RESTAURANT AI MANAGERNEW

Multi-Venue Restaurant Management: Every Venue Side by Side, Every Morning

Multi-venue restaurant management software lets a restaurant group run several venues from one place without losing sight of any single one. Restaurant AI Manager sets the group up as group, region, venue and storage location, puts every venue side by side with a morning briefing, purchases against budget and stock moving between sites, and lets head office set recipes, rules and roles once while each venue changes only what it needs to.

One briefing across the group, and one for each venue
Purchases against each venue’s weekly budget, before the week is spent
Stock moved between venues at cost, with anything short kept on the transfer
Recipes, rules and roles set once at head office, overridden where a venue needs it

Try it live as operations manager See Restaurant AI Manager →

Built on Open Pantry ordering — free, and used by 5,000+ venues

Restaurant AI Manager Today screen for Harbour & Vine Group, all three venues: seven things needing the group manager across the venues, an Ask box, and an AI briefing ranking the top three issues with a weekly dollar figure and the venue each one belongs to

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Built for hospitality venues of every kindRestaurants Cafes Bars Pubs Quick service Catering Production kitchens Fine dining

Three venues, three ways of doing things, and no one view

Each venue runs its own spreadsheets, so the group numbers are stitched together by hand

You find out a venue blew its purchasing budget after the week is over

Stock borrowed from the venue down the road is never costed back

A recipe change at head office reaches some kitchens and not others

Opening a new venue means setting everything up again from scratch

Everyone either sees all the money or none of it

Set the group up once, then run every venue from it

Lay the group out the way it runs

Group, region, venue and storage location. Settings made at the top flow down to every venue, and a venue can override the ones that are different for it. A new venue can be set up by copying an existing one.

Give each person the role they actually do

Owner, area manager, venue manager, head chef, bar manager, purchaser, receiver, stock counter, bookkeeper and more — 23 role templates. Chefs see food cost but not wages, and floor staff do not see prices.

Set the standards at head office

Recipes are written once and pushed to the venues, tested before they roll out. Preferred suppliers, approval rules and weekly budgets are set for the group or per venue.

Read every venue side by side each morning

The group view puts the venues next to each other — the briefing, purchases against budget, transfers and the close — and any figure drills down into the venue behind it.

Try it live as operations manager

No sign-up — a demo restaurant group with a guide that shows you around

One briefing for the group, one for each venue

The operations manager starts the day on one screen that covers every venue. The briefing ranks the few issues costing the group the most this week, each tagged with the venue it belongs to, and the Venues view puts the sites side by side. Switch to a single venue and you see exactly what its manager sees.

Things needing you, counted across every venue
Each issue tagged with its venue and a weekly dollar figure
Switch between the group and any single venue

Group view in Restaurant AI Manager for a three-venue restaurant group, with a My day and Venues toggle and an AI briefing listing issues by venue with dollar figures and High confidence chips

Purchases against budget, venue by venue

Each venue has a weekly budget, and the budget screen shows where it stands now: what has been received net of credits and transfers, what is committed on open orders, and what that projects to by the end of the week. A venue heading over budget shows in red while there is still time to act, and a mid-week warning goes to the people who can do something about it. Approval rules by value, venue, supplier and category sit behind it.

Net to date, committed, waiting and projected against budget
This week or this month, per venue
Mid-week overspend warning, with approval rules behind it

Net purchases vs budget for each venue in a restaurant group: net to date, committed, waiting, projected and weekly budget, with one venue projected over its budget shown in red

Stock moves between venues at cost

When one venue sends another four sourdough loaves for the brunch rush, it goes through as a transfer, not a favour. Stock leaves the sending venue when it is sent and arrives at the other when it is received, the cost goes with it, and anything short is kept on the transfer. Both venues’ food cost stays honest.

Request, send and receive between venues and storage locations
The cost carried with the stock
Send back or mark something short on arrival

Stock transfer in Restaurant AI Manager from one venue’s dry store to another venue’s dry store, in transit, with the quantity, the cost of the transfer and buttons to send back, mark something short or receive all

If the group has its own kitchen

Many groups make sauces, stocks and pastry in one kitchen for every venue. In Restaurant AI Manager that kitchen sits inside the group, venues order from it in the same order screen they use for suppliers, and it plans tomorrow’s production from those orders. The central kitchen software page covers it in full.

