What this is, and what you'll have.
Claude is an AI assistant, like ChatGPT. Cowork is the grown-up version of it: instead of just answering questions in a chat box, it opens your files, does real multi-step work, and runs on a schedule while you're on the floor. This is your plain-English reference for setting it up. Use it before you start, during setup, and every time you get stuck.
The four levels of AI
Where you are now, and the one rung almost nobody has climbed to.
Open → 03 · LearnThe four words
The whole Cowork vocabulary, in restaurant terms. No jargon.
Open → 06 · Install10-minute setup
Download, connect Drive and Gmail, run your first test prompt.
Open → 07 · ExecuteRun three tasks
Small wins that show Cowork actually doing real work.
Open → 08 · ScaleUse cases
Nine real plays, ranked by impact. Start with three this week.
Open → 12 · DecideNext 48 hours
Three things to do now, plus the builds we handle for you.
Open →Write down every task that ate your day.
Every email you send twice. Every text to a supplier. Every "what's the special?" Every thing you re-explain to a new hire. Every report you build by hand. Keep the list nearby. It's your shortlist for what to automate first.
Hours on back-office admin
Most owners are stuck on the bottom rung.
There are four ways to use Claude. Each one does more of the work for you. Cowork is the top, and it's the one almost nobody has climbed to yet.
Copy-paste
You ask Claude to write a menu description. You copy it, paste it into your site. Useful, but you're still doing all the moving.
Your restaurant, remembered
You set up a Project (a saved workspace inside Claude) and tell it your concept, your menu, your voice, once. Now the output sounds like your place, not a generic bot.
Thinking partner
You bring a problem, a dead Tuesday, a brutal review, a jump in food cost. Claude brings questions, options, and a plan. You decide together.
Cowork, it does the work
Claude opens your Drive, reads your files, drafts the vendor orders, replies to the reviews, writes the specials, and saves it all to the right folder, on a schedule, while you're running service.
Rule Think it through in chat. Build it in Cowork. The rest of this guide gets you to Level 4.
The Cowork vocabulary, in restaurant terms.
You don't need to be technical. You need four words. Each one hands Cowork more of your world, from a single connection to a whole crew that already knows the job.
Built-in bridges to the tools you already use. Set them up once in Settings → Connectors and sign in once to give permission. From then on Cowork can read those files and add to them for you, only what you point it at.
The custom phone line. MCP (short for Model Context Protocol) is how you connect the tools that don't have an official connector yet, your POS, your reservations, your scheduling app. A bit more technical, and you can skip it on day one. You won't need it for your first wins.
Pre-written instruction sets for one specific job. When Cowork sees a matching task, it loads the skill automatically. Some are built in; the best ones you build yourself.
Bundles of skills and connectors packaged around one job. Install one and get a whole set of ready-made helpers at once, nothing to wire up.
Chat vs Cowork, when to use which.
This is the most important call you'll make every day. It decides your speed, your output quality, and how much of your monthly usage budget you burn through.
- Questions, ideas, and back-and-forth
- One topic at a time
- You upload the files yourself
- Answers stay in the chat window
- Barely touches your budget, so it's cheap
- Multi-step tasks, executed start to finish
- Reads and writes your Drive, Gmail, calendar
- Saves files directly to the right folder
- Runs on a schedule while you're on the floor
- Uses more of your budget, save it for real work
The rule I live by.
Think it through in chat. Build it in Cowork.
When you have a new workflow in mind ("I want a weekly specials post"), open chat first and go back and forth until you know exactly what you want. Then switch to Cowork and hand it the finished job: "Build this. Pull from my Specials doc. Save to my Social folder." Jump straight to Cowork with a half-formed idea and you'll waste money on the meter (the usage cap you set in Setup) and get sloppy output. Chat is for thinking. Cowork is for doing.
Every good prompt has four pieces.
Getting generic answers? One of these is missing. You're not searching Google, you're briefing a new team member on their first day.
