Restaurant AI tools are now embedded across the quick-service restaurant (QSR) and fast-casual landscape, shaping everything from loyalty programs to digital ordering. A 2025 Deloitte survey found that 82% of restaurant executives plan to increase AI spending in the next year, with customer experience (60%) and loyalty programs (31%) cited as the top areas of expected impact.
These focus areas share a clear throughline: personalization. Restaurants are investing in AI not just to automate, but to elevate—using it to create experiences that feel uniquely relevant to each guest, from loyalty offers to on-screen recommendations.
Tillster industry research shows that consumers increasingly measure value not only in dollars, but in convenience, customization, and the sense of being “known” by their favorite brands. For QSRs and fast-casual brands, AI helps deliver experiences that are more seamless, relevant, and consistent across every channel—enabling them to meet these consumer needs.
In this blog, we walk you through how exactly restaurants are using AI for personalization and what goes into an implementation that effectively drives loyalty, improves efficiency, and grows revenue.
Why restaurants are using AI for personalization
More than half of brands (52%) and over four in five operators (84%) are already seeing a high impact from their AI investments in customer experience, with customer loyalty being the second most impactful area of investment. AI’s ability to draw from data to deliver more personalized and enticing messages is likely responsible for the effectiveness of these use cases.
The more AI personalizes interactions, the higher diners’ expectations climb. Diners themselves increasingly expect restaurants to deliver convenience, customization, and value—setting a new standard for what makes a brand worth returning to.
How guests benefit from restaurant AI
AI can make the ordering journey feel effortless—menus adapt to past behavior, favorite items are easy to reorder, and smart recommendations surface new options that feel relevant instead of random.
Loyalty also becomes more engaging. Instead of generic discounts, AI helps rewards feel both achievable and personal, like nudging a guest toward earning a free coffee when they’re just one purchase away, or surprising a frequent lunch customer with an offer on their go-to sandwich. These touches create the sense that the brand “knows” them, fostering a deeper connection.
How brands benefit from restaurant AI
For brands, the value of personalization shows up directly in the numbers. By tailoring offers to the right guest at the right time, AI drives higher average order value (AOV) and repeat visits. Dynamic upsell and cross-sell engines help increase check size without relying on steep discounts, while loyalty segmentation ensures promotions feel relevant instead of generic.
Deloitte’s global State of AI in Restaurants survey found that 60% of executives expect AI to enhance customer experience and 31% expect it to strengthen loyalty programs—clear evidence that brands see personalization as a lever for growth. And the results are already visible: 52% of brands and 84% of operators report high customer experience impact from AI investments today.
Tillster research further supports this trend. In our 2025 Phygital Index, more than a third of diners (35%) said they are very interested in smart menus that remember past customizations, and nearly as many (29%) want menus built around their personal preferences. That demand translates into measurable business impact for brands that implement AI—stronger loyalty program participation, higher engagement rates, and healthier margins through reduced reliance on blanket discounts.
How restaurant AI powers guest personalization
Restaurant AI delivers personalization at a more granular level by analyzing guest purchase history, ordering patterns, time-of-day behaviors, and even store-level trends—then pairing those signals with dynamic recommendation tools:
Drawing from data to segment more effectively
The foundation of AI-powered personalization is data. A customer data platform (CDP) can centralize information from across channels—mobile, web, kiosks, loyalty, and even in-person transactions—to build stronger guest profiles. With this data, restaurants can deploy micro-segmentation strategies that respond to behavior, timing, and context.
With a CDP to draw data from, AI can act more precisely. It can determine not just who to reach, but when and how. That means deploying the right coupon at the right moment, adjusting upsell prompts at the menu based on what a guest usually orders, or timing re-engagement messages when a loyal diner’s visits start to dip.
Tillster’s CDP is integrated into our ordering and loyalty systems, enabling restaurants to automate this level of precision at scale.
Turning data into revenue-driving upsells with AI recommendations
Once segmentation defines the “who,” recommendation engines determine the “what.” Restaurant AI analyzes order history, trending items, and contextual cues to dynamically suggest upsells and cross-sells in real-time. These recommendations can appear on kiosks, in mobile apps, or during web checkout.
For guests, this creates a sense of being understood—like when a kiosk suggests adding hash browns to a regular breakfast order, or an app surfaces a seasonal beverage that pairs with their go-to sandwich. For brands, it unlocks incremental revenue without relying on steep discounts.
Tillster’s Recommender AI takes this a step further by factoring in local trends, restaurant types, and store-level performance and preferences. Instead of relying only on nationwide trends, the system adapts recommendations to what resonates in a specific location—promoting a regional favorite in one market while spotlighting a high-performing seasonal item in another.
This localized approach keeps recommendations relevant, even when a guest’s personal data isn’t available, by blending local trends with the unique context of each restaurant location.
Personalized loyalty and promotions
One of the biggest pain points in loyalty and promotions today is “generic discount fatigue.” Guests are bombarded with offers, many of which feel irrelevant or unattainable. Restaurant AI helps break that cycle by tailoring rewards to individual habits, spending thresholds, and preferences.
AI can parse through customer and store data to serve incentives that feel both achievable and meaningful—like offering a free drink after just a few purchases for a frequent beverage buyer, or nudging a guest toward a favorite dessert when they’re only a few dollars away from earning it. These small but strategic touches foster emotional connection and trust, turning loyalty from a transactional program into a relationship builder.
By linking loyalty and promotion algorithms with CDP-collected data, brands ensure that promotions feel personalized, not random.
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Best practices for implementing restaurant AI
Realizing the benefits of restaurant AI requires thoughtful execution. Many quick-service and fast-casual restaurants jumped quickly into AI pilots in recent years, only to find that it created more friction than value. To avoid wasted resources, brands should focus on strategies that deliver measurable impact while ensuring the technology complements—not replaces—hospitality.
Start small with measurable use cases
Rather than trying to “AI-enable” everything at once, begin with specific, high-value opportunities such as personalized menu recommendations or targeted offers. These use cases allow brands to prove ROI quickly while building confidence across internal teams.
For example, a Tillster client may start by deploying our Recommender AI across their self-service kiosks. They can then measure the lift in AOV from our central dashboard, before deciding to use AI across their mobile and web applications.
Ensure seamless integrations
AI is only as effective as the systems it connects with. Fragmented, patchwork solutions risk confusing both employees and guests. The best implementations integrate directly with a restaurant’s CDP, loyalty platform, and CRM to create a single, connected experience across channels.
Tillster’s enterprise platform is designed with this interoperability in mind—enabling you to implement AI-powered personalization across web, mobile apps, and kiosks while collecting customer behavior data to fuel better recommendations.
Maintain human oversight
While restaurant AI can automate and optimize at scale, it should never replace the human element of hospitality. Guests still want to feel that real people are behind the brand, ready to step in when technology falls short. Human oversight ensures AI tools stay aligned with brand values, prevent clunky or impersonal interactions, and ultimately enhance—not dilute—the guest relationship.
At Tillster, our data science and marketing teams play a key role in this balance, helping brands interpret results, fine-tune campaigns, and ensure that personalization strategies stay true to both guest expectations and brand identity.
Continuously refine with feedback and testing
AI is not a one-and-done investment. Its real strength lies in learning over time. Restaurants that implement A/B testing and incorporate guest feedback can continually fine-tune recommendations, promotions, and operational workflows. This iterative approach ensures personalization stays relevant as diner preferences evolve. Tillster’s platform supports this with built-in analytics and the ability to test and refine campaigns, allowing brands to keep pace with shifting guest expectations.
Ready to see what Tillster’s AI can do for your restaurant?
