A restaurant kitchen runs on thin margins and thinner patience. Between menu planning, supplier negotiations, staff rotas, marketing, and the endless admin nobody warned you about in culinary school, the actual cooking can feel like a side project. AI won’t chop your onions — but it will happily write your menus, cost your dishes, draft your Instagram captions, and answer the awkward customer email you’ve been avoiding.
Below are 30 ready-to-use prompts, organised by the real jobs of running a kitchen and a dining room. Copy, paste, and fill in the brackets with your details. One habit that makes all of these work better: in your first prompt of a session, tell the AI your context once — cuisine type, price level, city, and any dietary focus. Everything after that gets sharper.
Menus and recipe development
1. “Act as an executive chef specialising in [cuisine]. Create a 3-course autumn set menu for [number] covers at a [casual/fine-dining] restaurant in [city], priced at €[X] per person. Include one vegetarian main and note seasonal ingredients available in Europe in autumn.”
2. “I have these surplus ingredients: [list]. Suggest 3 specials I can run this weekend that use them up, with prep times under 30 minutes and food cost under 30%.”
3. “Write an evocative 2-sentence menu description for [dish name], a [description of dish]. Tone: refined but appetising, no clichés like ‘mouth-watering’ or ‘to die for’.”
4. “Convert this recipe from 4 portions to 60 covers, adjusting cooking times and equipment notes for a professional kitchen: [paste recipe].”
5. “Create a tasting menu narrative — a short story arc across 6 courses for [theme, e.g. ‘a walk through the Black Forest’]. Each course gets a name and a one-line story.”
6. “Suggest 5 dessert ideas that fit a [cuisine] menu, cost under €2.50 per portion in ingredients, and can be prepped a day ahead.”
Costing, suppliers and waste
7. “Here’s my dish with ingredient quantities and supplier prices: [paste]. Calculate the food cost per portion, the food cost percentage at a €[X] menu price, and suggest where I can trim 10% without hurting quality.”
8. “Draft a polite but firm email to my [produce/meat/fish] supplier asking for a [X]% price reduction, citing [reason: volume increase / competitor quote / long relationship]. Keep it professional — I need this relationship.”
9. “Analyse this week’s waste log and identify the top 3 patterns: [paste log]. Suggest concrete changes to ordering or prep to cut waste by 20%.”
10. “Create a simple weekly stock-take checklist for a [size] kitchen covering dry store, fridges, and freezers, organised by storage zone.”
11. “Compare these two supplier quotes for [product] and recommend which is better value, factoring in delivery fees, minimum orders, and quality notes: [paste both].”
Marketing and social media
12. “Write 5 Instagram captions for photos of [dish/event], each under 150 characters, with 3 relevant hashtags. Tone: [playful/elegant]. Include a call to action for weekend bookings.”
13. “Draft a 150-word ‘about our new menu’ announcement for my restaurant’s website. Restaurant: [name], cuisine: [type], city: [city], what’s new: [details]. Warm, personal tone — write as the owner.”
14. “Create a month of social media content ideas (3 posts per week) for a [cuisine] restaurant in [city], mixing dishes, behind-the-scenes, staff spotlights, and local events.”
15. “Write a Google Business profile description (750 characters max) for [restaurant name], highlighting [cuisine, specialities, atmosphere, location]. Include keywords locals would search for.”
16. “Draft a press release (300 words) for local food media about [event/new menu/award]. Include a quotable line from me as [owner/head chef].”
17. “Write the text for a table tent promoting our new [lunch deal/tasting menu], 60 words max, with a clear offer and booking prompt.”
Customer reviews and communication
18. “Write a gracious reply to this 5-star Google review: [paste review]. Personal, specific, under 60 words.”
19. “Write a professional reply to this 2-star review complaining about [issue]. Acknowledge the problem, apologise without grovelling, invite them back — no defensive language: [paste review].”
20. “Draft an email to guests about our Christmas/New Year opening hours and special menu, warm tone, with an early-booking incentive.”
21. “Create a template response for dietary requirement enquiries (allergies, vegan, halal, gluten-free) that is reassuring, accurate about what we can and can’t guarantee, and GDPR-friendly — no unnecessary personal data collected.”
22. “Write a polite ‘we’re fully booked’ message for [date] that suggests an alternative date and captures the guest’s details for the waitlist.”
Staff, training and operations
23. “Write a clear job advert for a [commis chef / sous chef / front-of-house] position at [restaurant name] in [city]. Include responsibilities, what we offer, and working hours. Compliant with [country] employment law basics.”
24. “Create a 1-page onboarding checklist for new kitchen staff covering hygiene, safety, station setup, and our house standards.”
25. “Draft a weekly rota for [number] staff across [lunch/dinner] services, respecting [country] maximum working hours and rest-day rules. Staff and availability: [list].”
26. “Write a 5-minute pre-service briefing script for tonight: [covers] expected, specials are [dishes], 86’d items: [list], and one upsell focus.”
27. “Create a short training guide (one page) on [allergen awareness / wine service basics / handling complaints] for front-of-house staff with no prior experience.”
Strategy and growth
28. “Analyse my restaurant concept and suggest 3 realistic revenue streams beyond dine-in: [describe concept, location, size]. Consider European market realities — delivery apps, private dining, retail products.”
29. “I’m considering raising menu prices by [X]%. Draft a short, honest message to regulars explaining the change, and suggest a pricing strategy that protects our most price-sensitive dishes.”
30. “Act as a restaurant consultant. Here are my last quarter’s numbers: [revenue, food cost %, labour cost %, covers]. Identify the single biggest lever I should pull next quarter and give me a 4-week action plan.”
Further reading: 35 AI prompts for small business owners and how to plan your weekly meals with AI.
How to get the best results
Three rules separate useful output from generic filler. First, always give context once per session — your cuisine, city, price point, and constraints. An AI that knows you’re a 40-cover bistro in Lyon writes very differently from one guessing you’re a Berlin fine-dining spot. Second, iterate: the first answer is a draft, not a verdict. “Make it shorter”, “more formal”, “add a vegetarian option” — two rounds of refinement usually get you to something genuinely usable. Third, verify everything that touches money or law — food costs against your real invoices, employment wording against your country’s rules, allergen statements against what your kitchen actually does. AI is a brilliant sous-chef for words and numbers; you’re still the head chef.
Used this way, these 30 prompts can genuinely hand you back several hours a week — hours better spent where they belong: in the kitchen, with your team, and with your guests.