The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Modern Food Service Management: Insights from the Hospitality Industry

DOI 10.65326/u7y566767

Abstract

Artificial intelligence plays an important role in modern food service management within the hospitality sector, including hotels, restaurants, catering services, and integrated hospitality operations. While research on digital transformation in hospitality has increased, less attention has been given to the impact of AI on food service practices such as demand forecasting, service design, workforce coordination, customer experience management, quality control, and operational learning. This conceptual paper examines AI in food service management from the perspective of the hospitality industry. Using organizational learning theory, the paper argues that AI in hospitality should be considered a managerial learning and knowledge-management capability rather than only a collection of tools. The paper uses a qualitative conceptual research method based on hospitality management literature, service innovation, AI in service research, and organizational learning. The findings suggest that AI affects food service management through guest-experience personalization, demand prediction, operational efficiency, food waste management, and management decision support. The paper also critically examines over-automation, employee deskilling, the risk of weakening human hospitality work, and the gap between AI capability and organizational learning. AI is most valuable in hospitality food service when it works in synergy with managers and service employees while preserving the relational and emotional dimensions of hospitality.

The successful adoption of artificial intelligence will therefore depend on balanced human-machine integration, organizational learning capacity, ethical governance, and employee training.