RESTAURANT AI MANAGERNEW

Head Office for Restaurant Groups: One Set of Rules, Every Venue Running Its Own Kitchen

Restaurant AI Manager gives a restaurant group’s head office the controls it needs without taking the kitchen away from each venue. Head office owns the master recipes and rolls them out, costed at each venue’s own supplier prices. It shares order lists, sorts venues into regions and precincts, sets who can see money and who can spend how much, and approves orders by rule. Every change is recorded, and each venue still orders from its own suppliers.

Master recipes rolled out to venues, tested first
Shared order lists at each venue’s own suppliers and prices
Regions, precincts and area managers
Roles with venue, category and money limits

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

Restaurant AI Manager approval rules and budgets for a restaurant group: orders over $2,000 need the group owner’s OK, off-list suppliers go to the purchaser, and weekly budgets per venue with one venue over budget

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

Every venue runs the same menu a slightly different way

The master recipe is a PDF that each kitchen has edited

A new venue takes weeks to set up from scratch

Head office finds out about an off-list supplier at month end

Everyone can see everything, or nobody can see anything

Area managers chase five venues for the same numbers

Nobody can say who changed the par on the salmon

How head office runs the group

Set up the structure

Venues are sorted into regions and precincts, with area managers who look after a few venues each. Reports, the briefing and the venue list all follow the structure.

Decide who can do what

Each person has a role, the venues they can see, the categories they can buy and the amount they can spend. Money visibility is part of the role, so a chef can run the kitchen without seeing wages.

Own the recipes and the lists

Head office keeps the master recipes and shared order lists. A recipe change is tested on one venue, then rolled out; each venue costs it at its own supplier prices.

Approve by rule, see it all

Orders go straight to the supplier, to the purchaser, or to a named person for sign-off, by value, venue, supplier and category. Every change anywhere in the group is in the change log.

Try it live as operations manager

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

Master recipes, rolled out and costed per venue

Head-office recipes are owned centrally, with versions. A change can be tested at one venue before it is published to the rest, and each venue costs the recipe at the prices its own suppliers charge, so the same dish shows its real GP in every kitchen. A rollout shows which venues have it. Recipes stay in your menu costing; head office decides which version each venue runs.

Versions, a test venue, then publish
Costed at each venue’s own supplier prices
See which venues run which version

Image needed: head-office recipes / rollout screen from the production demo.

Shared lists, a preferred supplier list and rules that hold

Head office keeps order lists and shares them with every venue, each ordering at its own suppliers and prices. A preferred supplier list flags or holds an order to anyone off the list. Approval rules decide what goes straight to the supplier, what the purchaser checks and what needs a named person’s OK — for example, anything over $2,000 — and weekly budgets show each venue’s projected spend before the week is out.

Shared order lists at venue prices
Preferred suppliers, with off-list orders held
Approval rules and weekly budgets per venue

Restaurant AI Manager net purchases versus budget for a three-venue group: net to date, committed, waiting, projected and budget per venue, with one venue projected over budget

Roles that fit how a group actually works

Role templates cover the people a group really has — group owner, group chef, purchaser, area manager, venue manager, head chef, sous chef, bar manager, receiver, stock counter, finance, bookkeeper and an outside stocktaker. Each person can be limited to certain venues and categories and given a spending limit, and money is shown only to roles that should see it. Sessions can be signed out everywhere, two-step sign-in is available with an authenticator app, and a shared tablet can narrow to one person with a staff PIN.

Venue, category and money limits per person
Money visibility set by role
Two-step sign-in, session policy and kiosk PIN

Image needed: Team › roles and limits screen from the production demo.

New venues in minutes, and a record of every change

A new venue can be set up from an existing one — its storage areas, where each item lives and its par levels — instead of starting from nothing. Your logo and colours can go on the app, the emails and the PDFs your team and suppliers see. Venues priced in another currency can be added to group totals at the exchange rates you enter each month. And every change, from a par level to a price, is in the change log with who made it and what it was before.

A new venue from an existing one
Your brand on the app, emails and PDFs
Change log with before and after, exportable

Restaurant AI Manager group view for three venues: seven things needing attention across the venues, each tagged with its venue, and an Ask box for the group owner

What head office works with

Your recipes and menu costingEach venue’s own suppliers and pricesA production kitchen, if the group has onePOS sales for every venueLabour from your rostering system, or typed inXero and QuickBooks Online

Built by the team venues already order with

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 every venue its own system and roll up the spreadsheets?

Because the roll-up is where the group loses control. When each venue runs its own copy of the recipes and the lists, the same dish costs three different amounts for reasons nobody can see, a new supplier appears on an invoice before anyone approves it, and head office spends Monday collecting numbers instead of acting on them. One system with venue-level kitchens and group-level rules keeps the cooking local and the control central.

Restaurant group head office — questions operators ask

Can head office push the same recipe to every venue in the group?＋

Yes. Head-office recipes are owned centrally with versions. A change can be tested at one venue, then published to the others, and each venue costs the recipe at its own supplier prices so the GP is right in every kitchen.

Can each venue keep its own suppliers and prices?＋

Yes. Each venue orders from its own suppliers at its own prices. Head office can share order lists, keep a preferred supplier list that flags or holds off-list orders, and set approval rules, without moving the venues onto one supplier account.

Can I limit what each manager can see and spend?＋

Yes. Each person has a role, the venues they can see, the categories they can buy and a spending limit. Money visibility is part of the role, so a chef or floor team member can do their job without seeing wages or margins.

Does Restaurant AI Manager support regions and area managers?＋

Yes. Venues can be sorted into regions and precincts, and the venue list and group reports follow them. An Area manager role is available for someone who looks after a few venues.

How quickly can we set up a new venue?＋

A new venue can be set up from an existing one, copying its storage areas, where each item is kept and its par levels. The venue then connects its POS and suppliers, and its stock and orders start from there.

Can I see who changed a par level or a price?＋

Yes. Every change is recorded with who made it, when, and what it was before. Each record has a history, and the group change log can be filtered and exported to a spreadsheet.

Does it support single sign-on for our whole group?＋

Not yet. Today Restaurant AI Manager offers two-step sign-in with an authenticator app, sessions you can sign out everywhere and a group session policy. Single sign-on is planned but not available, so ask us before you rely on it.

Can I see the head-office tools before I sign up?＋

Yes. The live demo signs you in as the operations manager of a three-venue demo group with a production kitchen, and a guide shows you around. There is no free trial and nothing to sign up for.

Run a demo restaurant group from head office

Try it live as operations manager Get Restaurant AI Manager — Kr 1,352/month

Kr 1,352/month per venue billed yearly (save 20%) · or Kr 1,690 month to month, no contract · plus tax

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