One platform.
Replaces 7 subscriptions.
Restaurants pay $990–2,050/mo for Toast or Square plus six other tools. AI-R replaces all of it for $69.95–199.95 per location.
Per location · Payment processing at cost (2.6% + 10¢ via Square / Stripe — no markup)
How it actually works
Your restaurant, in plain English
Operators don't learn a dashboard. They open Claude Desktop on their laptop, type a question, and get a real answer from the POS — scoped to their restaurant only. 19 tools live in production right now.
›
19
Tools live in production
< 60s
Tenant onboarding time
15+
Cross-restaurant patterns
What she types
Real questions, real tools, real answers
Every question routes to the right tool, scoped to the caller's restaurant. Tenant keys never see another restaurant's data.
› “How's tonight at Chan Nara?”
$2,847 on 38 orders so far. Avg ticket $74.92. Top: Pad Thai (12). Up 18% vs same time last Tuesday.
→ air_today_summary
› “How's tonight vs same day last week?”
Tonight is up: $2,847 vs $1,920 (+48.3%). 38 orders vs 24 (+58%). Top item swapped: Pad Thai displaced Tom Yum.
→ air_compare_periods
› “Who hasn't been in for a month?”
12 lapsed regulars, ranked by lifetime spend. Top: Sarah K. — $847 lifetime, last visit 34 days ago. 8 reachable by SMS.
→ air_who_came_in
› “Why is my prime cost up?”
70% for 3 weeks puts you in distress territory. Pull food cost % and labor cost % separately. Per the Prime Cost Playbook, the most common culprits are labor bloat or portion drift…
→ air_ask_cfo
› “86 the salmon”
Salmon Sashimi is 86'd. Disappears from POS, website, and online ordering immediately.
→ air_eighty_six_item
› “Set the omakase to $48”
Omakase: $42.00 → $48.00. Square sync picks this up within ~60 seconds.
→ air_set_price
› “Make pad thai today's special, 12 portions”
Pad Thai is now today's special with 12 portions. Limited-quantity specials auto-86 when remaining hits 0.
→ air_set_special
› “Drop these 50 photos and match each to my menu”
Vision-matched 47/50 to existing items. Salmon Sashimi attached. Pad Thai attached. (3 ambiguous — please disambiguate.)
→ air_upload_image
› “Text my regulars about tonight's pad thai special”
Preview: 87 opted-in members in audience. Confirm to send. Reply STOP auto-handled.
→ air_send_announcement
› “How do I troubleshoot the printer?”
Loaded restaurant/onboarding-troubleshooting-runbook. Step 1: check Wi-Fi. Step 2: try a different iPad. Citing 12,863-byte runbook from prior go-lives.
→ air_search_patterns + air_get_pattern
› “Save this fix as a pattern”
Saved as [PROPOSED] in the AI-R team's review queue. Next restaurant onboarding will see this once promoted.
→ air_propose_pattern
› “What's been happening on AIR today?”
37 tool calls, 0 failures. Top: air_today_summary ×12. Tammy 86'd the salmon at 3:42pm.
→ air_get_activity
For the full architecture deep-dive, read the walkthrough →
Architecture
Two systems. One conversation. Tenant data never escapes.
Tenant surface (AIR)
Operators live here
- • Claude Desktop / Cowork
- • 19 AIR-MCP tools
- • Per-restaurant scoped key
- • Audit log per call
- • Self-serve subscriptions
Server-to-server bridge
narrow-scope service keys
Institutional brain (Orion)
AI-R team + IP moat
- • 15+ patterns with gotchas
- • Onboarding runbooks
- • 12 CFO playbooks (~237 RAG chunks)
- • Decision log + narratives
- • Cross-restaurant benchmarks
Bidirectional knowledge moat
Patterns + runbooks accumulated across every restaurant the platform has ever served. Tenants consume them via air_search_patterns. Tenants contribute back via air_propose_pattern. Reviewed + promoted by the AI-R team. Compounds with every onboard.
15+
patterns + runbooks live
Cross-system intelligence bridge
When a tenant asks 'why is my prime cost up?', AIR's server proxies into Orion's CFO playbook agent (12 long-form playbooks, ~237 RAG chunks). Tenant gets the answer with citations. Tenant key never reaches Orion.
$0.017
per CFO answer with citations
60-second onboarding
Spin up the next restaurant via one CLI command. Provisions the restaurant row, loyalty program with default rewards, owner role, AIR-MCP key, draft cutover checklist on Orion.
< 60s
from CLI to ready-for-Claude-Desktop
Audit + TCPA-grade compliance
Every tool call logged with caller, restaurant, args preview, success/failure, duration. SMS sends require explicit opt-in; preview/confirm pattern + 5-min token expiry; STOP-webhook auto-applies opt-outs from Twilio inbound.
100%
of tool calls audit-logged
What it costs
Three tiers. Per location. No surprises.
