Introducing AI Forecasting: A new way to predict and plan restaurant operations with accuracy
Crunchtime's industry-leading forecasting engine is now even more powerful with the addition of a new machine learning algorithm that predicts customer demand with accuracy.
Accurate demand planning is essential to any restaurant brand’s success. To meet this challenge head-on, we are excited to introduce our new AI forecasting capabilities, designed to improve forecast accuracy and help our customers better prepare for peak times, manage inventory more effectively, reduce waste, and optimize their labor.
Let’s take a closer look at how this new capability is making an impact
Boost Accuracy with AI Forecasting
Built on the foundation of Crunchtime’s existing top-rated forecasting solution for restaurants, AI forecasting provides a new way for customers to predict demand. During testing, locations saw an improvement of up to 27% in forecast accuracy when using the AI forecast. Other store locations have seen improvements of over 50% accuracy.
Improvements will vary across different store locations, explained Crunchtime Product Manager, Katie Barriga. “Crunchtime’s forecasting engine is already very strong, with many of our locations consistently forecasting within 10% of their actuals (based on MAPE). So for these locations, the question becomes how we can shave off a few more percentage points for even greater accuracy. How can we get more stores within 5% of actuals? AI is a really exciting tool to help us do this.”
Simplify Forecasting for Every Manager
Crunchtime’s AI forecasting can help managers skip the learning curve of forecasting, by automating the process.
“The restaurant landscape has become too competitive for managers to spend all their time in the back office using guesswork to forecast sales, order food, and schedule staff,” said John Raguin, CEO of Crunchtime. “By incorporating AI into our already powerful forecasting engine, we’re delivering even better results. At one store location, the AI forecast was within 13 cents of actual sales, and the algorithm is only going to improve from here.” Read the press release here.
Now, managers can let AI handle the calculations, giving them more time to focus on running the operation.
How AI Forecasting Drives Actionable Recommendations for Improved Profitability
Accurate forecasting directly impacts your biggest expenses. Just like Crunchtime’s other forecasting options, the AI forecast data is directly integrated into other areas of the Crunchtime platform to create actionable recommendations for managers around your food and labor operation. These include:
AI forecasting helps take the guesswork out of ordering inventory, food prep and scheduling for your managers, giving them valuable time back to focus on their in-person interactions with guests and the team.
How it works
With just one click by the user, the AI forecast uses a machine learning algorithm to analyze a vast amount of historical data from the specific store location and the larger brand. The AI forecast generates a value that is based on your expected amount of sales, number of guests, or number of checks.
AI forecasting is fast and easy for every restaurant manager to use, no matter their tenure or experience level. Customers of Inventory Management and Labor & Scheduling will find AI forecasting listed as the newest default forecasting option in their forecasting screens.
What’s Next
As we continue to innovate in the realm of ops excellence for restaurants, we are committed to providing solutions that meet the evolving needs of the industry. AI forecasting is an exciting new enhancement to our industry-leading forecasting solution that will give restaurant operators even more power and flexibility to forecast their sales. AI forecasting is the first of many exciting applications of AI that Crunchtime will deliver to help restaurants and their teams thrive.
Ready to see AI forecasting in action?
Let’s get in touch. Request a demo today.