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Help Ask Maitaki & Telegram

Ask Maitaki a question

What Chat can answer, with example questions to try.

Checked against the app November 6, 2026

Chat answers questions about your restaurant from your own data: sales, invoices, prices, recipes, labor and cash. Ask the way you’d ask a sharp manager, and Maitaki looks it up and replies in a few lines.

Ask a question

  1. Tap Chat at the bottom of the screen.
  2. Type your question in the box that says Ask about costs, recipes, vendors…
  3. Tap send.

Maitaki shows what it’s checking while it works, then writes the answer. Names of ingredients, recipes, invoices, menus and vendors in the answer are links: tap one to open it. When you compare two periods, you also get a chart with a button to the matching report.

A chat where Maitaki lists three things to look at: a beef price rise, a lemon price that looks off, and a shift closed by the time clock

Chat answers about the location you have open. To ask about another one, switch location first. See Switch between locations.

Ask a follow-up. Maitaki remembers the conversation, so “and the week before?” or “why is that one flagged?” works without repeating yourself.

Questions to try

Sales
  • How did we do last week?
  • How were sales yesterday compared with the same day last week?
  • What were our busiest hours on Saturday?
  • What were our top sellers this month?
  • How much came in by card, cash and DoorDash this week?
  • Who rang the most sales last night?
  • How much did each server make in tips yesterday?
  • This month vs last month?
  • Which card deposits are still on their way to the bank?
Purchasing and prices
  • How much did we spend on produce this week?
  • Which vendors did we spend the most with last month?
  • What’s the price history of ground beef?
  • Which prices went up the most in the last 30 days?
  • Is another vendor cheaper for anything we buy?
  • Which prices look wrong on our invoices?
  • What pack info is missing?
Invoices
  • Which invoices can I verify?
  • What needs fixing before I can verify the rest?
  • Show me the last invoice from Prime Cut Meats.

For “which invoices can I verify?”, Maitaki groups them and offers cards that verify a batch for you once you approve. See Approve or discard what Chat suggests.

Recipes and menus
  • What’s the food cost on the Wild Mushroom Risotto?
  • What’s on the dinner menu, and at what prices?
  • Write me a recipe for a roasted tomato soup.
  • Add the risotto to the dinner menu at $24.
  • Make me a brunch menu from our recipes.

New recipes and menus come as a card you approve. See Draft a recipe with Chat.

Labor (Managers and up)
  • What was our labor % last week?
  • Labor this pay period vs last?
  • How much overtime did we pay this month?
  • Who cost the most in labor last week?
  • Lunch vs dinner labor this week?
  • Any timesheet issues this period?
  • Is payroll ready?
  • What if we gave the kitchen a $1 raise?

See Check if payroll is ready and Run a labor what-if.

Cash
  • Add these to the cash log: Mon $412, Tue $388, Wed $455.
  • How much cash should I deposit?

The first needs Manual Cash Logging turned on, and the second needs Cash deposits turned on, both in your location’s settings. See Log cash sales.

You can also attach a photo, PDF or spreadsheet and ask about it. See Send a document through Chat.

What Chat can and can’t do

  • It reads your data and answers. Every number comes from your sales, invoices, timesheets and recipes. If there’s nothing to go on, it says so.
  • It never changes anything on its own. When it can help, like fixing a line or creating a recipe, it shows a card, and nothing is saved until someone taps to approve.
  • It answers with your role. Labor and pay answers are for Managers and up. If you ask without that access, Maitaki tells you.

Common questions

Can my team see what I ask?

Yes. Chats are shared with everyone at the location, with each person’s name and picture on their messages. See Manage your chats.

Can I leave while it's answering?

Yes. The answer keeps going, and it’s there when you come back. If an answer stops part way, you’ll see Cut off with a Tap to retry button. See Chat stopped or shows an error.

Can I ask from Telegram?

Yes. Link your Telegram and ask the Maitaki bot in a private chat or your team group. See Use the Maitaki bot.

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