Glossary
What is an AI waiter?
An AI waiter is a digital assistant on a restaurant's menu that answers guests' questions about dishes, ingredients, allergens, dietary fit, pairings and recommendations, in plain language, grounded in the restaurant's real menu. Unlike a robot waiter (physical hardware that carries food), an AI waiter lives in the QR menu on the guest's phone and only answers from what the restaurant has published.
The distinctions people mix up
What an AI waiter
is, and isn't.
AI waiter vs robot waiter
AI waiter
A digital assistant inside the menu on the guest's phone. It answers questions about the food.
The other thing
A physical robot that carries plates to a table. It moves food; it doesn't answer questions about it.
AI waiter vs a chatbot
AI waiter
Grounded in one restaurant's real menu. It answers about dishes, allergens and pairings, and nothing it can't see.
The other thing
A general website widget for FAQs and support. It doesn't know your menu or what's good tonight.
AI waiter vs a QR menu
AI waiter
A menu that answers. Guests ask in their own words and get a specific reply.
The other thing
A static PDF on a phone. It shows the menu; it can't respond to a question.
How tamr's AI waiter works
Honest, specific,
and grounded.
A restaurant uploads its menu. tamr reads the dishes, ingredients, allergen tags and prices, and the owner approves them.
Guests scan the QR code, open the menu, and ask the AI waiter anything, in their own language. It answers only from the approved menu, and points to staff when a severe allergy needs a human.
Every question is recorded for the owner, so the restaurant learns what guests wanted to know.
See an AI waiter in action.
Try the live demo, or read more about what guests ask and what owners learn.