Restaurant AI Manager vs Restoke: which is right for your venues?
The short answer
Restoke and Restaurant AI Manager are both Australian and cover much of the same ground — live inventory, invoices into costing, ordering, prep and multi-venue reporting. Restoke is the more established kitchen-team platform, with procedures, training, kiosk mode and more than thirty named POS integrations, from $111 a month per site. Restaurant AI Manager goes further on buying: approval rules and budgets, supplier tenders, contract prices, drafted credit claims and orders worked out from bookings and functions, with AI that drafts and people who approve.
Choose Restaurant AI Manager if…
- Purchasing control matters: approval rules by value, venue and supplier, a purchaser queue, weekly budgets and spending limits per person — none of which Restoke describes on the pages we read.
- You want to tender your suppliers on your own 12 months of usage, hold them to contract prices, and approve price changes before they reach your dishes.
- Your orders should come from what you are going to sell — bookings, functions and the sales forecast — rather than from par alone.
- Counting happens in cool rooms and cellars: cartons, inners and singles on one line, scanners, voice and counts that finish with no signal.
Choose Restoke if…
- You want your till on a published list before you buy. Restoke names more than thirty POS systems, including the Australian ones most venues run.
- Running the kitchen team is the main job: checklists, procedures, training, prep runs, kiosk mode, temperature logs and OHS templates are published Restoke features.
- You only need costing and invoices for now: Restoke’s Essentials plan covers those from $111 a month per site billed annually.
- You need MYOB Acumatica or Microsoft Business Central rather than Xero, MYOB or QuickBooks.
Restaurant AI Manager and Restoke at a glance
Every Restoke cell below is footnoted to a dated source at the foot of this page. Where a capability is not described on Restoke’s own site we mark it partial and say so — that means we could not confirm it, not that it is missing.
| Capability | Restaurant AI Manager | Restoke |
|---|---|---|
| Stock counts on a phone | YesCounts on a phone in shelf order, with cartons, inners, singles and open bottles on one line; phone camera, Bluetooth and handheld scanners; voice counting; counts finished with no signal; blind counts; variance in dollars, recounts and approval before posting. | YesLive inventory tracking, stocktakes, storage areas, stock movement and substitution groups, with the count list built for you, on the Pro plan. Barcode scanning and offline counting are not described on the pages we read.[4] |
| Stock kept up to date by deliveries and sales | YesDeliveries checked off at the door add stock to each item’s storage area; POS sales take it off through your recipes; waste, staff meals and transfers between venues come off at cost. | YesLive inventory tracking is a published Pro-plan feature. How sales and deliveries move stock between counts is described as live tracking rather than in detail.[4] |
| Orders worked out for you | YesOrders drafted from forecast use less stock on hand and on order, rounded to packs and delivery days, one per supplier, sent by a person. Live to suppliers on Open Pantry, by email to any other supplier; text orders on request. | YesEmail and SMS purchase orders, with scheduled, immediate, standing and “smart” orders, ordering from a stocktake and order receiving, on the Pro plan.[3] |
| Purchase approvals, budgets and spend limits | YesApproval rules by value, venue, supplier and category; a purchaser queue; weekly budgets per venue with mid-week projections; spending limits per person; a preferred supplier list that holds off-list orders. | PartialPurchase-order approval chains, budgets and per-person spending limits are not described on the pages we read — confirm with vendor.[3] |
| Invoice matching and credit claims | YesInvoices photographed, uploaded or forwarded, matched three ways against the order and the delivery check-off, held with a reason before they reach your books, and credit requests drafted for a person to send. | YesAI invoice analysis of images, PDF, CSV and XLSX, credit notes and statements, and an invoices-by-email address, with unlimited processing on the entry plan. A credit claim raised back to the supplier from a delivery check-off is not described publicly.[5] |
| Contract prices and supplier price changes | YesPrice trends from every delivery. Owners can switch on supplier price changes that wait for approval with their GP effect shown, contract prices checked on every order and invoice with the difference claimed, price-rise alerts and supplier scorecards. | PartialPrice update notifications and an alert when a recipe drifts outside its margin target are published. Contract prices, and approving a supplier’s price change before it applies, are not described publicly.[1] |
