Craftable CEO David Cantu

David Cantu, CEO of Craftable, a hospitality platform, has deep empathy for restaurant operators, having walked in their shoes for almost two decades. He believes everything Craftable does starts with the idea of whether it's useful to an operator standing on the floor at 6 p.m. on a Friday.

Current AI Trends in Restaurants

Cantu notes that while everyone's talking about visible AI applications like voice ordering and chatbots, the bigger shift is happening in the back office, with forecasting, ordering, labor, and invoicing. According to Cantu, the story that matters isn't AI replacing staff, but AI cutting the burnout and chaos that drives turnover.

Some operators using predictive analytics have cut food waste by up to 35 percent, while making sure their best sellers never run out. This is achieved by pulling in data like weather, local events, and holidays, and connecting it directly into ordering, prep, and staffing.

Misconceptions about AI

Cantu says that one misconception about AI is that all Large Language Models (LLMs) are created equal. They're not, and a generic model can't see across a restaurant's operational data, so it can't provide specific answers. Craftable's AI layer, Crafti, was designed to provide real-time visibility into food costs, vendor spend, and margins, giving operators the ability to control the controllable and accurately forecast.

AI and Guest Experience

AI helps managers and staff focus on guest experience by giving them time and knowing where to focus attention. When a manager isn't buried in tasks like counting inventory, they're free to be present with guests. AI also helps with staff by picking up on signals that used to live in a manager's gut, telling them where to look, who might need a coaching conversation, and who's quietly having a great month.

Overlooked Data Points

Cantu notes that overlooked data points that operators should be tracking to be more profitable include purchasing, invoicing, inventory, recipe costing, and labor planning. These are still mostly analogue in most operations and split across tools that were never built to talk to each other. Tracking each one better in its own separate tool isn't the win, tying them together is, so a change in food cost shows up automatically in recipe pricing, and a shift in demand shows up automatically in the labor plan.

According to Cantu, AI usage should follow the same rule as any restaurant technology, it has to add value to operations, make the GM and staff more productive, and help margins. He discussed this in a conversation with Modern Restaurant Management (MRM) magazine, highlighting the importance of AI in enhancing the guest experience and reducing food waste.

The use of AI in restaurants can be compared across different areas as follows:

Cantu's conversation with MRM magazine provided valuable insights into the current trends in AI use in restaurants and how Craftable is helping operators to enhance the guest experience and reduce food waste.

Craftable's approach to AI is focused on providing real-time visibility into operational data, giving operators the ability to control the controllable and accurately forecast. By doing so, Craftable is helping restaurants to reduce food waste, increase profitability, and enhance the guest experience.

Ultimately, Cantu believes that AI should be used to add value to restaurant operations, make the GM and staff more productive, and help margins. By following this rule, restaurants can ensure that they are using AI in a way that benefits their business and enhances the guest experience.