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A good menu sells without pushing. Guests understand what they want faster, add extras more easily and make fewer mistakes. That’s why we keep looking closely at menus at Onesix: what goes where, which name works better and which products deserve a little more attention?
We recently started using Claude to do that work smarter. Not as a replacement for hospitality instinct, but as an extra pair of eyes that spots patterns in product names, descriptions and categories at speed. That helps us build menus together with operators that are clearer for guests and perform better on the Kiosk, Online Kiosk and POS.
A digital menu is more than a list of dishes. It decides how quickly guests choose, how much explaining your team still has to do and how often someone adds that drink, sauce or upgrade after all. Especially during busy moments, that makes a difference.
You see this even more clearly on a Kiosk or Online Kiosk. Guests order independently. So your menu has to feel logical right away. No doubt, no long search, no unclear choices. Just see, choose, order.
Claude mainly helps us during the first menu round. We don’t enter secret recipes and we don’t let AI rewrite your full menu on autopilot. We use Claude to see structure and ask better questions.
We look at things like:
Claude is useful here because it connects dots quickly. A menu with 120 products can feel like a lot for a person. For Claude, it’s easy to scan. That means we spot friction faster.
An example. Say a burger spot has twelve burgers, four fries options, separate toppings and three sauces. On paper, everything is right. In practice, guests hesitate too long because upgrades and combinations are spread across the menu.
Claude can help sharpen that structure. For example by grouping burgers by style, showing toppings as logical add-ons and placing popular combinations closer together. Then we check whether that fits the business, the kitchen and the way guests order.
AI points the way. The operator and our team make the call.
Product copy is small, but it does a lot. “Chicken burger” is clear, but not necessarily tempting. “Crispy chicken burger with house sauce” says more. At the same time, it has to stay short enough to scan quickly on a Kiosk.
Claude helps find that balance. We test variants for product names and descriptions, remove unnecessary words and make sure allergens, portion size or important choices stay clear. Not every line has to sound fancy. In fact, the simplest copy usually wins.
Upselling works best when it feels logical. An extra sauce with fries. A drink with a menu. A size upgrade when someone already picked a favourite. It shouldn’t shout. It should help.
With Claude, we find natural combinations faster. Then we use those insights in the Onesix software, for example through add-ons, recommended products and smart categories. That turns upselling into part of the ordering experience, not an annoying pop-up.
Important: we don’t let Claude decide on its own. Hospitality is all about context. A bestseller is not always the product with the best margin. A dish can be important for your brand, even if it sells less often. And sometimes you want more calm in your menu, not more options.
That’s why we combine AI with order data, feedback from operators and our own experience with digital ordering flows. Claude speeds up the thinking. We stay responsible for what goes live.
You notice a better menu in several places at once. Guests order faster. Your team gets fewer questions. The kitchen receives clearer orders. And because add-ons and combinations are shown smarter, average order value often grows too.
For operators, that mainly means more control. You don’t have to guess which menu structure works. You can test, adjust and measure again. That makes your menu stronger every month.
We see Claude as a practical assistant in our product process. Not as hype, but as a tool. It helps us create better menu suggestions faster, write sharper copy and give operators better advice.
The next step? Connect even more to real order data. Which products are often chosen together? Where do guests drop off? Which category deserves more visibility? The more we learn from that, the smarter the Kiosk, Online Kiosk and POS become.
Want to know if your menu can work smarter? Take a look at the Kiosk, see how the Online Kiosk works or feel free to get in touch. We’ll look together at where your menu is already leaving revenue behind today.
Wouter works as a Marketing Specialist at Onesix. This news site offers relevant articles for people working in or interested in hospitality, retail, and amusement parks.
