"Automation for Perth Cafés, Restaurants and Venues: Bookings, Rosters and Reviews"

Short answer: a Perth café, restaurant or venue should start by automating bookings and reminders, rosters and timesheets, stock and supplier orders, and review requests. These tasks repeat every day, follow the same steps, and when they go wrong you see it straight away in no-shows, wage costs or wasted stock.

Why hospitality is a good fit for automation

Hospitality runs on routines: opening and closing, ordering, rosters, bookings and payroll. The same tasks happen every day and every week, which is exactly what automation does well. Meanwhile managers spend their time on the floor, so the admin gets pushed to late nights.

What to automate first

1. Bookings, confirmations and no-show reminders

Online bookings should confirm automatically and send a reminder before the visit, with an easy way to cancel or change. This reduces no-shows and frees the phone line during service. For functions and larger groups, an automatic reply can collect the details you always need: date, number of guests, menu preferences and deposit.

2. Rosters and timesheets

Rostering against the award is time-consuming. Under the Hospitality Industry (General) Award, rates change for evenings, weekends and public holidays, so mistakes are expensive in both directions. Rostering software connected to your payroll in Xero or MYOB, which also handles Single Touch Payroll reporting to the ATO, removes most of the manual work. The automation part is making sure approved timesheets flow into payroll without retyping.

3. Stock and supplier orders

Reorder alerts when stock falls below a set level, and standing orders for items you buy every week, reduce both running out and over-ordering. Supplier invoices can be captured from email and sent to your accounting software for approval instead of being typed in.

4. Reviews and feedback

A short message after a visit asking for feedback, with a link to your Google review page, helps you collect more reviews. Negative feedback can be sent privately to the manager so you can respond before it becomes a public review. Many diners check Google reviews before choosing where to eat.

5. Enquiries outside opening hours

Many enquiries arrive when you are closed or in the middle of service. An automatic reply with your hours, menu, booking link and function information answers most questions without anyone picking up the phone.

Where AI helps in hospitality

AI is useful for reading and drafting: summarising reviews to see what customers mention most, drafting replies to reviews for a manager to approve, or answering common questions on your website. It should support your team, not replace the personal service customers come for.

Customer data and privacy

Booking systems store names, phone numbers, emails and sometimes dietary or health information. Limit who can access it, do not export customer lists to personal devices, and make sure automated messages respect people's choices about marketing. If you use customer data for newsletters, keep a clear record of consent.

Where to start

1. Count the no-shows, after-hours enquiries and hours spent on rosters and ordering in a typical week.
2. Pick the one costing you the most, often no-shows or rostering.
3. Check what your booking, POS and rostering systems can already automate and connect.
4. Automate that first, measure for a month, then move to the next.

EAXIS is a Perth-based team that sets up automation for hospitality businesses, with security included. We offer a free 30-minute discovery session, in English or Spanish, to review your current setup and recommend what to automate first.