South African restaurants are under growing pressure to protect already tight profit margins as rising costs and weaker consumer spending continue to challenge the sector.
South African technology company Pilot has launched Navigator, a homegrown artificial intelligence (AI) tool designed specifically to help restaurant operators turn their existing data into practical insights that can improve profitability.
Pilot, the point of sale platform and control centre behind more than 30 franchise brands and thousands of independent restaurants in South Africa, said Navigator allows operators to ask questions about their businesses in everyday language and receive immediate answers based on their own restaurant data.
The technology can be used to identify sales trends, compare supplier pricing, flag purchasing anomalies and assess how changes in ingredient costs could affect the profitability of individual menu items.
This means operators can potentially identify problems within seconds rather than waiting for quarterly reports or manually working through large spreadsheets.
Restaurant challenges
The launch comes at a difficult time for the restaurant industry.
According to Statistics South Africa’s June 2026 Food and Beverage Survey, real income at restaurants and coffee shops declined by 2.3% quarter on quarter.
The decline was the largest drag on the overall performance of the food and beverage sector, despite the industry recording modest growth compared with the same period a year earlier.
For businesses operating on narrow margins, identifying unnecessary costs and changes in supplier pricing can therefore have a direct impact on profitability.
One restaurant group has already seen the potential benefit of the technology.
During beta testing, Dean Teubes from The Palms Plett and Club Haus in Plettenberg Bay used Navigator to identify unexpected supplier price increases and pricing anomalies.
The insight allowed the restaurant group to approach its suppliers directly and secure credits for the discrepancies, turning the information identified by the AI tool into a measurable financial benefit.
Navigator can also be used by different teams within a restaurant business.
Owners can use it to monitor overall performance and profitability, while purchasing and food cost teams can investigate supplier prices and examine the impact of changing ingredient costs on individual menu items.
For multi site restaurant groups, the technology can also provide a way of analysing data across multiple operations, while independent restaurants can use the same intelligence to gain a clearer understanding of their businesses.
Glenn Miller, Managing Director at Pilot, said restaurant operators needed actionable information rather than more reports.
“Restaurant operators don't need more reports. They need to know what requires their attention every day, and what they can do about it,” Miller said.
He said Navigator combined Pilot’s experience in the hospitality industry with the data generated by each individual restaurant.
“Navigator combines Pilot's deep hospitality experience with each operator's own Pilot data, giving them relevant, practical answers in seconds,” Miller said.
“It helps owners move from looking at what happened to understanding why it happened and deciding what to do next,” he said.
Pilot has spent 35 years developing technology alongside South African restaurants and hospitality businesses and now operates across Africa and Europe.
The company said this experience had influenced the development of Navigator, with the platform designed around the specific requirements of hospitality businesses rather than functioning as a generic AI tool placed over existing systems.
For restaurant operators, this means the technology can address questions that are directly linked to day to day profitability.
An operator could, for example, ask which menu item would be most affected if the price of a particular ingredient increased, allowing the business to assess its exposure before the change has a significant impact on margins.
Navigator can also identify emerging trends and provide recommendations aimed at improving performance.
The launch represents the first major product introduced under Pilot’s refreshed positioning as a hospitality control centre.
The company is positioning Navigator as an intelligence layer across its existing point of sale, payments, purchasing and performance tools.
As restaurants continue to contend with rising operating costs and cautious consumers, the ability to identify problems quickly could become increasingly important.
ashley.lechman@nationalmg.co.za