Cafes
Direct answer
Cafe guides are small on purpose: receipt rows for what you bought, short replies from a page you wrote, and a post about what you actually served. Do not auto-post a special you have run out of. A receptionist is rarely the first spend. A booking link matters only if you take reservations.
Cafes and small food businesses where the paperwork is receipts and the marketing is a photo of today's counter.
Food businesses collect supplier receipts constantly. A weekly batch into a checked sheet is more realistic than a live integration you will not maintain during service.
Do not let a draft announce a price, an allergen claim, or a "fully booked" status that is not true today. You post it, after service, when you know.
Playbooks that fit
- Social post repurposingGoogle SheetsOne sitting to make the sheet, then a note when the work is done£0 on the free plan/mo
A month of social posts planned in a sheet
Plan social posts on a private Google Sheet: one row for the date, the network, and a caption taken from work you actually did. ChatGPT can draft the caption from that note. You publish it yourself. Buffer is the separate queue. The free ChatGPT plan was listed on 25 October 2026. This has not been live-tested.
- AI receptionist and missed callsSmith.aiAbout an hour, plus test calls£0 for 25 real calls, then about £2 a call/mo
AI receptionist for a small business with Smith.ai
Smith.ai can answer a small business line on a free plan of 25 calls, then stop. The script takes a name, a number, and the job. It does not quote a price or promise a visit. Confirm callers can reach a normal UK number before you divert. This page has not been live-tested.
- Customer FAQ repliesChatGPT1–2 hours, mostly writing the policyabout £0–£15/mo
Customer replies from a written FAQ, drafted in ChatGPT
Put your real refund, price, and booking rules into a ChatGPT Project and let it draft customer replies from that page only. You send the email. If the answer is not in the page, the draft should say you will check, not invent a policy. Not live-tested yet.
- Customer FAQ repliesChatGPTOne sitting with the questions written down first£0 on the free plan/mo
Draft the public FAQ page from questions you already answer
Write a public FAQ by listing questions customers have already asked and drafting answers only from rules you supply. ChatGPT can arrange that page. You publish it. The email-reply guide and the website chat come after the page exists. The free plan was listed on 25 October 2026. This has not been live-tested.
- Receipts into bookkeepingChatGPTOne sitting for the folders, then one photo at a time£0 on the free plan/mo
File receipt photos in Drive, without posting the books
File a receipt by putting the photo in a dated Drive folder and one checked line in a sheet. ChatGPT may propose the filename from the supplier, date, and total you type. Do not upload the photo. The free ChatGPT plan was listed on 25 October 2026 with no paid price in the text. This has not been live-tested.
- Google review repliesChatGPTAbout 30 minutes to write the rules, then a few minutes a review£0 to try, or about £15 if you pay for Plus/mo
Google review replies drafted in ChatGPT
A reply to a Google review should use the customer's words and your own policy, then be posted by you. ChatGPT can shorten the tone. It must not invent a visit, a refund, or a discount. Google's help page is how replies are managed. Nothing here posts overnight. This guide has not been live-tested.
- Social post repurposingClaude20–40 minutes for the first note, then lessabout £0–£15/mo
Repurpose one work note into social posts with Claude
Take one true note about finished work and ask Claude for a Google Business post, an Instagram caption, and a short LinkedIn post. You approve every word and you only use photos you have the right to publish. Nothing is auto-posted. Not live-tested yet.
- Social post repurposingBufferAbout an hour to connect the channels and write the rule£0 on the free plan/mo
Social posts queued in Buffer
A social scheduler for a small business should queue posts you have already approved. Claude can turn one true note into a Google post, an Instagram caption, and a LinkedIn post. Buffer's free plan, on 25 October 2026, held three channels and ten scheduled posts each. You press publish. This has not been live-tested.
- Receipts into bookkeepingClaude30 minutes to set up, then about half an hour a weekabout £0–£15/mo
Turn receipt photos into checked bookkeeping rows
Photograph each receipt and, once a week, ask Claude to read the date, supplier, and amounts into a row you check before typing it into your bookkeeping software. Always check the VAT. Do not give an agent write access. This has not been live-tested.
- Customer FAQ repliesTidioAn afternoon to write the page, then an hour for the widget£0 on the free plan, with Lyro's paid meter left off/mo
Website support chat with Tidio
A support chatbot for a small website should repeat a page you wrote and stop when the page is silent. Tidio's free plan was $0 for 50 billable conversations a month on 25 October 2026. Lyro's first 50 AI conversations were a lifetime allowance, not a monthly refill. You handle the rest. This has not been live-tested.
Questions
Should I automate Google reviews?
You can draft a reply and post it yourself. The review playbook is that habit. It does not reply overnight on its own.
What about allergen questions?
Answer them yourself from your own knowledge. Do not let a chatbot guess an ingredient. The FAQ guide says to leave a gap as a gap.
Is social scheduling worth paying for?
Buffer's free plan covers three channels with a short queue. Pay only when that queue is the reason posts do not go out.