| Supplier tenders and quotes | YesTenders built from 12 months of actual usage, sent to suppliers on Open Pantry or anyone by link, compared like for like per kilo, litre or each, awarded whole or split, with the winning prices loaded as contract prices. | PartialRequests for quotes or supplier tenders are not described on the pages we read — confirm with vendor.[3] |
| Recipe costing and why GP moved | YesReads your recipes from menu costing; POS items matched to recipes with High, Check or Unsure confidence; actual against theoretical usage by item and location; GP movement split into price, mix, waste, yield and count error in dollars. | YesAI-powered live food costing with dish and prep recipes, menus, an AI recipe builder, menu engineering and recipe cost ranges.[2] |
| Forecasting and prep from bookings and functions | YesA sales forecast per day and dish from sales history, bookings and functions, driving suggested orders and prep lists by station. Bookings and functions come in by hand, CSV, calendar feed, forwarded email or Zapier and Make; direct connections on request. | PartialPreparation runs and kitchen prep automation are Pro-plan features. A forecast built from bookings and functions is not described on the pages we read.[6] |
| Production kitchen | YesA production kitchen your venues order from like any supplier, planned from venue orders and the forecast, with batches, labels, lot tracing and recall, and internal invoices. An owner switches it on. | PartialA central production kitchen is not described on the pages we read — confirm with vendor.[8] |
| Head office and multi-venue control | YesHead-office recipes with versions, tested at one venue and rolled out, costed at each venue’s own prices; shared order lists; regions and area managers; roles with venue, category and money limits; group branding; a full change log. No single sign-on yet. | YesMulti-venue management on Pro, and a Headquarters command centre for recipes, users, reporting, outlet permissions and location switching — described in one place as Enterprise and in another as an add-on.[8] |
| Reporting and weekly emails | YesStock, cost, purchasing, sales and menu reports per venue, region and group, exported to CSV or Excel; a weekly email every Monday with a group summary; profit suggestions ranked in dollars a week. | PartialWaste management and a wastage report are listed in the plan table. Other reports are not itemised on the pages we read, and scheduled emailed reports are not described publicly.[1] |
| AI assistant and drafting agents | YesAsk and a morning briefing over your own figures; AI helpers that draft orders and credit claims; High, Check or Unsure on every suggestion; drafts only, logged and undoable; and Connect your AI for Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini with each person’s own role. | YesAn AI Copilot over your own data and AI-generated Smart Reports are named in its plans. How far its AI drafts actions for approval is not described on the pages we read.[1] |
| POS sales integration | YesConnects to your POS, whichever one you use; the day’s sales come in and are matched to your recipes, and a quiet feed is flagged rather than read as zero sales. | YesMore than thirty named POS integrations on every plan, including H&L, OrderMate, Impos, Idealpos, SwiftPOS, Redcat, Oolio and Tyro, alongside Lightspeed, Square, Clover and Toast.[7] |
| Labour cost and rostering | YesLabour cost from Deputy, Tanda or Planday on request, from a timesheet file from any system, or typed in; labour % and prime cost; a roster board and roster suggestions from the forecast. No payroll. | YesNo rostering of its own; labour comes through integrations with Deputy, Employment Hero, 7 Shifts, Tanda, Connecteam and others.[7] |
| Food safety, checklists and training | YesFood-safety checks and temperature logs switched on venue by venue, with fridge sensors on request; training lessons and certificates, team notices and a pre-shift briefing as owner switches; a kiosk mode for shared tablets. | YesChecklists, procedures, training modules, prep runs, kiosk mode, temperature logging and OHS templates, with compliance history.[6] |
| Accounting integration | YesSupplier bills and a daily sales journal drafted for Xero, MYOB or QuickBooks. | YesXero, QuickBooks, MYOB, MYOB Acumatica and Microsoft Business Central, on every plan.[7] |
| Published pricing | YesPublished per venue, per month, for each country, on the restaurant pricing page. No contract. | YesPer site in Australian dollars ex GST: Essentials $111 a month billed annually or $139 monthly; Pro $175 annually or $219 monthly; Enterprise custom. No set-up fees, no lock-in.[1] |
| Australian presence | YesBuilt and supported in Australia, sold per country in local currency. | YesAustralian dollar pricing, a deep bench of Australian POS integrations and customer locations in Melbourne and Sydney; funding raised to expand into the US.[1] |
Restaurant AI Manager capabilities are from our own published plans and feature pages. Restoke capabilities are from its own published pages, read on 3 September 2026.
