Alex, this is for you.
I recently met Alex, a restaurant owner, and we got talking about the reality of running a restaurant.
He was generous enough to explain some of the pressures, the constant decisions, and the difficulty of keeping everything in one place when you are also trying to serve customers and keep the business moving.
Then we started talking about AI.
Alex was already using ChatGPT on his phone. That is a good place to begin. You can ask questions, think through a problem, and get help when you need it.
But he had not used Codex on a laptop.
That made me stop.
The jump from phone to laptop
Moving from ChatGPT on a phone to Codex on a laptop can feel like a big jump.
On the phone, you have a conversation.
On the laptop, you can give the AI a proper place to work. It can use a folder, create simple files, keep the work visible, and help you repeat the same useful task each week.
That is much more powerful.
It can also be daunting when you do not know where to start.
What folder do I open? What do I type? What should I let it create? How do I know whether the answer is right?
These are not silly questions. They are the questions almost everybody has at the beginning.
So I built somewhere to start
Our conversation made me realise that what Alex needed was not another large explanation about AI.
He needed a simple first exercise.
So I created a short piece of training called Restaurant Control Room.
It starts with four weekly numbers:
- total sales
- number of orders
- total staff cost
- total food and packaging cost
You add one short note if anything unusual happened.
Codex then helps write a short weekly draft. You check every number. You correct anything that is wrong. Then you choose one action for the next week, or you choose no action.
That is it.
The owner still decides
This is not about asking AI to run a restaurant.
It should not spend money, order stock, change prices, schedule staff, contact customers, or make decisions on the owner's behalf.
The point is simpler.
Give the owner one visible place to understand the week.
Let Codex prepare the draft.
Let the owner check it and decide.
That is a much better starting point than trying to automate everything.
Alex, have a go
So, Alex, thank you for the conversation and for explaining the real problem.
I hope this gives you a calm place to start.
Open the Restaurant Control Room training on your laptop. Follow the checklist. Copy the first prompt into Codex. It will guide you one step at a time and wait for you to say DONE.
Use made-up numbers first. Ask questions whenever something is unclear. Do not rush.
The aim is not to become an AI expert in a day.
The aim is to complete one useful weekly task, understand what happened, and feel confident enough to do it again.
Alex, this is for you.