Field notes
for the modern restaurant.
Ideas, tools, and lessons from operating real hospitality businesses. Short enough to read between services, sharp enough to change tomorrow's pre-shift.
The latest widgets, tools, and AI prompts we're using right now.
A rotating shortlist of free resources for hospitality operators — from no-cost software to copy-paste prompts for Claude and Gemini that earn back an hour of your week.
Google NotebookLM
Drop in your training manuals, recipe books, and SOPs. Ask questions, generate quizzes, and even produce an audio recap for managers on the commute.
Slack (Free)
Free team messaging with channels for FOH, BOH, and managers. Searchable history beats a GroupMe scroll, and free is plenty for most single-unit operators.
7shifts Free Plan
Up to 30 employees on one location at no cost. Solid starting point for indie operators leaving paper schedules behind.
Google Forms + Sheets
Underrated stack for line checks, opening/closing checklists, and incident reports. Pipe responses into a Sheet, then ask Gemini to summarize the week.
Canva for Nonprofits / Free
Specials, menu inserts, and social posts without a designer. The free tier covers 90% of what a single-unit operator actually ships.
Qwick
On-demand hospitality professionals when someone calls out. Post a shift, get a vetted server, bartender, line cook, or dishwasher in hours — no agency contract.
Give your AI a standing brief
Once a week, open Claude, ChatGPT, or Gemini and update its memory or custom instructions with: your concept and city, average check, seat count, current weekly sales, top 3 KPIs you track, and the names of your GM and chef. Every prompt after that gets sharper answers automatically — no more re-explaining your business each session. In Claude, use Projects + custom instructions. In ChatGPT, use 'Customize ChatGPT' and turn on Memory. In Gemini, use Gems for a saved persona per use case (P&L analyst, menu engineer, copywriter).
Helpful Claude, Gemini & ChatGPT prompts for hospitality.
Twelve copy-paste prompts grouped by difficulty. Each one is built to accept an uploaded PDF (P&L, menu, schedule, reviews) or pasted text/tables. Edit the bracketed bits to match your concept.
Daily pre-shift note
"You are my opening manager. I'm attaching today's reservation list, weather, and any 86'd items [upload PDF / paste text]. Write a 5-bullet pre-shift note the team can read in 60 seconds: VIPs, allergies, push items, weather impact, and one focus for service."
Guest review responder
"Act as my GM. Here is a recent guest review [paste text or upload screenshot/PDF]. Draft a public reply under 80 words that is warm, specific, takes accountability where due, and invites them back — without sounding like a chatbot."
Specials description writer
"Write a one-line menu description (under 18 words) for this dish: [paste ingredients or upload the recipe PDF]. Then give me a second version for Instagram with one emoji and a clear call to come in this week."
Shift recap email
"Turn these manager-on-duty notes [paste notes or upload PDF] into a clean end-of-shift recap email for ownership: covers, sales vs. forecast, 2 wins, 2 issues, and 1 thing to follow up on tomorrow. Keep it under 150 words."