For cafés
The espresso machine can't sit down and enter sales at 10pm.
TableAI runs your café operations through WhatsApp. No tablets, no logins, no time between shots.
The problem
Three things cafés forget by end of shift
A café's margin hides in small things. The beans, the milk, the tray of pastries that didn't sell by four. Most of it never gets written down, which is exactly how it slips away over a month. None of these need a bigger system to fix. They need the numbers to actually exist somewhere you'll look. It's the same habit behind tracking café inventory in five minutes a day, just done by text.
Beans running out
You notice at 4pm when there's 200g left. Now you're calling the roaster who's closed.
TableAI alerts you at 2pm when it hits your reorder point.
What sold and what didn't
You know it was busy. You don't know if the new pastry actually moved.
TableAI shows yesterday's item-level breakdown before you open today.
Who was late
Sarah was 20 minutes late Wednesday. By Sunday, you can't remember which day.
TableAI logs it as it happens. Weekly summary in your Sunday briefing.
How it works
One WhatsApp thread. Whole shift.
There's no app to open and no dashboard to learn. You already live in WhatsApp all day, and TableAI works right inside it.
Text what happened
"Sold 180 today, got 6 litres of milk, beans running low." Plain sentences, in whatever language you speak. No forms and no set format.
It logs and remembers
Sales, ingredient stock, who worked, and supplier numbers all get recorded and kept in order, without a spreadsheet or a training session.
Read your 7am briefing
Before you open, you get yesterday's sales, what's running low, and who's in. A two-minute read with your first coffee.
A day in the café
From open to close, in one thread
The briefing lands before you unlock the door. Yesterday did $420, oat milk is low, and Sarah is on the open.
Mid-rush you fire off "out of almond croissants." Tomorrow's prep won't be a guess.
A quick "beans down to 2kg" and it flags the reorder before the roaster closes for the day.
You cash out with "sold 210, binned 4 pastries." That is the whole admin. One more message and you are done.
Being honest
TableAI won't replace your card reader.
- It doesn't process payments — keep your Square/Stripe
- It doesn't take table reservations — use OpenTable if you need that
- It doesn't schedule shifts across 20+ employees — 7shifts is better for that
- It doesn't do payroll — Gusto/QuickBooks handles that
It does one thing: keep your daily operations in your pocket, so you're not remembering everything in your head.
Why this matters
The margin behind your morning latte
4-10%
Purchased food wasted by restaurants
$162B
Annual U.S. industry cost from food waste
42%
U.S. operators saying their restaurant wasn't profitable in 2026
Sources: USDA · National Restaurant Association · NRA 2026 Restaurant Industry Report
Good to know
What café owners want to know first
Do I need a POS or card machine to use TableAI?
No. TableAI is not a POS and does not process payments, so you keep whatever card reader or cash setup you already use. It tracks the numbers behind the counter, not the transaction at it.
How do I enter sales when I am busy behind the machine?
You text them in a sentence whenever there is a gap, usually after the rush or at close. There are no forms, no fields, and no set format to remember.
Can it handle a café that sells both drinks and food?
Yes. You can track anything you sell, from coffee to pastries to lunch, and see what actually moved in your morning briefing.
What does TableAI cost?
Flat pricing of roughly $29 to $49 a month, and it is free while we are in early access. There is no per-transaction cut and nothing to install.
Does it work in my language?
It understands more than 20 languages, including Roman Urdu, so you can text it the way you would naturally talk.
Still comparing options? See our flat pricing, or weigh up a full POS with TableAI vs Square.
Keep learning
Guides for running a lean café
Ready to run your café from your apron pocket?
Free during early access · No card required · Nothing to install