AI by NicheJob 2 of 15ChatGPTGemini
Cut the menu to what sells and plan stock for each event
Two owners say the same thing: too many dishes means too much prep, too much waste and a queue nobody enjoys. The fix is a short menu and a stock plan built from what you actually sold last time. AI can work from your own sales by dish and turn it into a menu shortlist, a prep list with a margin for error and a note of what could be sold out first. It cannot judge whether food is safe to sell, so storage and discard decisions stay with your food safety system.
Time: About 45 minutes, then 15 minutes before each eventTool cost: you can start with a free AI tool
Steps
- List every dish on your menu with the number sold, the portions wasted and the ingredient cost per portion at your last two or three events.
- Mark the dishes that need their own equipment, extra prep or an ingredient that nothing else uses, because these cost the most time.
- Decide how many dishes the kitchen and the team can really produce at speed for this event, and write a target waiting time for the queue.
- Paste your sales and costs into the prompt and ask for a shortlist of dishes to keep, drop or combine, and a prep and stock list for the expected number of portions you give.
- Cross-check the stock list against your supplier order dates and your cold storage space, and keep a written note of what you will do with anything unsold.
The exact prompt
I am a UK street food trader planning stock for one event. Use ONLY the figures below. Do not guess the number of customers, do not use any benchmark, and do not say whether any food is safe to keep, sell or throw away; that is for my own food safety system. Event type and length: [text]. Expected portions I plan to sell in total (my own estimate from past events): [number]. Number of people cooking and serving: [number]. Equipment I will have: [list]. For each dish: sold at my last [number] events [list]; portions wasted [list]; ingredient cost per portion £[amount]; selling price £[amount]; prep time per portion [minutes]; ingredients that no other dish uses [list]. Produce: (1) a table ranking dishes by gross profit per portion and by prep minutes per portion; (2) a suggestion of which dishes to keep, drop or combine, with the reason from my figures; (3) a prep and stock list for my expected portions with a margin of [percentage]% that I have chosen; (4) the dishes most likely to sell out first and a plan for what I say to customers; (5) five questions to ask myself about what to do with unsold stock. Show every sum.
✓ Check before you send
- The sales and waste figures come from your own tallies, not from memory.
- The dish count matches what your team and equipment can produce at speed, and the target queue time is realistic for you.
- Stock quantities are matched to your supplier order days and your cold storage space.
- Nothing in the output tells you whether food is safe to keep or sell, and your own food safety records decide what to discard.
- You have kept a note of the actual sales to improve the next plan.
UK notes extra
- Food businesses must have a food safety management system, and your council food team decides whether yours is adequate. Use it, not AI, to decide storage and discard rules. GOV.UK: running a food business, your responsibilities.
- If you change the dishes or ingredients, update your allergen information at the same time. See the allergen job in this guide. Food Standards Agency: allergen guidance for food businesses (England, Wales and Northern Ireland).
Last reviewed Oct 2026. Free tools change. If a screen looks different, the steps still apply.Back to top ↑