AI-R Starter
Run your restaurant.
$69.95/mo
per location · no contracts
$220–449/moSave ~$200/mo
vs Toast/Square POS + Homebase + PreShifter
- ★Smart Receipts — turn DoorDash customers into direct orders
- ★Maestro AI — CFO + Ops lenses, always on
- ✓POS — native iOS + Android app
- ✓AI menu upload (photo/PDF → parsed)
- ✓Floor plan + table map
- ✓KDS + kitchen ticket routing
- ✓Coursing + course firing controls
- ✓Expo station view
- ✓86 system with auto-propagation
- ✓Staff management + PINs + roles
- ✓Timeclock + break tracking
- ✓Scheduling (weekly grid + templates)
- ✓Tip pooling + 1-click export to payroll
- ✓Section assignments + tip-out
- ✓Bar tabs — open, split, transfer, close
- ✓Daily specials + pre-shift briefings
- ✓Owner dashboard + daily digest
- ✓QuickBooks export
- ✓Square or Stripe processing at cost
AI-R Pro
+ delivery and food cost discipline.
$129.95/mo
per location · no contracts
$490–949/moSave ~$400/mo
+ DoorDash/UE/GH aggregator + MarginEdge + Maestro Marketing
- Everything in Starter, plus:
- ★Maestro Marketing Lens — daily specials + menu engineering AI
- ✓DoorDash, Uber Eats, GrubHub orders → AI-R kitchen tickets
- ✓Toggle platforms on/off (slammed? pause Uber)
- ✓Channel pricing — protect delivery margins
- ✓Menu sync to all delivery platforms
- ✓Recipe costing + plate cost (real, not theoretical)
- ✓Invoice OCR — auto-update vendor costs
- ✓Inventory tracking + low-stock alerts
- ✓Food cost variance + waste logging
AI-R Premium
+ growth, voice, multi-location.
$199.95/mo
per location · no contracts
$990–2,050/moSave ~$1,200/mo
+ Slang.ai + Birdeye + Owner.com + Meta Ads
- Everything in Pro, plus:
- ✓Phone AI — answers 100% of calls, takes orders
- ✓Website builder + zero-commission online ordering
- ✓Custom domain on your own URL
- ✓Review management + AI response generation
- ✓Google Business Profile sync + SEO monitoring
- ✓Social media posting (AI-generated)
- ✓Auto Meta + Google ad campaigns
- ✓Competitive intelligence (9-platform scan)
- ✓Multi-location dashboard + cross-unit benchmarking
- ✓Chargeback Guard (3rd-party dispute automation)
- ✓Priority support
3+ locations? Talk to us about volume pricing.
★ Included on every plan
Smart Receipts turn DoorDash customers into direct orders.
Every receipt has a QR code that bounces customers from third-party platforms back to your direct ordering page. Your customer saves the platform fee. You stop paying 25–35% commission on repeat orders.
No competitor offers this. Toast, Square, and SpotOn are paid by the platforms. We're not.
Smart Receipt + Reorder QR
[product screenshot]
What AI-R Replaces
Industry-standard subscription costs for the tools AI-R replaces.
📱 POS System
Toast / Square for Restaurants / SpotOn
$69–200/mo + fees
Included in Starter
📅 Scheduling + Timeclock
7shifts / Homebase / When I Work
$50–100/mo
Included in Starter
🌐 Website + Online Ordering
Owner.com / Popmenu / BentoBox
$200–500/mo + commission
Included in Premium
📋 Pre-Shift Briefings
PreShifter
$99/mo
Included in Starter
⭐ Review Management
Birdeye / Podium / Ovation
$200–300/mo
Smart Receipts in Starter · Full in Premium
📊 Food Cost + Inventory
MarginEdge / xtraCHEF
$300–600/mo
Included in Pro
🔗 Delivery Aggregation
Otter / Chowly / ItsaCheckmate / KitchenHub
$70–150/mo
Included in Pro
📞 Phone Answering AI
Slang.ai / Popmenu AI
$200–400/mo
Included in Premium
Total Subscription Replacement Value
$990–2,050
What restaurants pay today (per month)
$69.95–$199.95
AI-R replaces all of it
$790–1,850
Monthly savings
What can AI-R do for your restaurant?
AI-R pays for itself three ways. Estimate yours below.
💰 1. Revenue generation
Capture missed phone calls + AI upsells you're not making today.
🗑️ 2. Waste savings
Predictive prep, expiry alerts, and waste tracking cut food cost.
💸 3. Software stack savings
Replace your POS + scheduling + website + 5 other subscriptions.
Revenue AI-R generates
Tell us about your restaurant's revenue. We'll estimate how much new revenue AI-R captures from missed calls and upsells you're not making today.
Your monthly revenue by channel
Even rough estimates work. The split is what matters.
Missed phone calls
Every unanswered call is a customer who wanted to give you money. Phone AI answers them all.
