ERIC NORMAN FCSI


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t’s been less than three years since ChatGPT launched, yet it feels like a lifetime ago. In this short span, professionals have moved from marvelling at AI’s capabilities to integrating it into their daily workflows. Foodservice consultants


are no exception. In a highly regulated industry where they need to stay on top of changes, generative AI has become a go- to tool for many. Joe Schumaker FCSI, founder and CEO of US- based consultancy FoodSpace, explains that ChatGPT has made due diligence much faster, especially for projects in areas where he’s never worked before: “Some health departments will send you an 800-page PDF and say, ‘Good luck.’ Now you can upload it to ChatGPT and obtain answers near instantly,” he says. In Spain, Marta Cebrián


López FCSI, CEO and founder of MCL Consulting and It’s Enjoyable, and vice chair of FCSI Iberia, applies a similar approach with customized Generative Pre-trained Transformers (GPTs) configured for specific roles. “Our thematic GPTs are continuously fed with new studies and updated regulations,” she explains. “Tey cover everything from the luxury sector and health regulations to urban planning, recipe development and kitchen layouts.” Recently, one of these


GPTs caught a critical issue in a hotel project in Zaragoza: “Te


AI revealed that the client’s planned commercialization strategy wasn’t viable under local regulations. We were able to identify that and correct the course in the space of three weeks. Doing research the traditional way would have taken much longer.”


QUANTIFYING THE BENEFITS


For both Schumaker and Cebrián López, AI has saved their teams countless hours in complex tasks: “We use an AI tool called Gamma to generate presentations and project summaries,” says Schumaker. “Before, a typical presentation would take me up to 12 hours. With Gamma, I’ve cut that down to less than an hour. I’m saving myself at least 200-300 hours a year.” “With our custom GPTs,


we reduce the time it takes to create a menu concept from four days to one and half or less,” says Cebrián López. “Preparing quotes would take up to two days, now we can easily do it in 20 minutes, or one hour if it’s a really complicated one.” Beyond ChatGPT,


Schumaker is exploring how AI can unify different


“Preparing quotes used to take up to two days, but now we can do it in 20 minutes, or one hour if it’s a really complicated one”


L-R: Marta Cebrián Lopez FCSI; Joe Schumaker FCSI


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