Automation and artificial intelligence: how to boost your performance in foodservice
June 10 2025Robotize the repetitive. Anticipate the uncertain. Decide faster, but above all better. This is the promise of automation coupled with artificial intelligence in multi-site commercial catering. But what real benefits does it bring to field operations?
What conditions need to be met for these technologies to become a concrete lever for teams, rather than a gas factory?
At a time when restaurant chains are multiplying the number of points of sale, and when HR tensions and flow variations demand extreme responsiveness, the AI automation tandem is no longer an option: it's becoming an indispensable operational lever.
The higher value-added functions of automation
Automation is not about replacing humans with robots. It is about making low value-added tasks, often performed heterogeneously in multi-site networks, more reliable, faster and more harmonized. In commercial foodservice, this translates into:
- The automatic generation of supplier orders according to technical data sheets and planned production .
- The dynamic scheduling of kitchen tasks based on menus, expected flows and margin targets
- The consolidation of purchasing, inventory and sales data to feed reliable dashboards .
These functions are driven from modules such as Adoria's Purchasing and Ordering, which structures the supply chain around business rules defined at headquarters, while allowing sites the necessary local agility.
What artificial intelligence enables in field operations
Unlike automation, which follows rules, AI learns and anticipates. Here are a few use cases observed in commercial catering groups:
.
| Business case | AI function | Operational gain |
|---|---|---|
| Predict peak burger consumption by site | Multivariable forecasting model (weather, day, history) | Reduce product shortages (-18%) |
| Adjust the production quantity of a daily special | Short-loop predictive algorithm (D 1/J 2) | Loss reduction (-24%) |
The key to success: an IS that links production, purchasing, sales and inventory
Without a reliable, connected data structure, no AI can produce useful recommendations. That's where the role of a centralized platform like Adoria comes in. Its common foundation enables:
- To link data sheets to forecast production .
- To structure purchasing according to supplier price lists and site budgets .
- To comparing variances between planned/realized/sold over several periods .
This type of structure is essential for activating AI scenarios in a relevant way: short-term forecasting, anomaly detection, alerting on upcoming shortages, proposing alternative orders...
The machine that frees the human (and makes the margin more reliable)
What successful deployments show is not a replacement, but a refocusing. Automation and AI enable field teams to focus on the gesture, the welcome, the quality of service, while systems assist, monitor, adjust.
Eager to go further?
These two complementary resources will enable you to extend your thinking:
- Purchasing and ordering: discover how to automate your supplier orders in a connected and controlled way
- Our technology partners: integrated, interconnected solutions to make your operational flows more reliable
And that's where real performance comes into play: reliable production, without logistical tension. Controlled material costs. Deviations detected and dealt with on time. And a team that's no longer burdened by Excel spreadsheets, but driven by living indicators.
[Focus] Anticipating breakages: the case of high-volatility products
In commercial catering chains, certain products are particularly sensitive to out-of-stock situations: veggie steak, marinated chicken fillet, gluten-free buns, etc. Their consumption varies greatly according to location, local trends, sales channels (on-site/delivery), or even the weather. It is precisely on these high volatility families that AI deploys its full potential.
By modeling demand on the basis of multi-site histories crossed with exogenous factors (weather, school calendar, previous anomalies), Adoria's AI can:
- Detect breakage risks on D 2 or D 3 with a reliability rate of over 85% .
- Suggest stock redistribution between nearby sites, based on local coverage
- Adjust the supplier order automatically if the logistics window allows
This type of control avoids dozens of manual micro-adjustments every week, while securing service quality. It's also one of the major points of differentiation between "declarative" AI and truly "operational" AI.