Venues order from their own kitchen like any supplier
Production planned from venue orders plus forecast
Covered in full on the central kitchen page

Central kitchen production plan for a restaurant group: what the kitchen makes tomorrow from its venues’ orders plus forecast, with each venue shown as ordered

What it brings together

Orders to any supplier, by email or on Open PantryPOS sales, whichever POS you useBookings and functions (by hand, CSV, calendar feed or forwarded email)Rostering exports emailed inStock counts, waste and transfersXero and QuickBooks Online

Built by the team venues already order with

Christian Abbot

“Open Pantry has created exactly what the restaurant industry needs. Something very easy to use that doesn’t require any upkeep. Their menu costing feature is fantastic and simple enough that any chef or bar manager can use it. I think restaurants that are serious about growing their profit & managing their costs need to consider Open Pantry.”

Group Executive Chef, Australian Venue Company

Chefs Love Open Pantry

Junior Malvern crew x

Thank you OPEN PANTRY, we used to have to use 6 apps to get access to ordering from our suppliers, the fact we can do it all in one has saved an incredible amount of time & effort! We love you!

Tom Pearson

We’ve been using Open Pantry for a few months now and it’s been an absolute lifesaver. We’re short staffed so being able to place all of our orders with all of our suppliers in the one spot is a massive help.

James Evans

So glad this service exists. Has made it so easy for my manager & chefs to order & all payments are settled in one go. The recurring orders & pantry lists are amazing time savers!!

Why not give each venue its own system and add it up at month end?

Because the group only ever sees the past. Separate systems mean separate recipes, separate supplier prices and separate ways of counting, so the month-end roll-up compares numbers that were never measured the same way. One group set-up means every venue counts, costs and closes the same way, head office can see a venue drifting while the week is still going, and stock moved between sites is costed instead of lost.

Multi-venue restaurant management — questions operators ask

How do I manage several restaurant venues from one account?＋

In Restaurant AI Manager the group is set up as group, region, venue and storage location. You switch between the whole group and any single venue from the top of the screen, and the group view puts every venue side by side with the briefing, purchases against budget, transfers and the close.

Can each venue keep its own settings while head office sets the rules?＋

Yes. Settings made at group level flow down to every venue, and each venue can override the ones that are different for it. Preferred suppliers, approval rules and weekly budgets can be set for the whole group or per venue.

How do I stop one venue overspending on purchases each week?＋

Give each venue a weekly budget. The budget screen shows what each venue has received net of credits and transfers, what is committed on open orders and what that projects to, and a mid-week warning flags a venue heading over. Approval rules can also send orders over a set value to a named person before they go.

Can we move stock between our venues and keep the cost right?＋

Yes. A transfer is requested, sent and received like a small delivery, and the cost moves with the stock. Stock leaves the sending venue when it is sent and arrives when it is received, and anything short is kept on the transfer.

Can head office push the same recipes out to every venue?＋

Yes. Recipes written at head office are pushed to the venues and can be tested before they roll out. Each venue then costs them at the prices it actually pays.

What can a head chef see compared with the owner or area manager?＋

Each person gets one of 23 role templates and sees only what that role needs. A head chef sees quantities and food cost but not wages, floor staff do not see prices, and an area manager sees the venues in their area. Shared kitchen devices can run in kiosk mode with a staff PIN.

How long does it take to add a new venue to the group?＋

A new venue can be set up by copying an existing one, so its suppliers, lists and settings start from something that already works. As an estimate, the basics take an afternoon; the first full food-cost breakdown comes after a full week of trading and a stocktake.

How is multi-venue restaurant management software priced for a group?＋

Restaurant AI Manager is priced per venue, per month, and each venue is billed on its own, with the AI included. There is no contract and you can cancel anytime. There is no free trial, but the live demo lets you sign in to a three-venue group and use the whole thing.

See a three-venue group from the group manager’s chair