How independent restaurants are actually using AI

It is 6:40 on a Friday. There is a line at the counter, two tickets are late, and the phone has rung eleven times in the last ten minutes. Somebody has to choose between the customer standing in front of them and the one on the line. Most nights, both lose a little.

That scene, more than any product launch, explains where AI has actually landed in independent restaurants. It is not in the kitchen, and it is not writing the menu. It is on the phone, in the schedule, and in the marketing nobody has time for.

Where adoption really is

The numbers are lower than the vendor pitches suggest, and they are climbing fast.

• Across all Canadian industries, Statistics Canada found 19.2% of businesses used AI to produce goods or deliver services in the year to the second quarter of 2026. That is up from 6.1% two years earlier. Among businesses with one to four employees, the figure was 19.9%.
• In the US, the National Restaurant Association's 2026 report found 26% of restaurant operators use AI-related tools. Only 6% use it for customer orders.
• In Canada, TouchBistro's survey of 600 independent full-service operators, released in January 2026, found 79% feel positive about AI. Adoption is focused on "reservations, inventory management, staff scheduling and menu optimization".

The same TouchBistro survey explains the interest. 94% of operators are spending more on labour than a year ago, and 79% report staffing gaps, averaging 5.3 missing employees per restaurant. AI is being bought to cover the gaps, not to replace a full team.

Use one: answering the phone

This is the most visible use, and the one with the most real-world reporting behind it.

In January, the Boston Globe profiled two New England operators using Loman, an AI phone service. Tony Naser, who owns Crush Pizza and Mickey's N.Y. Pizza, put it simply: "We can't imagine going back to like a Friday night and answering the phones." Costa Alexandrou turned it on at 3 of his 12 Nick's Place locations after his counter staff graduated high school and moved away.

Base Camp Pizza Co., which runs three busy pizzerias in the Lake Tahoe area, took the same route with an agent built by VoicePlug AI. Owner Ray Villaman told PMQ Pizza Magazine that it captures 25–30% more calls, and that large-party reservations rose by the same margin. He had no plans to lay anyone off.

The vendors' own figures are bigger. Loman told the Globe its system is 98.6% accurate, that its customers save about US$2,500 per store per month in labour, and that 66% of its restaurant clients cut roughly one shift a day. Treat those as sales claims. They come from the company selling the product, not from an independent study.

What went wrong

The Globe's reporting is useful because it didn't stop at the wins.

• Some customers hate it. Of more than 1,700 Google reviews across Naser's restaurants, only 20 mention the AI or "robot phones". But most of those 20 were one or two stars.
• Wrong orders still happen. One customer asked for plain grilled chicken and got marinated chicken instead. The AI hadn't flagged that the plain option wasn't available. She got no refund and hasn't ordered again.
• Getting to a human can be hard. Another caller described getting stuck in automated loops.

Brenz Pizza Co., an eight-location operator in Columbus, Ohio, is piloting a similar system with rules worth copying. Co-owner Kyle Rosch told PMQ the bar is that "the success rate of an accurate order has to be 99% or higher". Their plan has the agent announce that it is an AI, gives callers easy "trapdoors" to reach a person, and budgets staff time every day during the pilot to train it.

Use two: the back of house

This is where TouchBistro's Canadian operators say they are actually putting AI: reservations, inventory, scheduling and menu decisions. It is less dramatic than a talking phone agent, and much less likely to upset a customer.

The practical point is that most of these tools arrive as features of software you already pay for. TouchBistro found 95% of Canadian independents already use a POS system. Scheduling and inventory products increasingly build forecasting on top of the sales data that POS already holds. Before buying anything new, check what your current POS and scheduling plans include, and what the next tier up costs.

Use three: marketing

Of the uses the NRA survey broke out, marketing was the most common: 19% of full-service operators and 15% of limited-service operators use AI to help with it. That means drafting social posts, menu descriptions, newsletters and replies to reviews.

It is also the lowest-risk place to start. Nothing reaches a customer until someone on your team reads it. The failure mode is bland copy, not a wrong order.

What it costs

The phone is the only line where the saving is easy to measure. If twenty calls go unanswered on a Friday and your average phone order is $40, up to $800 walked away that night. Your phone provider's call log will give you the first number; your POS gives you the second.

The privacy part

An AI phone agent collects names, phone numbers, order histories and, often, a recording of every call. The Globe notes Loman records every call so restaurants can personalize service for repeat customers.

Under PIPEDA, which covers private businesses across Canada (Quebec, BC and Alberta have their own similar laws), your customers need to know what you collect and why. Before you sign, ask the vendor:

1. Where are recordings and transcripts stored, and for how long?
2. Are they used to train the vendor's models?
3. Can you delete a customer's data if they ask?

Then say it in the greeting: the caller is talking to an assistant, and the call is recorded.

When not to bother

• Your phone isn't the problem. If you get a handful of calls a night and someone answers them all, an AI agent solves nothing.
• Your orders are complicated. Heavy allergy questions, custom catering or a menu that changes daily all push accuracy down. Route those to a person.
• Your regulars come for the people. For some restaurants, the voice on the phone is part of the product. Losing it can cost more than the missed calls did.

Where to start

1. Count before you buy. Pull two weeks of missed and abandoned calls from your phone provider, and see which hours they cluster in.
2. Check what you already own. Ask your POS, reservation and scheduling vendors what AI features are in your plan now.
3. Pilot small, with an exit. One location or one shift. Announce the AI, give callers a one-step route to a person, and read the transcripts every week for the first month.

If you want a second opinion on whether it's worth it for your restaurant, book a call with us.