Sponsored by PreciTaste
One of restaurant operators’ top priorities is maintaining profitability while delivering quality and quick service. With escalating food prices, labor shortages, and the ever-present issue of food waste, this can be challenging to manage. To help combat this issue, restaurants like
Urbanbelly are turning to automation solutions.
Urbanbelly is a fast-casual Asian dining spot in the heart of Chicago. Chef Bill Kim, founder of Urbanbelly and Partner at Cornerstone Restaurant Group, wanted to create a casual, accessible, flavorful restaurant dining experience that was affordable to the general public. Like many restaurants, Urbanbelly wanted to decrease food waste, cut food costs, and create labor efficiencies so that the staff could focus more on optimizing customers’ experience and
management tasks. Chef Bill understands the importance of restaurants being early adapters to automation and new technologies, so he integrated an AI-driven solution.
AI has made significant strides in various sectors, and the restaurant industry is no exception.
“AI technology has helped us do the monotonous work of tracking and collecting data. It helps
us speed up operations, freeing up staff time and getting us to the results faster,” Chef Bill says.
PreciTaste, an award-winning company recognized for defining the gold standard of foodservice innovations, has developed accessible AI-driven solutions for restaurants of all sizes. Its mission is to streamline labor and reduce CO2 emissions by reducing food waste.
The Prep Assistant is an AI application and Intel® IoT Market Ready Solution by PreciTaste for
operators who seek to optimize their bulk ingredient prep. Through AI and demand predictions,
it guides crews through what to prep and when through easy-to-follow and speeds up their prep work. It ensures food is always fresh and prepared in the right quantities, reducing waste, and, for Urbanbelly, reducing food costs by an average of five percent.
“It’s almost like a miracle and so intuitive. No more paper, no more checking off a list. It takes
the guesswork out of what you’re doing with food,” Chef Bill says. “We now feel beyond
confident about what to prep, how much to prep, and how much to purchase.”
The benefits extend beyond savings. “The Prep Assistant is easy for our crew to navigate and
provides clear task assignments, allowing our team to open the restaurant without a manager’s
direct supervision,” Chef Bill says. As an Intel IoT Market Ready Solution, the Prep Assistant
gives customers the ability to analyze traffic patterns and occupancy with AI and edge analytics to make more data-driven decisions about staffing, prep management, and operational planning.
This has led to saving managers and crew members an average of one hour a day – giving staff more time to focus on improving restaurant operations and providing exceptional customer service.
PreciTaste also offers a Planner Assistant and Station Assistant. The Planner Assistant
provides clear instructions for specific hot food production through automated inventory
management. The Station Assistant enhances the Prep and Planner applications by guiding
crews on what to cook based on demand predictions and live inventory sensing, which indicates when specific ingredients are running low and when to make them to meet the predicted demand throughout the day. Both are accessible to and empower restaurants of all sizes by providing them with the essential tools to compete in the restaurant industry.
Integrating PreciTaste at Urbanbelly has resulted in tangible benefits, clearly demonstrating that AI is a practical tool capable of driving transformative change, enhancing efficiency, and
boosting customer satisfaction.
“Don’t be a late adopter; be early and be able to navigate it,” Chef Bill says. “People think it’s the future, but it’s now.”
To see how your restaurant can benefit from PreciTaste, visit the company’s website.
