For restaurant owners · Front desk and inquiries
Answer hours, parking and menu questions
Replies to the everyday guest questions about hours, parking, walk-ins and tonight's menu, written only from the answers you paste in.
The prompt
Paste it into ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini and fill in each part in [BRACKETS]. Restaurant owners, managers and whoever runs the host stand.
I run a restaurant. Guests ask me the same questions every week, and I answer them by hand between tables. I want replies written from my own answers so they come out right every time. What I have: - The guest questions, one per line, copied as they came in: [GUEST QUESTIONS] - My answer sheet: hours, holiday hours, parking, walk-ins, the patio, kids and anything else I get asked: [MY ANSWER SHEET] - Tonight's menu or this week's changes: [MENU NOTES] - How I sound with guests: [MY TONE] What I want: 1. Match each question to the answer on my sheet or in my menu notes. 2. Write a short reply to each one in my tone. 3. If my notes do not cover a question, do not make up an answer. Put it on a list for me. 4. At the end, tell me which questions came up that my answer sheet should cover next time. Rules: - Write a draft for me to read. Do not send anything. - Use only what I gave you. If something is missing, ask me instead of guessing. - Never quote a price, promise a table or claim anything I did not give you. - If a question is about an allergy, ingredients for a diet or anyone's health, do not answer it. Mark it for a person who knows the kitchen. - Leave out guests' card details and anything about their health. Give me back: - A reply to each question my notes answer - The questions you could not answer, for me - Lines to add to my answer sheet
When to use it
The same questions come in every week by message and comment: are you open on the holiday, where do I park, do you take walk-ins, is the patio open.
When not to
Do not use it for an allergy or dietary question, a complaint or a question about a bill. An allergy question goes to a person who knows the kitchen, never to a draft.
What to paste in
- [GUEST QUESTIONS]: The questions as guests wrote them, one per line, without names or phone numbers.
- [MY ANSWER SHEET]: Your standing answers in plain words: hours, holiday hours, parking, walk-ins, patio, kids, private events.
- [MENU NOTES]: Tonight's menu or what changed this week, with the prices taken off.
- [MY TONE]: Three or four words for how you sound, or a reply you have sent before that you liked.
Never paste
- Guests' last names, phone numbers or card details
- Anything a guest told you about an allergy or their health
A filled-in example
Sample. Fictional business, fictional client.
GUEST QUESTIONS: Are you open on New Year's Day? / Where do we park? / Do you take walk-ins on Saturday night? / Can I bring my own cake for a birthday? MY ANSWER SHEET: Open Tue to Sun, 11 to 10, closed Mondays; closed Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day; free lot behind the building off Maple Street, street parking after 6; walk-ins welcome at the bar, tables by reservation on Fri and Sat; patio open May to October. MENU NOTES: The walleye special is back this week; Sunday brunch now starts at 10; kids menu has grilled cheese, chicken strips and buttered noodles. MY TONE: Warm, short, like a neighbor.
What you should get back
- A short reply to each question, in your tone
- Answers taken only from your sheet and your menu notes
- Questions your notes did not cover, like the birthday cake, left for you
- Lines worth adding to your answer sheet
What stays with you
The prompt writes a draft. You decide what happens to it, and nothing should reach a guest until you have read it. Decisions about money stay with a person every time, and so do health questions and complaints. When KeenHand builds a routine like this, every message carries the same four decisions: Automate, Approve, Revise, Reject.
Related
- Sort the messages that came in during service. One callback list from the voicemails, messages and host notes that piled up during service, most urgent first, with replies drafted for the routine ones.
- Answer a catering inquiry from your own menu. A same-day first reply to a catering inquiry that names what your menu can do and asks for the details you need before you set the quote.
- Answer reservation requests for a busy holiday. Replies to holiday table requests that offer only the seatings you have left, explain the holiday menu and send everyone else to the waitlist.
More: every prompt for restaurants, front desk and inquiries, and AI for restaurants.
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