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."
Menu engineering pass
"Act as a menu engineer. Here is my menu with sales counts and food cost % per item [upload PDF or paste table]. Classify each item as Star, Plowhorse, Puzzle, or Dog, then propose two concrete menu changes (re-price, re-describe, re-position, or 86) with the expected weekly margin impact."
Manager 1:1 prep
"I have a 30-minute 1:1 with my [GM / Sous / Bar Lead] tomorrow. Recent context: [paste notes or upload last week's reports PDF]. Draft an agenda with one win to acknowledge, two operational topics with specific questions to ask, and one development question that pushes them without putting them on defense."
Job description rewrite
"Rewrite this job posting for a [role] at a [concept type] in [city] so it reads like a human wrote it, takes under 60 seconds to skim, and is honest about the hard parts. Keep it under 250 words. Original: [paste text or upload PDF]."
Schedule sanity check
"Here is next week's schedule and the matching sales forecast [upload PDF or paste table]. Flag any day where labor % looks off vs. forecasted sales, suggest specific cuts or adds by shift and station, and call out anyone scheduled into overtime."
Weekly P&L narrator
"You are my CFO. Here is last week's P&L vs. the prior 4-week average [upload PDF or paste numbers]. In under 200 words, tell me the three things that moved the needle, the one line item I should be embarrassed about, and the single decision I should make before Monday service."
Concept positioning teardown
"Act as a hospitality strategist. Here is my brand brief, menu, and 10 recent reviews [upload PDFs or paste text], plus 3 direct competitors' menus and price points. Identify where I'm undifferentiated, where I'm overpriced or underpriced, and the single positioning move I should make in the next 90 days."
Catering / private events pricing model
"Build me a tiered private-event pricing model. Inputs attached: current menu with costs, average labor rates by role, and last 6 months of event P&Ls [upload PDFs or paste tables]. Output: 3 packages (per-person price), target food cost %, labor model, and the minimum spend that protects a 25% contribution margin."
Investor / lender update
"You are my CFO writing a monthly update to investors. Inputs: trailing 3 months of P&Ls, cash position, key initiatives, and any variance from plan [upload PDFs or paste data]. Produce a 1-page update with a headline, a 5-bullet financial summary, operating highlights, risks, and the specific ask (capital, intros, decisions)."