Everything Restaurant AI Manager runs
Restoke and Restaurant AI Manager overlap more than any other pair on this site, so here is exactly what Restaurant AI Manager does, with a page behind every line — hold it against Restoke’s own feature pages row by row.
On the floor
- Stock control and counts
- Phone counts in any pack mix, scanners, offline, and stock that deliveries and sales keep current.
- Demand forecasting and prep
- Orders and prep worked out from sales, bookings and functions.
- Delivery check-off
- Count it at the door; the received quantity becomes stock.
- Central kitchen
- A production kitchen your venues order from like any supplier.
Buying
- Ordering and suppliers
- Drafted orders to your own suppliers, tenders and price control.
- Purchase approvals and budgets
- Spend rules, weekly budgets and a purchaser queue.
- Supplier credit requests
- Shorts and price differences drafted as credit requests.
Money
- Food cost variance
- Why GP moved, in dollars that add up.
- Menu engineering
- Which dishes to promote, rework or drop.
- Reporting
- Stock, cost, purchasing and menu reports, and the Monday email.
- End-of-day reconciliation
- Close the day and draft the sales journal.
The group and the AI
- Multi-venue management
- Every venue side by side, every morning.
- Group head office
- Master recipes, shared lists, regions and roles.
- AI restaurant assistant
- A morning briefing and Ask, over your own figures.
- AI agents
- Drafted orders and credit claims you approve; connect your own AI.
Where each one is stronger
Neither product wins on every row, and a comparison that says otherwise is not worth reading.
Restaurant AI Manager is stronger at
- Purchasing control: approval rules, a purchaser queue, weekly budgets and per-person spending limits, so nothing reaches a supplier without the right sign-off.
- Supplier tools: tenders priced on your own usage, contract prices checked on every order and invoice, and supplier price changes approved before they land.
- Closing the loop at the door: the delivery check-off becomes stock, the invoice is matched against it, and the credit claim is drafted from the same evidence.
- Orders from what you will sell — bookings, functions and the forecast — and counts that work offline, by voice and with scanners.
Restoke is stronger at
- Named POS integrations — more than thirty on a published list, including the Australian systems most venues run.
- Kitchen team operations as a core product: procedures, training, prep runs, kiosk mode, temperature logs and OHS templates, all published features.
- A cheaper way in for costing and invoices alone, on its Essentials plan.
- Accounting breadth, with MYOB Acumatica and Microsoft Business Central.
What each one costs
Restaurant AI Manager
Restaurant AI Manager is priced per venue, per month, with no contract, and the price for your country is published on the restaurant pricing page. The AI helpers, the morning briefing and the reports are included. Ordering from your suppliers stays free for every venue, and Menu Profit Manager is still sold on its own.
Restoke
Published per site in Australian dollars ex GST, with a discount for annual billing: Essentials $111 a month billed annually or $139 monthly; Pro $175 annually or $219 monthly; Enterprise custom pricing on application. No set-up fees and no lock-in. Live inventory, ordering, prep and the team features start at Pro.
Source: Restoke — Pricing (plans, AUD ex GST, per-site rates, tier contents) · verified 3 September 2026
Switching from Restoke to Restaurant AI Manager
What the move actually involves. We do not promise a timeline — it depends on how many venues, suppliers and recipes you bring across.
- Connect the POS and add your venues. Sales start coming in and matching to your recipes straight away; anything unmatched is held, not lost.
- Bring your items and par levels across. Export them from your current system to a spreadsheet and import them — we will help map the columns.
- Load the invoices. Forward or photograph a month of supplier invoices so suppliers, pack sizes and the prices you actually pay are in from day one.
- Check your top dishes. Confirm the recipes behind the dishes that make up most of your sales; the rest can follow.
- Do the first count on phones, then run both systems side by side for a fortnight and compare the numbers before you switch the old one off.