Who to be
Claude is a generalist until you give it a job. Then the answers get sharp.
Your world
Claude has zero memory in a new chat. Context turns generic into yours.
What "done" looks like
Length, structure, how many versions. Don't say it and Claude decides, usually wrong.
How it sounds
What makes it sound like you wrote it, not a robot. And what to avoid.
Act as my social media manager for a neighborhood Italian trattoria in Fort Lauderdale. We're a 45-seat BYOB spot; our guests are locals 30-55 who care about handmade pasta and a warm room, not fine dining, not a red-sauce joint. Write 3 Instagram caption options, each under 150 words, ending with a soft question. Warm and unpretentious, like the owner talking, not markety, not corporate.
Truth Short prompts equal generic answers. Every. Single. Time. The more context you give, the better the output.
A Cowork prompt is an assignment, not a question.
You're not asking, you're handing off a task. Every Cowork prompt needs four things. Miss one and Cowork guesses.
Where's the input?
Folder name, doc title, date range. “Emails from the last 7 days.” Vague sources → vague results.
What to do
One clear action. Two tasks? Two prompts. “Draft a reply to each catering inquiry.”
What it looks like
Bullets, a table, a Google Doc? Say it, or Claude picks, sometimes badly.
Where it goes
Save to a folder, send as a draft, paste here. Be exact.
Money & usage.
Set this up before you experiment. You will not accidentally rack up a giant bill, and here's exactly how to make sure.
A single restaurant running daily inbox, reviews, and weekly specials rarely comes close to a $50 cap after the first month. You can raise it any time.
Set yours in 2 minutes.
Open Settings in Claude Desktop
Gear icon, bottom left.
Click Usage
You'll see current spend, your cap, and auto-reload settings.
Set your monthly cap
Starter recommendation: $50 to $100 while you learn. Raise it any time. Hit the cap and Claude just stops. No overages, ever.
Turn on email notifications
So you see every top-up. Keeps you fully in control.
Three rules Use chat (not Cowork) for anything conversational. Start new chats instead of running one forever. If you could have answered it with a Google search, you don't need Cowork for it.
Ten minutes, start to finish.
Don't move to step two until step one is done. If a step errors, check the FAQ before you panic.
- 1Claude Desktop: one app you install on your computer. That is the whole thing.
- 2Cowork: a tab inside that app. It is the mode that does the work.
- 3Claude in Chrome: a free browser add-on (install once) that lets Cowork use websites that don't connect directly, like your Google reviews.
- ✓A Mac, or a Windows PC on the Pro version (not Home). Not sure? Search "about your PC" and look at the edition.
- ✓A Claude Pro plan (the right one for most single restaurants), plus a monthly usage amount you set a limit on.
- $Roughly $20/mo for Pro, plus a $50 to $100 usage cap you set while you learn. Hit the cap and it just stops. No surprise bills.
Download Claude Desktop
Search Claude download desktop app and click the official result from Anthropic (the company that makes Claude). Install it like any app.
Switch to the Cowork tab, then set your budget
Open Settings and switch to the Cowork tab. Then, under Settings → Usage, set a monthly spending cap of $50 to $100 while you learn, raise it anytime. Hit the cap and Claude just stops. No overages, ever.
Connect your three starters
In Settings → Connectors, connect Google Drive, Gmail, and Google Calendar. Sign in to each once. Turn on email notifications while you're there.
Point it at your Drive, not your Desktop
Point Cowork at your Google Drive folder on this computer, the one that syncs online (no folder like that? Install "Google Drive for desktop" first and it creates one). Not Downloads. Not Desktop. That folder is its workspace.
Run your first test
Type this in the Cowork box:
Go into my Google Drive and tell me the names of the 5 most recently modified files.
Real file names come back? You're live. If it errors, go back to Connectors and sign in to Google Drive again.
Keep guest and payment data out of it.
Never point Cowork at card numbers, full guest payment records, or employee SSNs. That data stays in your POS and your payroll system, full stop. It's a hard privacy and card-security line you never cross.
