What Your AI Can Do With Puree

Once Puree is connected to your AI assistant (Claude, ChatGPT or Grok), you can ask it about your business in plain English and it answers from your real Puree data. It can also do some of the busywork for you, and it checks with you before it changes anything.

Here are the things caterers find most useful, with what you’d type and the kind of answer you get back. If you haven’t connected yet, start with Connecting with an AI Agent.

Things Worth Trying

1. What’s on this week?

What have we got on this week?

“You’ve got 6 events this week. Tuesday: Harbour Bank breakfast, 40 guests, Level 12 boardroom. Thursday: Ellis 50th, 85 guests at the Boatshed, managed by Kate. Saturday is the big one: the Henderson wedding, 140 guests…”

The week at a glance without opening the calendar. Follow up with “which of those haven’t paid their deposit?” or “which have special diets?”.

2. Chase quotes before they expire

Which quotes expire in the next two weeks? Draft a friendly follow-up email for each one.

“Four quotes expire before the 21st, worth $18,450 in total. The biggest is Acme Events’ end-of-year party at $9,200, expiring Friday. Here are four draft emails, each mentioning their event and date…”

If your assistant is connected to your email, it can save the drafts there for you to check and send.

3. Turn an enquiry email into an enquiry

Paste the email in and ask:

Log this as a new enquiry, and add the customer if we don’t already have them.

No more retyping names, dates, guest numbers and phone numbers. Your assistant checks for an existing customer first so you don’t end up with duplicates.

4. Check an event for allergens

Which items on Saturday’s wedding menu contain nuts or sesame, and how many guests have a special diet?

“Two items contain nuts: the dukkah-crusted lamb and the praline tart. The sesame is in the seared tuna canapé. There are 9 special diets: 4 vegetarian, 3 gluten free, 1 vegan and 1 nut allergy…”

A second pair of eyes before the kitchen starts. Always check anything safety-related in Puree itself too.

5. Upload the new menu items to Puree

Give your assistant your new menu as a PDF, a spreadsheet or even a photo of the printed one, and ask:

Upload these new menu items to Puree, in the Canapés category, with these prices and the dietary codes from the GF and V markings.

“I’ve found 18 items. Here they are with their prices and dietary codes. Shall I add them?”

It shows you the full list before it adds anything, so you can correct a price or a name first. Give it photos and it adds those too.

6. Which items are costing me the most?

Which of my menu items have the highest food cost compared with their price? Show me the worst 10.

Your assistant compares each item’s price with its cost in Puree, from the item’s cost (see Item Costs) or its recipe (see Recipes & Food Cost).

Haven’t costed your menu? Ask your assistant to estimate it instead:

Estimate the food cost of each of my canapés from its description and a typical portion, using current wholesale prices, and show me the ones likely to be over 35%.

It labels every figure as an estimate and saves nothing, so you can see which items are worth costing properly first. Then ask it to suggest new prices, and once you’ve agreed them, it updates the items.

7. From recipe idea to menu item

Give me five ideas for a spring canapé using asparagus.

Pick the one you like, then:

Add the asparagus tartlet as a recipe making 40 pieces, tell me what it costs per piece, and add it to the menu in Canapés priced for a 70% margin.

Your assistant writes the recipe, Puree works out the cost from your ingredient prices, and once you agree the price, the new canapé is on your menu ready for your next quote. If it needs an ingredient you don’t have yet, it asks you for the price.

Recipes are being rolled out gradually. If you don’t see Recipes in Puree, email email@puree.app to have them turned on.

8. Make your menu descriptions sound better

Rewrite the descriptions of all my canapés so they’re short, appetising and consistent. Show me before and after.

Once you’re happy, your assistant updates them in Puree, so every new quote uses the new wording.

9. Who hasn’t booked again?

Which customers booked a Christmas function with us last year but haven’t booked one this year?

A ready-made list for a phone round, or ask your assistant to draft the email too.

