What’s the best way to use AI in a bakery or coffee shop?
I was recently listening to the Food on Demand podcast featuring Emily Williams Knight from the Texas Restaurant Association. She said something that really stuck with me:
AI isn’t going to save your restaurant. AI should augment the burdensome, repetitive tasks and make you more efficient either with your guest data or guest experience.
Exactly.
AI should give you more time to be hospitable.
Not replace hospitality. Not replace strategy.
And lately, I’m noticing some patterns in how food businesses are using it.
Where things start to go sideways
Some shops are using ChatGPT to write emails, captions, or posts without first getting clear on:
what they’re known for
who they serve best
what experience they want guests to have
The result often feels generic. And in a local business built on personality and trust, that matters.
I’m also seeing bakeries use AI to generate images of their food or heavily templated graphics that don’t reflect what customers actually receive. That can quietly erode trust in a category where people buy with their eyes.
And sometimes automation creates more friction instead of less:
automated DMs that never quite answer the question
AI phone systems that make it harder to reach a real person
messaging flows that slow down ordering
Technology should make things easier for your customers. Not harder.
Start with the goal, not the tool
The right way to use AI depends on what you want your business to do.
Are you trying to get:
more catering clients?
more email subscribers?
stronger weekday traffic?
deeper community engagement?
fewer operational bottlenecks?
If the goal isn’t clear, the technology won’t help much. It just adds more noise to an already busy operation.
What good AI use looks like
Used thoughtfully, AI can support better decisions and a better guest experience. From a marketing and operations POV, it can help you:
analyze reviews to understand what guests actually value
identify patterns in customer behavior
reduce repetitive admin work
respond faster without losing your voice
free up your team to focus on service
There are also growing applications in scheduling, inventory, finance, and menu analysis. I’m still learning alongside the industry there, but the principle stays the same: start with the business objective and guest experience first.
AI then supports your strategy and hospitality. It doesn’t replace them.
A practical resource worth exploring
My friend Rev Ciancio put together an awesome collection of AI use cases from fellow restaurant operators and coaches. It covers real applications across operations, guest experience, and marketing.
I contributed a section on using AI to analyze online reviews so you can make better business decisions using real guest feedback.
If you want grounded ideas beyond “write me an Instagram caption,” this is a great place to start.
→ Check out the AI playbook for restaurants.
Remember this: technology itself is not the end goal.
The goal is better hospitality, clearer decisions, and more time to focus on what makes your business special. AI should only help you do that.
— Rory