# How Craftable is Using AI to Protect Restaurant Margins and Human Hospitality

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/tech-talks-daily-3579/how-craftable-is-using-ai-to-protect-restaurant-margins-and-human-hospitality
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/tech-talks-daily-3579/how-craftable-is-using-ai-to-protect-restaurant-margins-and-human-hospitality.md
Podcast: [Tech Talks Daily](https://stenobird.com/podcast/tech-talks-daily-3579)
Published: 2026-07-26T00:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://techtalksnetwork.com/
Audio file: https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/techblogwriter/Tech_Talks_Daily_Craftable.mp3?dest-id=289572
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/tech-talks-daily-3579/episodes/how-craftable-is-using-ai-to-protect-restaurant-margins-and-human-hospitality
Duration seconds: 1709

## Resource

What if a restaurant could identify a margin problem while the ingredients were still being unloaded, rather than discovering it several weeks later? In this episode of Tech Talks Daily, I speak with David Cantu, CEO of Craftable, about AI restaurant back-office technology, margin intelligence, inventory management, purchasing, invoice automation, and the continuing importance of human hospitality. David has spent decades working in restaurants and technology. He describes an industry dealing with staffing difficulties, rising leases, food inflation, lower traffic, and relentless margin pressure. David cites a National Restaurant Association study indicating that 40% of restaurateurs were not profitable during the previous year. Craftable connects purchasing, recipe management, inventory, accounting, sales data, and analytics. The company says its platform is used by over 10,000 restaurants, hotels, and venues. David argues that useful hospitality AI should automate the work that keeps managers, chefs, and operators away from guests. This includes producing sales forecasts, suggesting orders, planning preparation, identifying invoice anomalies, and comparing projected labor with actual requirements. The conversation becomes particularly practical when David describes a restaurant receiving a ribeye that has increased in price by 20%. If the dish is a popular, high-margin menu item, that vendor increase can quickly reduce its profitability. Craftable's Invoice AI can detect the change when the invoice is received. The operator can then consider running a higher-priced chef's special, promoting another steak, reviewing the menu price, or adjusting future orders. Waiting until month-end reconciliation would explain the lost margin but leave no opportunity to recover it du…

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