01AI-assisted operations
JOEY Restaurant Group
Making room for better operations.
In a busy restaurant, a small systems problem becomes a people problem quickly. I worked on the recurring friction behind reservations and complex guest inquiries.
- minutes for typical drafting and triage
- ~45 → 5
- seats in the operating environment
- 200
- reservations handled per shift
- 100–200
01The problem
Recurring guest inquiries involved similar reasoning and repetitive drafting, while the restaurant still needed a careful, personal response. Separately, recurring double bookings pointed to a failure in the reservation workflow.
02My contribution
I administered OpenTable, working with pacing rules, table allocation, blocking and reporting. That gave me a close view of both the system and the people relying on it.
- Built a triage workflow around classification tags, response templates and Python-assisted repetitive steps.
- Retained a human-review checkpoint before responses went out.
- Traced double bookings to an AM/PM boundary condition and redesigned the verification step around the point where conflicts could occur.
- Documented the procedure so staff could apply the fix consistently.
03The result
Typical drafting and triage fell from approximately 45 minutes to 5 minutes. The booking fix addressed a specific failure in the workflow with a verification step staff could follow.
04The principle
Automate repeatable work while keeping judgment visible. A small, well-placed process change can be more useful than replacing the entire system.
The connected workflow
From one stage to the next.
01Classify the inquiry
Classification tags organise recurring guest inquiries.
02Prepare the response
Response templates and Python-assisted repetitive steps support drafting.
03Review with a person
A person reviews the response before it goes out.
04Send
The workflow retains a careful, personal response.
Timing figures are approximate examples from my experience and refer to typical drafting and triage, not every reservation or the full service process. The workflow graphic is a simplified reconstruction.