Three venues, one way of doing every dish
The AI second brain we built for a three-venue restaurant group. It holds the recipes, allergens, suppliers and running sheets, so staff ask it before they ask the owner or the chef.
01 At a glance
The short version
A growing restaurant group where the owner and the head chef were the only two people who knew everything. We built them an AI second brain that holds how the group runs, so staff ask it first.
Three venues, about 45 staff
A bistro, a wine bar and a café under one owner. A head chef across all three, a chef and a manager at each venue, and a big team of casuals.
Every question ran up the chain
Recipes, allergens, orders, how to close. Staff texted the owner or rang the head chef, often in the middle of service.
A second brain for how the group runs
Recipe cards, allergens, suppliers, running sheets, food safety and policies in one place. Staff ask in plain words and get the answer with its source.
65 team hours back a month
Fewer texts to the owner, fewer calls to the chef mid-service, and prep lists ready before the kitchen opens. Delivered around $5,240 a month in reclaimed capacity.
The shift
Before: a casual on their third shift rings the head chef to ask what's in the jus. After: they ask the second brain and get the approved recipe card in seconds. For a severe allergy, they still check with the chef on duty.
02 The pain
Busy venues.
Two people who knew it all.
Customers loved the food. The trouble was that the group's know-how lived in two heads, a group chat and a folder of old printouts.
About 35 texts and calls a week to the owner
Who's our backup fish supplier? Can I comp this table? What's the policy on staff meals? Most had been answered many times before.
The head chef took 60 questions a week
Recipe specs, portion sizes and what's in each sauce, often mid-service. Every call pulled the chef off the pass at the worst time.
Allergen answers depended on who you asked
Front of house guessed, or ran to the kitchen. A wrong answer about a nut or coeliac allergy is the one mistake a restaurant can't afford.
The same dish tasted different at each venue
Each kitchen had drifted from the original recipe. Regulars who visited two venues noticed.
Casuals came and went
Hospitality turns staff over fast. Every new starter learned by asking, and every opening and close depended on who was on.
03 What we built
One second brain that
knows every venue
An AI second brain (one shared memory the AI reads before it answers). It holds how the group runs in plain text files, linked to the group's inbox, calendar and shared drive. Kitchen staff ask it on a tablet by the pass. Front of house asks it on the venue phone.
Three things it does
Every recipe card, allergen list, supplier, running sheet and policy, in one place. Nothing lives only in the owner's or the chef's head.
Ask in plain words, get the group's answer and the card it came from. If it doesn't know, it says "check with the chef".
Prep lists from the bookings, training notes and replies to emails. The chef or manager checks them before anything is used or sent.
Human review stayed in
Allergen answers come only from recipe cards the head chef has approved. For a severe allergy, staff always confirm with the chef on duty, whatever the second brain says. It never sends anything to a customer by itself. It holds no staff personal or pay records, and pay questions go to the ops manager.
04 What's inside
Seven rooms,
one front door
The second brain is split into seven sections. Nobody has to know which one to open. They just ask, and it looks in the right place.
| Section | What's in it | A question it answers |
|---|---|---|
| Recipes and specs | One approved card per dish: method, portion, plating photo, cost | "What's the portion for the steak frites?" |
| Allergens | The allergens in every dish and sauce, taken from the approved cards | "Does the romesco have nuts?" |
| Suppliers and ordering | Who supplies what, order cut-off times, par levels, backup suppliers | "What time is the seafood order cut-off?" |
| Running sheets | Opening and closing checklists for each venue, section by section | "What's the close for the wine bar on Sunday?" |
| Food safety | Temperature logs, cleaning schedules, labelling rules, the food safety plan | "How long can cooked rice sit in the cool room?" |
| People and policies | Uniform, staff meals, comps, incident reports, RSA rules | "Can I comp a dessert for a complaint?" |
| Onboarding | Welcome pack, first shift plan, venue maps, who to ask for what | "Where do the spare glasses live at the café?" |
Approved cards only
Allergen answers come from recipe cards the head chef has signed off. Change a sauce, update the card first. A severe allergy always goes to the chef on duty.
The group owns it
It's all readable text the owner can open. It works with Claude Code or Codex, so it isn't tied to one AI company.
05 In use
What asking it
looks like
Three questions from one Friday. Each answer points back to where it came from, so staff can trust it.
Floor staff, bistro, 7:20pm
Sous chef, café, 2:40pm
New casual, wine bar, 11:05pm
06 New starters
A new casual's
first three shifts
With staff turning over every few months, onboarding never stopped. The second brain now carries most of it, so managers train on the floor instead of answering the same questions.
Follows a senior staff member. Reads the menu and allergen cards. Every question goes to the second brain first.
Runs a small section. Checks dishes, allergens and the open checklist on the venue phone.
Follows the running sheet step by step. The manager reads what they asked and fills the gaps.
What it does on its own
Prep lists for each kitchen
Every morning, each chef gets a draft prep list built from that day's bookings and the recipe cards. The chef adjusts it and prints it.
Questions it couldn't answer
After service, the head chef and ops manager get the list of questions with no answer in the files. Filling them is how it gets smarter.
The owner's week ahead
Recipe cards due for review, menu changes to sign off, and food safety checks coming up at each venue.
Licence and certificate reminders
Liquor licence, food safety supervisor, RSA and first aid dates due in the next 60 days, so nothing lapses.
07 Delivered outcome
Delivered operational impact
at 90 days
Live implementation reduced owner interruptions, automated kitchen prep planning, and streamlined shift handovers across 90 days.
| Area | Before | Delivered after 90 days |
|---|---|---|
| Texts and calls to the owner | About 35 a week | About 12 a week |
| Questions to the head chef | About 60 a week | About 18 a week |
| Questions to venue managers | About 45 a week | About 15 a week |
| Allergen answers | Whoever was asked | The approved card, then the chef |
| Prep lists | Written by hand each morning | Drafted from bookings, checked by the chef |
The 90-day rollout
Head chef approved recipe and allergen cards. Running sheets, suppliers and policies loaded. Managers adopted search routines.
Kitchen and floor teams queried via venue tablets. Morning prep list drafts ran daily across all three kitchens.
Daily gap logs and Monday operational overviews ran on schedule. New casuals onboarded through the system.
Verified operational impact
Measured from venue shift logs and kitchen management tracking across 90 days. Over 65 hours returned to service quality, kitchen prep, and venue oversight each month.
08 The numbers
Delivered time back
worth $5,240 a month
Delivered metrics measure three live operational areas: owner questions resolved, kitchen prep lists generated automatically, and shift handover reports completed without delay.
Nearly 4 owner hours a week back.
More time on the pass.
One a day for each of the three kitchens.
Month by month
| Measure | Before | Month 1 | Month 2 | Month 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Questions to the owner a week | 35 | 30 | 20 | 12 |
| Questions to the head chef a week | 60 | 50 | 30 | 18 |
| Questions to managers a week | 45 | 40 | 25 | 15 |
| Prep lists drafted a week | 0 | 0 | 10 | 21 |
| Team hours back a week | 0 | 2.1 | 9.2 | 15.1 |
| Value a month | $0 | $780 | $3,210 | $5,240 |
A year of time at the month 3 rate, about 780 hours. Faster training for casuals comes on top and isn't counted.