Run the first service on AIR

Open your iPad or laptop and start at the AIR dashboard. The dashboard is the morning check, and the cutover portal is the launch checklist.

What you'll see

• Daily brief — yesterday's revenue + month pace + one "what to watch" observation. This is your morning 5-second readout.
• Inbox — flagged items needing your attention (reviews, refunds, supplier alerts). Number badge if anything is new.
• Period selector — Today / Yesterday / This Week / Last Week / This Month / Last Month / YTD / Custom. Most operators live on Today.
• Channel breakdown — dine-in vs phone vs online vs third-party delivery, by sales mix.

Your daily 5-minute routine

1. Read the daily brief. Note anything off.
2. Click into the Inbox if there's a number on it.
3. Scroll to AI Performance to see how the AI tools moved the needle yesterday (upsells, missed call recovery, review responses).
4. Open Maestro to ask any follow-up question (see section 7).

Same iPad you're reading this on can be the POS. Tap Service in the top nav.

Order flow

1. Pick a table from the floor plan (or start a To-Go).
2. Tap menu items. They appear on the right-side ticket.
3. Tap an item to add modifiers, special instructions, or remove.
4. Tap Send. Items route to the kitchen station that owns them (grill / fryer / salad / expo).
5. To add more during the same meal: just tap items. Send again.

Voids vs comps — what's the difference?

• Void = pulled before the kitchen makes it. No food was wasted. Manager PIN required.
• Comp = food was made, customer is not paying for it (apology, manager promo, owner promo). Manager PIN required + reason code.

Every receipt — printed, emailed, or texted — has a QR code on it that does two things at once.

What customers see

1. Customer scans the QR.
2. Lands on a phone-friendly page asking: "How was your visit?"
3. 5 stars → directs to Google Reviews / Yelp.
4. 1–4 stars → captures feedback privately + alerts the manager. Customer never reaches a public review site.
5. Below the rating: Reorder button — pre-fills the cart with their last order on the restaurant's direct-order site.
6. Loyalty signup: phone field. One tap. They're a member.

Why this is the moat

Most independent restaurants can't pull customers off DoorDash because the customer's phone never enters their system. AI-R's Smart Receipt does both: catches negative reviews privately AND converts third-party customers to direct via the reorder QR.

Run out of an ingredient or a dish? Tap the menu item, then tap 86. AI-R immediately:

• Greys it out on the POS so servers can't enter new orders.
• Removes it from AIR-controlled customer channels. Third-party menus follow once the delivery/KitchenHub integrations are live.
• Sends a notification to the kitchen so cooks know.
• Logs the 86 event so you can see in tomorrow's report how much revenue you walked away from (estimated).

Un-86

Item back in stock? Tap it, tap Un-86. Live again everywhere.

Two related concepts that drive different behavior:

• Daily specials — items not on the regular menu. Set the price + active hours. Show up in pre-shift briefings, on the restaurant site, and in the POS.
• Push items — regular menu items you want servers to upsell tonight (because you over-ordered or the margin is high). Surface in the pre-shift briefing as "tonight's push."

How to set

1. Tap Menu → Daily Specials → New.
2. Pick a name + price + active window.
3. Optional: write a server-facing note ("tell guests it's our spring squash with browned butter").
4. Save.

For push items: Menu → tap an existing item → toggle Push tonight.

What happens next

• Pre-shift briefing for tonight includes the special + push items.
• The restaurant site shows them in the "Today's Specials" strip above the menu.
• Tomorrow morning's report tells you the sell-through rate. The bulgogi special: did it move?

The pre-shift briefing is what every staff member sees on their phone (or printed) at the start of their shift. It shows:

• Tonight's specials with descriptions + price
• Push items + the reason
• What's 86'd (so they don't get caught flat-footed)
• Allergen alerts (kitchen-flagged)
• Yesterday's recap (busy / slow / what worked)

How to add a custom note

Manager / chef: Menu → Pre-Shift → write a 2-3 sentence note. Things like "the new salmon dish takes 14 min, plate hot, finish with chive at the pass." Goes out automatically with the next shift.

Maestro is your AI restaurant advisor. Three lenses, one chat interface. Open the floating Maestro widget and choose CFO, Ops, or Marketing depending on the question.

The three lenses

How Maestro answers

Maestro pulls real AIR data and Orion restaurant knowledge. When it states a number, it should show where that number came from. When it cannot answer safely, it should say so and ask for the missing context.

Joe is your AI phone host. He answers every incoming call. Takes orders. Books reservations. Answers menu questions. Sounds human.

The 1-2 week ambient learning period

Joe should shadow real service before becoming the primary phone path. He listens to servers and managers during normal service to learn:

• How customers actually pronounce your dishes
• Which modifiers are commonly asked
• Which items pair (so he can upsell intelligently)
• What questions guests ask repeatedly

During this window, calls can still go to staff first while Joe listens and learns. Activate him only after the voice test, browser order test, resolver QA, texting path, and transfer number are clean.

Watching Joe's progress

Channels → Phone AI → Joe's Learning Status. Shows:

• How many calls he's heard
• How many menu items he recognizes
• His confidence score (0-100)
• When he'll be ready to go live

When a customer signs up via the receipt QR, they become a loyalty member. They get a personal wallet tied to their phone number and receipt token.

What members see in their wallet

• Their points balance + tier (Bronze / Gold / VIP)
• Their last order with a one-tap reorder button
• Their favorite items with quick-add
• Available rewards they can redeem

How members earn

• 1 point per $1 spent (default; you can change in Settings)
• 2× points on their birthday
• Bonus points for first-time signup
• Bonus points for referring a friend

How members redeem

At checkout, one tap applies points to the order. Cashier sees the discount applied.

At end of shift / end of day, AI-R guides you through the close ritual.

The close checklist

1. Drawer count — tap Service → Close → enter cash on hand. Variance > $5 surfaces for review.
2. Comps + voids review — the day's comps and voids. Anything unusual? Manager note required for variance > $25.
3. Tip pool — calculation runs automatically. Review the breakdown before approving.
4. Deposit — generate deposit slip with cash + check totals.
5. End-of-day digest — emailed/SMS'd to you with the summary.

Fastest fixes for common issues

• POS won't print to kitchen? — Settings → Printers → re-pair the affected station. 90% of the time, it's a Bluetooth/Wi-Fi reconnect.
• Card reader frozen? — Power-cycle the Square or Stripe terminal. AI-R auto-reconnects.
• Wi-Fi out but you need to take orders? — POS keeps working in offline mode. Orders sync when Wi-Fi comes back. Card payments require connectivity (use a hotspot).
• An item is showing up wrong on the menu — Menu → tap the item → fix it. Changes publish across AIR-controlled customer channels.

Where to ask for help

• Maestro — first stop for any operational question. Maestro often knows the fix.
• Cutover portal — flag the blocked item so AIR has the page, pattern, and context needed to help.
• AI-R support — 8 AM – 1 AM EST every day. Emailhi@ai-restaurant.net or chat in-app.