Who uses Open Pantry
- Venues ordering through it
- 5,000+
- Suppliers on Open Pantry
- 600+
- Markets served
- AU & NZ
Restaurant AI Manager vs Restoke — common questions
What is the difference between Restaurant AI Manager and Restoke?
Both are Australian back-of-house platforms with live inventory, invoices into costing, ordering, prep and multi-venue reporting. Restoke is stronger on kitchen team operations and publishes more than thirty named POS integrations. Restaurant AI Manager is stronger on buying — approvals and budgets, supplier tenders, contract prices and drafted credit claims — and works out orders from bookings, functions and the forecast.
Does Restoke have purchase approvals and spending limits like Restaurant AI Manager?
Not on the pages we read. Restoke describes email and SMS ordering, smart and standing orders and order receiving, but not approval chains, budgets or per-person spending limits — so ask them directly. Restaurant AI Manager has approval rules by value, venue, supplier and category, a purchaser queue, weekly budgets and spending limits per person.
Which one connects to more POS systems?
Restoke publishes a list of more than thirty named POS systems, including the main Australian ones. Restaurant AI Manager connects to your POS whichever one you use and matches the day’s sales to your recipes, but does not publish a named list — if seeing your till on a list decides it, Restoke has one.
Which is better for a restaurant group with several venues?
Both handle groups. Restoke has a Headquarters command centre for recipes, users, reporting and outlet permissions. Restaurant AI Manager adds head-office recipes tested and rolled out per venue, shared order lists, regions and area managers, approval rules and budgets, transfers and a production kitchen. Groups that need purchasing control will find more of it in Restaurant AI Manager.
Do they both have an AI assistant?
Yes. Restoke names an AI Copilot over your data and AI Smart Reports. Restaurant AI Manager has Ask and a morning briefing over your own figures, AI helpers that draft orders and credit claims for a person to approve, and Connect your AI for Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini with each person’s own role.
How much do Restoke and Restaurant AI Manager cost?
Restoke publishes per-site pricing in Australian dollars ex GST: Essentials from $111 a month billed annually, Pro from $175, and Enterprise on application. Restaurant AI Manager is priced per venue, per month, with no contract, and the price for your country is on the Open Pantry restaurant pricing page.
Can I move from Restoke to Restaurant AI Manager?
Yes. Connect your POS, import your items and par levels from a spreadsheet export, forward a month of supplier invoices so prices are in from day one, confirm the recipes behind your top dishes, then run both side by side for a fortnight before you switch over.
How was this comparison checked?
Every Restoke claim comes from Restoke’s own published pages, read on the date shown at the top of this page, and is re-checked quarterly. “Not described on the pages we read” means we could not confirm it — treat it as a question for Restoke, not a verdict. If something here is wrong, tell us and we will correct it.
Sources
Every Restoke claim on this page comes from one of these pages, read on 3 September 2026. Vendors change their products and their prices; if something here is out of date, tell us and we will fix it.
- Restoke — Pricing (plans, AUD ex GST, per-site rates, tier contents) — https://www.restoke.ai/pricing (accessed 3 September 2026)
- Restoke — Food costing — https://www.restoke.ai/features/food-costing (accessed 3 September 2026)
- Restoke — Ordering — https://www.restoke.ai/features/ordering (accessed 3 September 2026)
- Restoke — Inventory — https://www.restoke.ai/features/inventory (accessed 3 September 2026)
- Restoke — Invoice management — https://www.restoke.ai/features/invoice-management (accessed 3 September 2026)
- Restoke — Team management (procedures, training, prep runs) — https://www.restoke.ai/features/team-management (accessed 3 September 2026)
- Restoke — Integrations (POS, accounting, scheduling) — https://www.restoke.ai/integrations (accessed 3 September 2026)
- Restoke — Headquarters (multi-site command centre) — https://www.restoke.ai/features/headquarters (accessed 3 September 2026)
Try Restaurant AI Manager on a demo restaurant group
Sign in to Harbour & Vine, a three-venue demo group with weeks of sales, deliveries and counts, as the owner, head chef or operations manager — a guide shows you around, and there is nothing to sign up for.