies), you might want to go for a full-featured RMS like Opentable, CrunchTime, and SevenRooms, which have ample customer engagement and marketing tools.

If you’re unsatisfied with the marketing functionalities in your RMS, don’t fret—Zumvu has your back. It’s a full- featured platform that offers all the tools you need to skyrocket your marketing efforts, gain digital visibility, and boost your ROI, including a marketing toolkit, appointment scheduling software, an online marketplace, chatbots, sales CRM, and a site builder.

If you’d like to try out Zumvu, sign up today.