--- title: "Keep menu, vendor, and staff records so AI answers with your restaurant's numbers" description: "Put recipe costs, vendor terms, staff coverage, inspections, and allergens in files so Claude plans menus and orders with your own numbers." canonical: "https://scalewithsearch.com/articles/ai-for-restaurant-owners" date: "2026-01-28" modified: "2026-10-02" --- ## Site navigation - [Scale With Search](https://scalewithsearch.com/) - Real estate - Real estate - [Real estate](https://scalewithsearch.com/for/real-estate) - Work - Start here - [Send your brief](https://scalewithsearch.com/work#send-your-brief) - [Prepare your six-question brief](https://scalewithsearch.com/work#prepare-your-six-question-brief) - Build - [Site build, content library with SEO, signal desk](https://scalewithsearch.com/work) - For your business - Trades and home services - [Auto body and collision shops](https://scalewithsearch.com/for/auto-body-and-collision-shops) - [Foundation and home repair contractors](https://scalewithsearch.com/for/foundation-and-home-repair) - 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You plan the spring menu. You cannot remember which appetizer sold well last April and which one died after two weeks. Your beef supplier changed prices three times this quarter, and you do not know if the ribeye still makes money at its menu price. The health inspector flagged something six months ago. You think you fixed it, but the proof is in a binder somewhere. A standard AI chat cannot help with any of that. It does not know your costs, your seasonal sales, or that the Saturday prep shift has two call-outs a month. A set of plain-text records fixes the gap: menu performance, vendor prices, staff coverage, compliance checklists, and recurring problems. You write each fact once. Claude reads the records before it answers. ## What the records must hold Menu performance changes with season, day of week, and daypart. Butternut squash soup sells in November, not July. Patio cocktails move on Friday nights, not Tuesday afternoons. The lunch special draws a different crowd than dinner. Without sales records, you guess which items to promote. Recipe costs depend on current vendor prices. Beef tenderloin cost more this month than last month. Tomatoes are cheap in August and expensive in February. The margin on each dish moves with its inputs, and a menu priced from old costs loses money. Vendor relationships carry details that matter. The broadline distributor delivers Tuesday and Friday. The produce supplier gives you first pick on orders placed before 2 p.m. Monday. The seafood vendor has a minimum order. The craft beer distributor runs promotions each quarter. If you lose these notes, you relearn the system with each order. Staff availability shapes the schedule. Your best line cook takes the first two weeks of July off. The Monday dish shift has a history of call-outs. The weekend bartender cannot work Sunday mornings. A schedule built without these facts leads to last-minute gaps. ## Menu engineering needs your real numbers High-margin items carry low-margin items. The burger barely breaks even, but it brings people in. The wine program carries the profit. Desserts have a high margin, but they need pastry staff. Your records show which items work as traffic drivers and which must earn their place. Popularity shifts. The Korean barbecue tacos were the hit of last summer and sit in the middle of the pack this year. The Caesar salad sells steadily all year. The daily special depends on who cooks it. You see these patterns only if the history exists. Portion creep erodes food cost. The pasta spec is 8 ounces, but a new cook serves 10. The side of fries varies between 5 and 7 ounces by shift. Your target food cost is 28 percent, and the actual comes in at 32 percent. Records of spec and actual portions show where the gap comes from. ## How the records work Create a folder that you can open in Obsidian. Add a `CLAUDE.md` file at its root. Claude Code reads that file when you start it in the folder. Use `CLAUDE.md` to name the other files and the rules for their use: ```text ## Restaurant records menu:: menu/ (one file per item: recipe, spec portion, current cost) vendors:: vendors.md (delivery days, minimums, terms, lead times, price log) staff:: staff.md (availability, certifications, cross-training) compliance:: compliance.md (inspections, corrective actions, checklists) allergens:: allergens.md (per menu item; update when a supplier changes a product) sales:: sales/ (monthly item sales export from the POS) rule:: quote costs and allergens only from these files; say "not in the records" otherwise ``` Now you ask about the ribeye. Claude reads the item file and the vendor price log. It reports the current plate cost, the spec portion, the menu price, the food cost percentage, and whether the item sells at its target share. When costs or performance change, update the file. The next order or schedule starts from current facts, not from last quarter's numbers. The structure scales. One location needs one folder. Several locations need one folder each, so that one kitchen's costs never enter another kitchen's answer. ## Cost each recipe the same way Give each menu item a file with ingredients, quantities, prep steps, plating, and current cost per portion. Include yield. A 10-pound tenderloin that trims to 7.5 pounds of usable meat has a 75 percent yield. The cost per usable pound is therefore higher than the invoice price. Record waste factors for produce and proteins too. Food cost percentage is plate cost divided by menu price. Take two synthetic plates. The salmon plate runs about 30 percent food cost. The burger runs about 44 percent. Those two figures explain why the burger is a traffic item and the salmon is a margin item. Record modifiers. Gluten-free pasta carries an upcharge; check that the upcharge covers the cost. A salad ordered without protein changes the plate cost. Asparagus in place of green beans costs more. If the modifier price does not follow the cost, the margin moves without notice. A synthetic item file: ```text # Pan-seared salmon spec_portion:: 6 oz fillet yield:: fillet trim 88 percent (tested 2026.02.03) components:: salmon, farro, seasonal vegetable, lemon butter plate_cost_source:: vendors.md price log, latest invoice per component target_food_cost:: 30 percent modifiers:: asparagus swap raises plate cost; check against modifier price allergens:: fish, milk (lemon butter) ``` ## Order from vendor terms and real lead times `vendors.md` holds