Artificial intelligence can sound like an engineer’s word, not a restaurateur’s. But at its core, restaurant AI comes down to one thing: putting your data to work.
Your POS already records what sold, when and who was on the clock. The right AI tool turns that data into plain language and helps you act on it. Operators know what they want to ask, too. In Toast’s 2026 Restaurant AI Report,1 sales and revenue were the top topics operators raised in Toast IQ, accounting for 30% of all user-initiated threads. So before comparing tools, start with the questions you already ask about your operation.
Here’s what to look for, and what to ask.
What operators are actually asking AI
AI isn’t just a back office tool. Operators reach for it mid-shift, while there’s still time to change the outcome for the night. According to the report, 53% of Toast IQ prompts landed during a rush. Beyond sales, menu and labor each drew 8% of threads.
“This is mind-blowing technology because it’s basically your business partner in your pocket,” said chef and restaurateur Tyler Florence about Toast IQ.²
The questions are often simple. “I have been using the AI assistant — Toast IQ — to ask what our best sellers are, and that’s something I’ve never been able to do in the past,” said Sunni Nichols, owner of Indian Mound Grocery & Deli.
At four-location Fiesta Time Amigos in Louisville, general managers ask AI to predict weekend sales when there’s an event in the city. “From that, we can see whether we need more staff or to order more food,” said Operations Manager José Mata.3
What to look for in a restaurant AI tool
Not every AI tool is built for restaurants. Jialin Chen, Store Manager at Nan Xiang Soup Dumplings in Pittsburgh, has seen the difference firsthand:
“In our experience, other AI tools can only provide generic advice, whereas Toast IQ provides analysis based on our actual sales, menu and operations.”3
Before you sign up, consider these five criteria.
1. It’s built on your data. The tool should connect directly to your POS, not act as a generic chatbot you paste numbers into. Why it matters: Answers are only as good as the data behind them.
2. It’s restaurant-specific. It should understand covers, dayparts, labor percentage and menu mix, and factor in local context like weather. Why it matters: A busy Friday during a home game needs a different plan than a rainy Tuesday.
3. It delivers answers and actions. Ask whether the tool can do the task or only report on it. For example, Toast IQ lets you request changes in chat, from marking items out of stock to fixing clock-in errors. Why it matters: Acting where you get the answer can mean fewer steps between insight and action.
4. It’s easy for non-technical teams. Managers should be able to ask plain-language questions without an analyst. Why it matters: Managers on the floor need answers in the moment, not after a report is pulled.
5. It has support behind it. Some AI tools come with people behind them, like the Toast IQ Grow solution (separate subscription required), which pairs an AI Marketing Agent with dedicated human marketing support. Why it matters: When questions come up, operators can get answers from a real person.
How the AI tool options compare
Restaurant AI tools differ in what data they use and whether they can act. Here’s how four compare.
Toast
- AI assistant: Toast IQ is included in all plans and can take actions, like marking items out of stock or fixing clock-ins, directly in chat.
- AI marketing and support: The Toast IQ Grow marketing solution (separate subscription required) includes an AI Marketing Agent and pairs it with dedicated expert support.
Square
- AI assistant: Square AI (beta) and Managerbot, included on all plans, answer questions using your Square data and public web info, and can take some actions in chat.
- AI marketing and support: Square AI (beta) and Managerbot, included on all plans, can create and run email campaigns, which require a Plus or Premium plan. No dedicated human marketing support listed as of October 2026.
Clover
- AI assistant: Clover has previewed Clover Agent, an AI agent, but it hasn’t launched as of October 2026.
- AI marketing and support: Clover has previewed Clover Agent, which includes building promotions, but it hasn’t launched as of October 2026. No dedicated human marketing support listed as of October 2026.
SpotOn
- AI assistant: The AI menu assistant, included on all plans, handles menu edits. Profit Assist, a paid add-on, offers AI-powered P&L analysis.
- AI marketing and support: Marketing Assist, a paid add-on, runs automated campaigns. No dedicated human marketing support listed as of October 2026.
Start with a question you ask every week, then compare how each tool helps you answer it and act.
Prompts and problems restaurant-grade AI can help address
Here are common problems, with prompts to try. For more, see the Restaurant AI Prompt Library.
Sales and menu
“What were my top 10 sellers last month?” or “How did lunch sales compare to the same week last year?”
At Nan Xiang Soup Dumplings, AI helped discover menu items with lower sales. Staff stepped up recommendations for those dishes, and the sales performance of these items improved.3
Labor and scheduling
“Who’s scheduled over 40 hours this week?”
“Now that we’re using Toast IQ Team, I save about 10 to 15 hours a week by using it for tasks like payroll and scheduling,” said Tricia Rowley, director of operations at Madi Group.4 “It even saves me time on things like contests, because I’m doing it right then and there and I can set it up for multiple weeks.”
Reporting and multi-location
“Which location is underperforming on [metric] this week?”
“It’s important for us to see where merchandise is selling better or which cafe needs more, and Toast IQ helps us do that very easily,” said Shayna Ferullo, owner of Snowy Owl Coffee Roasters.5 “I would estimate that it saves us at least four hours a week that we don’t have to spend on manual reporting work.”
Choose a restaurant AI tool that fits how you work
The right tool helps give operators time back to run the business instead of reacting to it. “Toast helped us become a more professional company. We stopped constantly putting out fires and acting like firefighters,” said Juan Manuel Mata, CEO of Fiesta Time Amigos.6
Start with your biggest headache, and find the tool that takes it off your plate. Learn how Toast IQ puts your restaurant’s data to work.
Disclaimer: Competitive information and data on this page were compiled as of October 2026 and are based on publicly available information. This information is subject to change or update without notice. Toast does not make any representations as to the completeness or accuracy of the information on this page.
- This report draws on aggregated, anonymized Toast IQ prompt data from April 1 through June 30, 2026 (Q2 2026), covering U.S. restaurant locations only. Retail locations are excluded. The period includes all days of the week and all hours of the day. Figures are rounded to whole percentages, so they may not sum to exactly 100. Prompts, queries, questions, and searches all refer to interactions a restaurant worker started, whether by typing a question or tapping a pre-set prompt on screen. This applies to every usage figure in the report, including the device split. This report is an analysis of prompts: the questions and requests restaurant workers entered into Toast IQ. It does not measure whether any resulting actions were completed. Where the report describes actions, such as updating item stock, it refers to changes requested through chat, which are not confirmed as saved in the product. Topic categories, sub-topics, and the loss prevention and menu groupings were assigned by keyword and phrase matching against prompt text, not by a built-in product taxonomy. Categories are therefore approximate, and a prompt touching more than one subject may be counted under a single category.
- Tyler Florence is a customer and paid spokesperson for Toast.
- Results self-reported and results will vary. Toast IQ assistant is an AI and can make mistakes.
- Results based on data self-reported by the customer with a 150+ employee business compared to previous non-integrated systems. Individual results will vary.
- Shayna Ferullo is a member of Toast’s Independent Customer Advisory Board, which provides hardware discounts and certain covered travel costs. No testimonial was required. Results self-reported by customer. Individual results will vary.
- Results self-reported by customer. Individual results will vary.