Use Cowork for the other 90%: operations, marketing, scheduling comms, vendor work, reviews, onboarding, and admin. When you pull sales or labor reports, pull the numbers, never the raw card data.
Pick one. Run it today.
Three small wins that show Cowork doing real work. Do one, look at the output, and you'll get it. Always have Cowork show you a draft before it sends anything.
Your service line-up
A short brief of what's coming today and what to watch, before the doors open.
Check my Google Calendar for today. List every reservation and event with the time and party size. Then give me 3 priorities for service based on what's coming. Keep it short. Send it here, no doc needed.
A doc into captions
Turn any doc you already have into a week of things worth posting.
Open [doc name] in my Google Drive. Read it. Pull the 5 most interesting dishes, stories, or moments a guest would care about. Give me each in one sentence plus a short Instagram caption idea.
Label the chaos
One pass over your inbox so every email lands where it belongs.
Go through the last 7 days of my Gmail inbox. For every email, apply the right label: Vendors, Guests, Catering/Events, Staff, Finance, Read Later. When done, tell me the count per label and flag any you were unsure about.
Use cases, answered.
Each play is a real, running workflow. Expand it for what you need first and the exact words to paste into Cowork, then adjust the folder names. Start with the first three this week.
One command Some prompts start with /schedule daily 9:00am. That's a real command you type. It tells Cowork to run the task on its own at that time. Put it on the first line, then write your task on the lines below.
dailyThe inbox that sorts & answers itself
Labels every new email and drafts replies to anything that needs you.
- Before you schedule it
- Gmail connected, plus Claude in Chrome for the labeling pass
- Your labels created: Vendors, Guests, Catering/Events, Staff, Finance, Read Later
- An “AI Workspace” folder in Drive for the daily summary
/schedule daily 9:00am Use Claude in Chrome to open Gmail. Check all unread emails from the past 24 hours. For each one: 1. Read the sender, subject, and first lines. 2. Apply the right label (Vendors, Guests, Catering/Events, Staff, Finance, Read Later). 3. If it needs a personal reply, a guest complaint, a vendor issue, a catering lead, draft a reply in my voice, under 200 words. Save as draft. Do not send. Then save a summary 'Inbox Summary [today's date]' in my AI Workspace folder: who each draft is for, one line each, and anything flagged for me.
dailyThe morning line-up
Today's covers, events, and 3 priorities, before you unlock the door.
- Before you schedule it
- Google Calendar connected (sync your reservations onto it, or note big parties there)
- Optional: a Slack or notes channel where your team drops the day's flags
/schedule daily 8:00am Check my Google Calendar for today. List every reservation and event by time with party size and notes (VIP, allergy, private room). Then give me 3 priorities for the day, where the pressure is, who to greet personally, and any slow window worth a same-day promo. Keep it short. Send it here.
weeklyThe review desk
Reads the week's new reviews and drafts a reply to every one, in your voice.
- Before you schedule it
- Claude in Chrome, logged into your Google Business / Yelp account
- Your Brand Guardian skill set up so replies sound like you (it's in "The AI team" section, it's what keeps everything in your voice)
/schedule weekly Monday 10:00am Use Claude in Chrome to open my Google Business reviews. Read every new review from the past 7 days and draft a reply in my voice for each (save as draft): - Positive: warm, specific thanks that names what they said, invites them back. Under 60 words. - 3-star or lower: gracious, takes ownership, moves it offline. Never argue. Flag anything about health, safety, or staff conduct for me personally. Save a 'Reviews [week of date]' summary in my AI Workspace folder.
weeklyThe specials + content engine
Writes the week's specials copy and 5 captions in your voice, Sunday night.