contacts, delivery days, minimum orders, payment terms, and prices by product. The broadline distributor delivers Tuesday and Friday on net-30 terms with a minimum order. The seafood vendor delivers daily for orders placed by 3 p.m. and takes cash on delivery. The bakery delivers Monday, Wednesday, and Friday on net-15 terms. Log each price when an invoice arrives. In one synthetic price log, the ribeye price rose about 38 percent from January to May. Avocados more than doubled between their cheap and expensive seasons. A price log shows when to adjust a menu price or run a special. Record real lead times. Craft beer takes two weeks if the distributor does not stock it. Specialty cheese needs five business days. Oysters arrive daily but need 24 hours' notice. Before you commit to a special, ask Claude to check the lead times for each component. ## Schedule from coverage facts `staff.md` holds preferred shifts, approved time off, certifications, and cross-training. The lead line cook holds a ServSafe certification and prefers closing shifts. The weekend bartender holds a TIPS certification but cannot open. Labor targets set the shape of each shift. If your target is 30 percent of revenue, record the configurations that meet it. Weekend dinner runs six front-of-house staff and four back-of-house staff. Weekday lunch runs three and two. Cross-training notes cover call-outs. The sous chef can work the line. The bartender can run food. The host knows the POS and can help with takeout. With these facts, Claude can propose a cover plan when someone calls out. Keep shift-level patterns in the file, such as "the Monday dish shift has frequent call-outs." Keep judgments about a person's performance in your HR records, not in a file that a model reads. ## Build station training from current SOPs A new server starts Thursday. Ask for an evening-shift checklist from your front-of-house SOP: table numbers, POS steps, wine guidance, and the allergy-alert process. Cite the SOP version beside each section. The manager checks the draft before training starts. For a new grill cook, read the current grill SOP, equipment notes, safety steps, cook times, and plating standards. Ask for a station guide using those sources. Missing instructions stay marked for the kitchen manager; the assistant must not supply a temperature or safety step from memory. Training changes enter the SOP before the next shift uses them. ## Keep inspection and allergen records current `compliance.md` holds inspection history, corrective actions, recurring issues, and due dates. The inspector flagged the walk-in temperature in March; you recalibrated it and recorded the fix. The handwashing station needed an upgrade in January; the work is done and the invoice is on file. The grease trap is cleaned each quarter; the last service was December 15, and the next is due March 15. Keep the daily checklists there too: cooler and hot-hold temperature logs, the cleaning schedule for equipment and surfaces, and date labels for prep items. Staff then do not depend on a notebook that disappears. Record allergens for each menu item. The bread contains wheat and soy. The fryer oil is shared with shellfish. The house dressing contains eggs. The FDA lists nine major food allergens; sesame became the ninth on January 1, 2023. When a supplier changes a product, update `allergens.md` the same day. An allergen answer to a guest must come from the current recipe and label, never from the model's general knowledge. ## Record guest preferences with care Regulars have preferences. The couple who comes every Friday likes the window table. One guest avoids cilantro. A family with young children needs extra napkins. An anniversary couple gets a dessert on the house. Repeat dietary needs matter too. One regular is gluten-free and dairy-free and orders the salmon with changes. A vegan regular orders the pasta with substitutions. Another guest eats only protein and vegetables. Record the preference, not more personal detail than the service needs. A dietary need can reveal health information. The [minimum-necessary test for customer data](/articles/client-data-in-ai-agent-memory) helps you decide what to keep. ## Plan each season from last season Record which dishes worked by season. Braised short ribs sold well in October and tapered off in November. Watermelon salad was strong from June through August and dead in September. Record ingredient seasons with your vendors' availability. Tomatoes are cheap and good from July to September. Squash and root vegetables peak from October to March. Asparagus has a short spring window. With these notes, Claude can draft a menu around what is in season and affordable. [What context an agent should read](/articles/what-context-should-an-agent-read) explains how to keep each question to the smallest set of files that answers it. ## Four source checks before a busy weekend Start a fresh session in the restaurant folder and run all four checks: 1. Ask which days the seafood vendor delivers. Pass: the answer matches the current vendor terms. Fail: a different delivery day or an unverified ordering cutoff. 2. Ask for one dish's food cost. Pass: quantities, yield, and prices match its recipe card and latest invoices. Fail: an old price or an omitted waste factor. 3. Ask whether that dish contains sesame. Pass: the answer cites the chef-approved allergen matrix, current recipe, and supplier labels. Missing information means the kitchen must confirm. Fail: a guessed allergen answer. 4. Ask for the grill checklist. Pass: every step matches the current SOP version. Fail: an added or omitted safety or service step. The chef approves recipe and allergen content. The manager approves training and orders. The assistant does not place an order, change POS prices, or answer a guest's allergy question on its own. ## What the records cost and what they replace Setup is a one-time job: install Claude Code, set up the folder, and write starter files for menu, vendors, staff, and compliance. The recurring cost is your Claude plan. The files carry no per-location charge. The files stay on your computer. During a session, Claude Code sends the text it reads to Anthropic's servers. Keep bank details, staff Social Security numbers, and guest payment data out of the folder. Compare that setup with one week of menu prices set from wrong food costs. Compare it with one short-staffed service that forces you to comp meals, or one inspection where you cannot prove a fix. 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