Last Updated on June 30, 2026 by Craig Allen Keefner
The latest report, How Restaurants Are Using AI: 2026 Data From 125,000 U.S. Locations, provides an interesting look at where restaurant operators are actually finding value from artificial intelligence. The results may surprise some people.
According to data from more than 125,000 U.S. restaurant locations using Toast IQ, the most common AI use cases are:
- Sales and revenue analysis
- Menu and inventory management
- Guest marketing
- Operations reporting and daily briefings
The number one prompt?
“Create a short, easy-to-read daily briefing for my restaurant.”
That says a lot.
AI’s Biggest Win: Helping Operators Run Better Restaurants
In my view, AI’s greatest opportunity in restaurants is not replacing employees or aggressively upselling customers. It is helping management and staff make better decisions, faster.
Restaurant operators are drowning in data:
- Yesterday’s sales
- Labor percentages
- Food costs
- Inventory shortages
- Menu performance
- Customer feedback
- Multi-location comparisons
Managers don’t need more dashboards. They need actionable insights.
Imagine arriving at your restaurant each morning and receiving a five-minute briefing:
- Sales were up 8% versus last Tuesday.
- Draft beer margins fell because premium brands outsold house selections.
- Labor costs exceeded targets during lunch.
- Chicken inventory will run short by Friday.
- Three stores had unusually high void activity.
- Guests are complaining about drive-thru wait times.
That’s where AI becomes incredibly valuable.
Instead of spending an hour digging through reports, managers can spend that hour coaching employees, improving operations, and serving customers.
AI for Employees, Not Just Customers
The industry often focuses on AI ordering, voice bots, and automated upselling. But the data shows that operators are primarily using AI for back-office functions and operational intelligence. Only a small percentage of restaurants currently use AI directly in customer ordering.
I believe this is exactly where the industry should be.
AI can help:
- Build employee schedules.
- Forecast demand.
- Identify food waste.
- Predict inventory shortages.
- Generate daily activity reports.
- Analyze performance trends.
- Surface problems before they become crises.
These applications make employees more effective rather than replacing them.
Can AI Convince Customers to Buy More High-Margin Alcohol?
This is where I become more skeptical.
Yes, AI can recommend pairings, happy-hour promotions, or premium cocktails. It can suggest add-ons and optimize menu presentation. Some vendors claim measurable increases in average ticket size through personalization.
But restaurants have always tried to upsell:
- “Would you like an appetizer?”
- “Can I get you another drink?”
- “Would you like to make that a premium cocktail?”
The human element still matters.
Buying another beer or ordering a second cocktail is often emotional and social, not algorithmic. A server reading the table can frequently outperform an AI recommendation engine.
Consumers also have limits. In an environment of higher prices and tighter budgets, many customers are becoming more selective with discretionary spending.
AI may help with recommendations, but I don’t see “selling more alcohol” as the transformational opportunity.
The Real Future of Restaurant AI
The winners in restaurant AI won’t necessarily be the chains with the fanciest chatbot.
The winners will be the operators who use AI to answer simple but important questions every day:
- What happened yesterday?
- Why did it happen?
- What should I do next?
If AI can give managers those answers in 30 seconds instead of 30 minutes, the return on investment becomes very clear.
For restaurants, artificial intelligence is rapidly becoming less about replacing people and more about making people smarter.
And that may be the most important use case of all.