AI-R capture rates — drag to watch the math change
Industry-typical capture rates pre-set. Sliders update the dollar amounts to the right in real time.
Joe (phone AI) suggests add-ons + upgrades on every phone order
Smart suggestions based on cart contents + past orders
Detects "Can I get a..." and "What do you recommend?" tableside
Catches "Oh, we also wanted..." before the check closes
💰 Revenue AI-R generates
👆 Enter your revenue + missed calls above to see the sliders generate live capture estimates.
Food waste AI-R saves
AI-R uses predictive prep, expiry alerts, and waste tracking to reduce your food cost. Tell us your monthly food spend and how aggressive you want the estimate.
Total food + beverage spend per month
Industry typical: 1–3% reduction. Aggressive operators see 4–5%.
🗑️ Waste savings
👈 Enter your monthly food cost to see the slider generate a live savings estimate.
Software stack AI-R replaces
Pick what you're paying for today. Pick “None” for categories you don't use. AI-R bundles all of these into one subscription.
Want to see your actual numbers?
These are estimates. Upload your POS sales report and we'll calculate your real opportunity based on your menu, your volume, and your current tool costs.
Upload Your Menu & Get Real Numbers →Free. No credit card. No sales call. Takes 60 seconds.
What's not included (so you can budget)
- →Payment processing fees. AI-R passes through Square or Stripe rates at cost — currently 2.6% + $0.10 in-person, 2.9% + $0.30 keyed. We don't mark up processing.
- →Hardware. AI-R runs on any iPad you already own. If you need new tablets ($329+) or a Square/Stripe card reader ($59–399), buy them direct from the vendor at retail. We don't lock you into proprietary hardware.
- →Optional add-ons. Twilio SMS for win-back campaigns (~$0.01/msg), additional ElevenLabs voice minutes beyond included pool. Surfaced clearly in the dashboard.
- →Migration labor. Switching from Toast or Square mid-contract and need extra menu re-entry help beyond AI menu upload? Beta operators get free white-glove migration. After the beta, paid migration starts at $500.
FAQ
I'm currently on Toast or Square. How hard is migrating?
Hardest part is menu data — and AI menu upload handles 80–90% of it from a photo or PDF in under 60 seconds. Staff PINs, modifiers, table layouts export from your current POS via standard reports, then re-import into AI-R. Realistic timeline: 30 days side-by-side parallel running, full cutover on a weekend. Toast 2-year contract still active? Run AI-R alongside Toast during parallel — many operators time the cutover to contract renewal to avoid early termination fees.
What's the side-by-side beta?
For 30 days, you run AI-R in parallel with your existing system. We mirror your real orders into AI-R so you see what your reports, costs, and margins would look like — without changing how you take orders today. If the numbers don't speak for themselves at day 30, walk away. No charge. The beta is free for the first 50 operators.
What's the actual processing rate? No gotchas?
We pass through Square or Stripe at cost — currently 2.6% + $0.10 in-person, 2.9% + $0.30 keyed/online. We don't add markup. We don't take a cut. You see the same statement Square or Stripe sends. Compare: Toast adds $0.40 per online order on top of processing. We don't.
What if I just want one feature — like Phone AI?
Premium ($199.95/mo) is the cheapest path to Phone AI today. We're considering à la carte add-ons (Phone AI standalone, review management standalone) for late-2026. Honest take: most restaurants discover Phone AI is the entry point but Maestro + Smart Receipts are why they stay. The bundled price beats buying Phone AI alone from Slang.ai ($300+/mo).
I have 3+ locations. What's the deal?
Multi-location operators get volume pricing — typically 15–25% off the per-location rate, plus dedicated onboarding and a named success manager. Contact us with rough headcount and unit count and we'll send a quote within 48 hours.
Cancel anytime — really?
Really. No long-term contracts. Cancel from the dashboard. Your last bill is for the month you cancel. We'll export all your menu data, customer list, and historical reports as CSV / JSON the day you cancel. Compare: Toast 2-year contracts. SpotOn 36-month. We'll never do that.
Who's actually using this?
AI-R is live at Chan Nara (Middleburg, VA — Thai casual). Ember & Azure (Leesburg, VA — pan-Asian wood-fire) opens June 2026 on AI-R from day one. We're in beta with additional operators across the DC metro and Northern Virginia.
Built by owners — what does that mean?
Neil Metzger (founder) operates Chan Nara. Every feature in AI-R was built because Neil hit a wall trying to run his own restaurant on existing tooling. Smart Receipts came from watching DoorDash customers never come back direct. Maestro came from spending Sunday mornings reconciling 7 dashboards. Most restaurant software is built by software founders. AI-R is software built for operators by an operator.
Free white-glove onboarding for first 50 beta operators.
Migrating from Toast or Square? We handle menu re-entry, staff setup, and 30 days of parallel-running. No charge.