- Before you schedule it
- Google Drive connected · your Brand Guardian skill set up first (see "The AI team" section)
- A “Specials & Ideas” doc in Drive, dump 20+ dishes/ideas you've been sitting on
- A “Social Content” folder for the output
/schedule weekly Sunday 7:00pm Open my 'Specials & Ideas' doc in Google Drive. Use the next 5 unused ideas (mark each used). With my Brand Guardian skill, for each write: (1) a short menu-board/website line for the special, and (2) one Instagram caption in my voice, under 150 words, ending with a soft question. Add a suggested posting day. Save as 'Week of [next Monday] Content' in my Social Content folder.
weeklyThe vendor order draft
Turns your par sheet into ready-to-send order emails for each purveyor.
- Before you schedule it
- A “Par Levels” doc in Drive: each item, its par, and this week's count
- A vendor list with who supplies what and their order email
- Gmail connected for the drafts
Open my 'Par Levels' and 'Vendors' docs in Google Drive. For every item below par, calculate the quantity to order back up to par and group by vendor. For each vendor, draft a separate itemized order email in Gmail addressed to their order contact. Save as drafts, do not send. List what you drafted and anything ambiguous.
weeklyThe SOP sweep
Flags any checklist or SOP that's gone stale, so your systems don't rot.
- Before you schedule it
- All your SOPs in one clearly-named Drive folder, opening/closing, line checks, host stand, cleaning
/schedule weekly Friday 3:00pm Go to my SOPs folder in Google Drive. Identify any document not modified in 90+ days. List them with a one-line note on what likely needs a refresh. Save as 'SOP Review [date]' in my AI Workspace folder.
on demandThe new-hire onboarding manual
Reads every SOP and builds a 30/60/90 plan for a new server, host, or cook.
- Before you run it
- Your SOPs, role descriptions, and training docs in one Drive folder
- An “HR” folder for the output
Go to my SOPs folder in Google Drive. Read every doc on front-of-house service and floor operations. Build a 30/60/90-day onboarding plan for a new server (Week 1, Month 1, Month 3): what they should know, what they can do alone, how I'll know they're on track. Include a first-week checklist with shift-by-shift focus (menu, POS, steps of service, allergens, closing). Save as 'Server Onboarding Manual [date]' in my HR folder.
on demandThe catering proposal builder
Turns an event inquiry + your packages into a tailored proposal draft.
- Before you run it
- A “Catering” folder with your packages, pricing, and menu options
- The inquiry email in Gmail (or paste it in)
Read the catering inquiry from [name] in my Gmail. Open my Catering folder for packages, pricing, and menus. Draft a warm proposal email: restate their plan (date, headcount, style), recommend the best-fit package with 2-3 menu options, give per-head pricing and what's included, end with one next step to lock the date. My voice. Save as a Gmail draft and a copy in my Catering folder.
on demandRepurpose the room
Turns one great night, event, or interview into weeks of content.
- Before you run it
- A transcript, notes, or recording summary in a Drive folder (a chef's-table night, a press interview, a wine dinner)
Go to my Events folder in Google Drive and read the most recent transcript or notes. Pull the 10 most compelling moments (a dish story, a guest reaction, the chef's philosophy). For each: the insight in 1-2 sentences + an Instagram caption in my voice (under 150 words, ends with a question). Then draft 3 website FAQ answers from what guests asked. Save as 'Content Bank [date]' in my Social Content folder.
Looking at all this and thinking “not this week”? We'll wire it up for you. Free 20-minute plan first, yours to keep, no pitch.
Book a free call →What to schedule, and when.
The rule: anything you do on a cadence can be scheduled. Anything one-off stays manual. Here's the playbook.
Runs before you open
- Inbox organizer, labels every new email
- Inbox triage, drafts replies for anything that needs you
- Morning line-up: today's covers, events, and 3 priorities
- Review watch, flags any new Google or Yelp review
Runs around your rhythm
- Sunday 7pm, next week's specials + social captions
- Monday 8am, the weekly numbers recap
- Friday 3pm, SOP sweep + end-of-week catch-up
Runs at the top of each month
- P&L snapshot pulled from QuickBooks
- Vendor price-creep report across purveyors
- Menu-cost review from your latest invoices
Run these when you need them
- A catering proposal for a new inquiry
- A new-hire onboarding plan
- A one-off event or promo recap
Rather not set all these schedules yourself? We wire the whole cadence for you. Free 20-minute plan first, yours to keep.
