{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"HUNGRY.","title":"The Artificial Intelligence Expert: How Restaurants can ACTUALLY use AI to Save Their Restaurant","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":5979,"description":"Restaurants lose bookings because nobody can answer the phone during service. Staff get pulled off the floor to handle repetitive questions, customer emails pile up until after the shift, and enquiries that come in at the wrong moment simply get missed.\nArran Campolucci-Bordi, founder of Ayra and operator of Liverpool institution Casa Italia, is building an AI solution around exactly that problem: a restaurant-trained assistant that can communicate with customers 24/7, understand the individual business and answer questions without adding more work for the team.\nArran joins Dan to explore what AI can actually do for restaurants beyond the hype — from handling guest communication and reservations to analysing margins, labour, menus and customer behaviour. They discuss why AI becomes dramatically more useful once it understands your specific business, how operators are already using ChatGPT and Claude to solve real-world restaurant problems, and where technology should never replace hospitality.\nThe conversation also digs into the brutal economics facing restaurants, VAT, marketing and PR, before Arran shares the remarkable 50-year story of Casa Italia, the importance of consistency, great service and why Liverpool remains unlike anywhere else.\n00:00:00 Intro\n00:01:04 What Is AI Actually Good For?\n00:11:07 Can AI Make Hospitality More Human?\n00:14:07 Why Restaurants Shouldn’t Pay for Reservations\n00:16:08 AI-Powered Personalised Restaurant Marketing\n00:22:15 The Restaurant Margin Problem\n00:25:35 Let AI Analyse Your Restaurant\n00:29:13 Can ChatGPT Fix Your Menu?\n00:34:57 Systemising the Magic of Hospitality\n00:42:50 Turning Gut Instinct Into Data\n00:50:05 Could AI Eventually Run Your Business?\n00:57:16 Why Restaurant VAT Is “The Problem”\n01:03:36 A Marketing Campaign Restaurants Can Learn From\n01:05:07 Why Press Still Beats Influencers\n01:10:00 Growing Up Inside Casa Italia\n01:14:13 Why Casa Italia Never Changed Its Menu\n01:21:18 Three Ingredients of a Great...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/gxmV4UzMdxQXxd72h-fgEanMz6IG37j1u683zTmU0ac/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS85ZGI4/Y2FkNjcwNmEwMDNm/YWUwOTcyZTM0YzYw/YWU3My5qcGVn.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}