It’s on the tip of everyone’s tongue – the hot topic that creates excitement and angst at the same time. Will artificial intelligence be the salvation of the restaurant business? Will it replace some of our staff? Are we entering a new era of automation and technology-driven service? There have always been shifts toward new operational paradigms, but in the past, they have come in clusters of years or even decades. Never has so much change been on the horizon, in every facet of our lives, in such a short period of time. However, we are still in control of what it will become and how it will be used.
As tempting as it might be to seek answers to our challenges through a voice command to our computers or mobile devices, hospitality is, and will remain, a very personal act between people. It is the bedrock of our industry and the most important reason why guests choose to dine out. We should never lose sight of this important fact and point of differentiation. To lose the component of hospitality would mean that restaurants move from unique experiences to the commodity status.
Of course, as a very effective tool, artificial intelligence can help to make our operations more efficient, provide immediate answers to complex problems, offer analytic data that will promote better decision-making, and even open the door to new business opportunities that might otherwise be out of reach. To this end, we should (as a chef with whom I am friends stated) look at AI as another employee with specific skills and unique responsibilities.
In certain segments of the industry where “experience” is less of a factor, AI can play a significant role in speedier service, efficient order taking, and tracking customer trends. Guests who are comfortable with technology seem to adapt quite well to the use of order kiosks and typically find the process to be seamless. Full-service operations may find the AI role to be more focused on back-of-the-house efficiencies such as inventory control, production planning, evaluating menu abstracts, and helping to expedite menu changes and beverage complements. What seems unlikely (at least to this writer) is AI replacing that smiling face, gracious welcome, attentive problem solver, and occasional conversationalist. AI-driven robotics might be the talk of the town at industry trade shows, but at least at this time, R2D2 cannot taste, smell, or adapt to the ever-changing interplay between guests and cooks. From the very beginning, this is what made restaurants a welcome home away from home; this unique relationship that servers, bartenders, and cooks have with restaurant guests.
With all the challenges that restaurants face from a dwindling labor pool, staff training, rising costs of ingredients, skyrocketing rents, and fickle customers, it is important to remember why we are here and what our primary responsibility is. We are in the business of putting a smile on a guest’s face, wowing them with exceptionally well-prepared food, and bringing a touch of sunshine to their day. Technology will never replace this.
If restaurants seek an artificial answer to solving the challenges of labor and the changing way that guests interact with restaurants, then what have they gained vs. what they have lost? Viewing artificial intelligence as an exciting tool that can help us to expedite production, reduce waste and wasted efforts, improve profit margins, and help us to predict what has previously been so difficult to do, then AI should be a welcome addition to a restaurateur’s bag of tricks.
Like any major shift in the way we operate, AI will be a disruptor for some time. We will adapt, just as we did with personal computers, mobile devices, and social media as our primary communication tool. Providing we stay in control vs. it controlling us, there is no reason to fear what can become an exceptional step forward.
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