Chapter 0: Make this guide work for your restaurant.

You don’t need AI to use this guide. The calculators, spreadsheets, templates and checklists work on their own. AI is a shortcut for the writing and the reading: menu descriptions, guest replies, job posts, sorting a stack of invoices.

Two ways to use this guide

1 · The ready-made tools

The seven calculators, the kit of eight spreadsheets, and each chapter’s templates and checklists. Nothing to sign up for. Best if you want your numbers checked and a decision made, and you’d rather not add another app.

2 · The tools, plus an AI assistant

All of the above, plus each chapter’s prompts in a free AI account set up for your restaurant (20 minutes, below). Best if you also want first drafts written for you: guest messages, menu copy, training notes, emails.

Either way, start with what’s hurting most. You don’t need to read in order.

Set up your AI assistant

Optional, and worth it if you’ll use the prompts. AI gives generic answers when it knows nothing about you. Twenty minutes of setup turns it into an assistant that knows your restaurant, your prices and how you talk to guests.

1. Pick one free AI tool (5 minutes). ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini all have free plans and all work for every chapter in this guide. Pick one and stick with it so your setup lives in one place. Sign up with your business email.
2. Turn off training on your chats (1 minute). In the settings, look for a switch about using your chats to improve or train the model. Turn it off. Your numbers are your business.
3. Write your restaurant brain (10 minutes). Copy the template below into a note on your phone or a document and fill it in. Short answers are fine. Anything you skip, AI will guess, and guesses are where mistakes come from.
4. Make the AI read it every time (3 minutes). Most AI tools let you save standing instructions. Look for “custom instructions,” “personalization” or “projects” in the menu, and paste your restaurant brain there. If you can’t find it, paste the brain at the top of every new chat. It still works.
5. Test it (1 minute). Paste the test prompt below. If the answer uses your real policy and sounds like you, you’re set. If it’s wrong, fix that line in your brain and try again.

MY RESTAURANT
Name:
Neighborhood and address:
Concept in one sentence:
Cuisine:
Seats (inside / outside / bar):
Hours (kitchen and bar, by day):
Average check per guest:
Who our guests are:
What we're known for (3 dishes or drinks):

HOW WE TAKE BOOKINGS
Reservations through:
Walk-ins:
Large parties (size, deposit, set menu):
Private events (spaces, capacity, minimum spend):
Cancellation and no-show policy:

SYSTEMS
POS:
Delivery apps:
Main suppliers:

HOW WE TALK
Our voice in 3 words:
Words we never use:
How we sign off messages:

MENU
[paste your current menu as text, with prices]

What’s safe to share

When in doubt, remove the name. AI doesn’t need to know who someone is to help you.

How to take names out before you paste

• Guests: replace names with “Guest A,” “Guest B.” Delete phone numbers, emails and anything about a guest’s health, allergies or bill.
• Staff: use a role or initials (“Server 1,” “Cook, J.”). Never paste pay, discipline, ID or immigration details tied to a person.
• Reports and exports: delete the columns you don’t need before you paste. A schedule needs hours and roles, not full names; a comps report needs amounts and reasons, and first names at most.
• Photos and screenshots: crop or cover names, card numbers and addresses before you upload an invoice, a receipt or a review.
• Put names back yourself, after the AI has drafted, in your own email or document, not in the chat.

The math rule

AI is excellent at reading invoices and sorting numbers, and it can still add wrong. So in this guide, AI organizes and a spreadsheet calculates. Any time a number will drive a decision, ask the AI to show its working, then check the total against the original invoice or report. If they don’t match, the report wins. The tools in this guide do the math for you, in the open: every result shows how it was calculated.

the report wins

How prompts work in this guide

Every prompt is ready to copy. Replace anything in [square brackets] with your own details. If an answer is close but not right, don’t start over. Reply with what’s wrong (“shorter,” “warmer,” “use our cancellation policy”) and it will fix it.