10. Put your prices up

Put up every item in the Beverages category by 5%, rounded to the nearest 50c. Show me the old and new prices first.

Existing quotes keep the prices they were made with. The new prices apply to new quotes.

11. Design a menu in Canva

Make a printed menu of our new spring canapés in Canva, using our brand kit, with the descriptions, prices and dietary codes from Puree.

“Here’s your spring canapé menu in Canva: 18 items over two pages, grouped by hot and cold, with the GF, V and VG codes beside each one. Want me to make a version without prices for events?”

The menu comes straight from Puree, so it always matches what you sell. This needs Canva connected to your assistant too: see Menus and design below for more ideas, like table menu cards and buffet labels.

Puree and Your Other Apps

This is where the real time-saving is. Most AI apps can connect to other apps you already use, as well as Puree. Connect them all to the same assistant and it can carry work from one to the other, so you’re not copying and pasting between them.

Here’s what that looks like with apps caterers commonly use. Each one needs its own connector in your AI app.

Email (Gmail or Outlook)

Go through this week’s emails and log any catering enquiries that aren’t in Puree yet.

Draft a reply to the Ellis enquiry with our three canapé packages and their prices from Puree.

Calendar (Google Calendar or Outlook)

Add a prep block to my calendar the day before every event over 80 guests this month.

Spreadsheets (Google Sheets or Excel)

Make me a spreadsheet of every event this quarter with the date, customer, venue, guest numbers and value.

Good for your accountant, a business partner or your own planning.

Team chat (Slack or Microsoft Teams)

Post tomorrow’s events, guest numbers and allergy notes in the kitchen channel.

Menus and design (Canva)

Your assistant takes the menu straight from Puree and lays it out in Canva, so the names, descriptions, prices and dietary codes are always the ones you actually sell.

Make a printed menu for our new spring canapé range in Canva, using our brand kit, with each item’s description, price and dietary codes from Puree.

Make table menu cards for the Henderson wedding from the menu on their quote, with the couple’s names and date at the top and no prices.

Make buffet labels for Friday’s Acme lunch: one per dish, with its name, dietary codes and allergens.

You get an editable design in your Canva account to tweak, then print or send as a PDF. The Canva connector needs a paid Canva plan (Pro, Teams or Business).

Payments (Stripe)

Which customers made up today’s Stripe payout?

A customer has disputed a $2,400 card payment. Which event was it for? Get me the quote PDF and the delivery run sheet for that day.

Accounting (Xero)

Which of next fortnight’s events are for customers with overdue invoices in Xero?

Update my ingredient prices from this month’s supplier bills in Xero, then show me which menu items now have a food cost over 35%.

Xero’s AI connector currently needs some technical setup, so you may want help from whoever looks after your IT.

Also Handy

Your assistant can also:

• Get the paperwork: “Send me the chef docket and event brief for Friday’s wedding.”
• Add a note to a quote: “On the Henderson wedding, note that the bride’s mother is allergic to shellfish.”
• Put staff on shifts: “Put Tom on the bar shift for Saturday.” (Not for accounts that roster through Deputy.)
• Plan deliveries: “Put Sam on run 1 tomorrow, leaving at 7.30.”
• Build a package: “Create a Spring Wedding Buffet at $65 a head: 2 mains from the beef, salmon and lamb, and 3 salads.”
• Set up reminders: “Remind me to call the Boatshed about the Ellis 50th on Monday.”

Good to Know

• It checks with you first. Before your assistant changes anything in Puree, it tells you exactly what it’s about to do and waits for you to say yes.
• It can’t create, price, accept or cancel a quote, or send emails from Puree. Those stay in Puree.
• You choose what it can reach. When you connect, you tick what it may look at and change. Untick the “change” boxes if you only want answers. See Connecting with an AI Agent.
• Everything is recorded. Every change it makes is in the Activity log under Settings → API and AI access, under your name.
• AI can make mistakes. Treat its answers like a summary from a helpful colleague, and check anything that matters, like allergens and prices, in Puree.