Book a free call →The AI employees behind a modern restaurant.
Every one of these is an automated skill or workflow that replaces hours of human work. You can build your own version of each, or have us build the whole crew.
The Chief of Staff
Sweeps the last 48 hours across your inbox, calendar, reviews, and sales report. Hands you one prioritized rundown so you walk in already knowing what needs you.
The Review Responder
Drafts a reply to every new review in your voice, warm to the good, calm and fixing-it to the bad. Nothing posts without your nod.
The Brand Guardian
Writes every post and special in your voice, holds your do's and never-says. The one skill everything else runs through.
The Catering Coordinator
Turns every inquiry into a tailored proposal and a follow-up, so private-event revenue stops leaking through the cracks.
The Vendor Desk
Reads your counts, drafts the orders, watches for price creep across purveyors. You review and send.
The CFO
Pulls a monthly financial picture from QuickBooks, revenue, labor, and food cost, so you see the trend before it becomes a problem.
The Brand Monitor
Scans what other spots in your area are posting and what's trending, so you're never caught flat-footed on your own feed.
The HR Director
Builds the 30/60/90 plan and the first-week checklist from your own SOPs. An HR manager for an afternoon.
Start with three: Chief of Staff, Review Responder, and the Brand Guardian. That alone gives most owners back 10+ hours a week. Everything else layers in as you grow.
Want the whole crew wired up for you? We build your restaurant's set of skills, connected and scheduled, in about a week.
Book a call →The questions every owner has.
Your next 48 hours.
Three specific things to do before you get slammed again. Do these and you're already ahead of almost everyone who read this.
Complete in order.
Install Cowork + set your budget
Download the desktop app, sign in, connect Drive, Gmail, and Calendar, set your monthly cap at $50 to $100, turn on email alerts. Run the confirmation test prompt.
Do the 5-minute exercise
Write down every task you do in a typical day. That list is your shortlist for what to automate first.
Run one of the three starter tasks
Calendar prep, a doc into content ideas, or the inbox cleanup. Pick one, run it, look at the output.
The things this guide doesn't cover.
The guide gets you self-sufficient on the everyday wins. These are the higher-leverage builds most owners want next, and they're the parts where doing it yourself quietly breaks or eats a weekend:
- A review-response agent that replies to every new Google and Yelp review, in your voice, on autopilot.
- A full brand and voice system so every post, reply, and menu line sounds unmistakably like your place.
- End-to-end automations that run a whole workflow start to finish, not just draft it.
- Your POS, reservations, and scheduling apps wired in through custom connections.
- Multi-location rollouts and staff training so it actually sticks.
- A quarterly tune-up as your menu, team, and season change.
Which one are you? Do it yourself if you've got an evening and like tinkering. Book a call if you'd rather it just be wired up and working this week.
We find the one automation that pays for itself, then wire the rest: the connections, your restaurant's set of skills, the schedules. You show up, review, approve.
- A free 20-minute call with Andres (the founder, not a salesperson). We map the three tasks that eat your week, name the first one to automate, and write you a plain 1-page plan.
- The plan is yours to keep, even if we never work together. No pitch on the call.
- Straight pricing. Most first builds are a one-time flat fee, plus your Claude subscription. You get the exact number on the call.
- You stay the owner. We work inside your own accounts, access revocable in one click, and we never touch your POS or card data.
- Fix-it-or-refund. If your first automation isn't clearly saving you time in 30 days, we fix it or refund the build.
Not ready to talk? Email us the 3 tasks that eat your week and we'll reply with which one we'd automate first and roughly what it'd cost, no call needed. We work around service: before 11am, after 10pm, or we call you after close.