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Things to ask

Use this page to find good questions to ask your AI assistant about your stores, orders and reports.

Who can do this: anyone who has connected an AI app. Some questions need a certain role. Each section says so.

Type questions the way you would ask a colleague. Swap the names in brackets, such as [Main Street], for your own store names.

Start here

"Which stores can you see?"

"How did we do last week compared to last year?"

"Any alerts today?"

The first question lists your stores, with your username, role and brand. Use the names it shows in later questions.

For owners and head office

These questions look across stores and over time.

Compare stores

"Compare [Downtown] and [Airport] by week this month."

"Show sales for every store last week, store by store."

"Which store had the highest average check last month?"

"Rank my stores by transactions for September."

You get back: gross sales, net sales, transactions and average check, for each store and in total. In Claude, this comes as a Sales dashboard panel with a chart.

"How have sales trended by month this year?"

"Show sales by week for the last 3 months, compared with last year."

"Were sales up or down in August compared with August last year?"

"Which hour of the day is busiest at [Main Street]?"

"Sales by hour yesterday, all stores."

You get back: the same figures by day, week, month or hour. Hourly answers are split into meal periods: Breakfast, Lunch, Afternoon, Dinner and Late Night. Last year's figures line up by weekday, so a Monday compares with a Monday.

Note

Where a store has a people counter, sales answers also show foot traffic and capture rate.

Top and bottom sellers

"What were our top 10 items last month by sales?"

"What are the worst sellers this week?"

"Top 20 items at [Airport] in September, by units sold."

You get back: a ranked list of menu items with units, sales, category, department, discounts and units wasted. Several stores are ranked together. For a list per store, ask for the Sales By Individual Items report.

Departments

"How did the [Pizza] department sell last month compared with last year?"

"Show sales for the [Breakfast] and [Pizza] departments by week this month."

"Run the Sales By Department report for last week."

You get back: sales for the departments you name. Department figures are gross sales only.

Use each department's name as it appears in the portal. If a department shows no sales, check the spelling.

Report categories

"Run the Daily Sales Summary By Category for last week."

"Which report categories grew the most this month compared with last month?"

You get back: sales by report category for each day. Items with no category show as Unclassified. See Departments and report categories.

Daily and weekly summaries

"Give me a summary of last week for all my stores: sales, transactions and average check, against last year."

"Run the Daily Sales Summary for [Main Street] for September."

"Which day last week had the lowest sales at each store?"

You get back: one row per store per day. Each row has transactions, net and gross sales, tax, and card and gift card totals. It also has deposits, over/short, labor, labor percent and discounts.

Labor

"What was labor as a percent of sales at each store last week?"

"Run the Labor & Payroll Summary for [Main Street] for 9/14 to 9/27."

"Run the Labor & Payroll Summary for [Main Street] and [Airport] for 9/14 to 9/27. Who has overtime?"

"Show me the Labor & Payroll Details for [Main Street] for 9/14 to 9/27."

You get back: hours per employee per week, regular and overtime hours, and pay rate. The details report lists each day's punches, and marks punches that were edited.

Give the pay period's real dates

The labor reports treat the dates you give as the pay period. Name the store's actual pay period dates, so the totals match the portal.

For franchisees and store managers

These questions are about running the stores today.

Today so far

"How are we doing right now?"

"How is [Main Street] doing today compared with yesterday?"

"Is today's data current for every store?"

You get back: each store's sales, transactions, average check, waste and voids so far today. You also see yesterday's sales and the same day last week. The time of the last sale and the register's last check-in are shown too. In Claude, this comes as a Current status panel.

Today's figures are not final until they are rolled up overnight. If a register has not checked in for over 2 hours, the answer says today's figures may be incomplete.

Yesterday and last week

"How did yesterday compare with the same day last week?"

"How did [Airport] do last week compared with the week before?"

"Were transactions up or down at each store last week?"

You get back: sales, transactions and average check for both periods, side by side.

Alerts

"Any alerts today?"

"Is anything wrong?"

"Which stores tripped my sales alert?"

You get back: each alert from your portal dashboard, marked RED or GREEN, with the stores or tickets involved. Alerts you switched off are listed as off.

A store with no sales in the alert's window counts as $0. So it trips a "sales less than" alert.

The assistant checks your own alerts. To set them up, see Alerts and subscriptions.

Inventory and reorders

These questions need inventory counts in Fran-Trak.

"How much mozzarella does [Main Street] have on hand?"

"How many days of cheese do we have left at each store?"

"What should [Main Street] reorder?"

"Which products will run out at [Airport] in the next 3 days?"

You get back: each product's last count, estimated use since then, estimated stock on hand, days of supply and par. Reorder answers add a suggested order quantity, how urgent it is, and how confident the estimate is. In Claude, reorders come as a Reorder suggestions panel. There you can group by vendor and download an order sheet, if your app allows downloads.

Estimates come from items sold since the last count, through their recipes. Items without recipes lower the confidence.

Set a par level

You need the Store Owner role or above.

"Set the par for mozzarella to 12."

"Clear the par for napkins."

You get back: the new par and the old one. Par is in purchase units. A par of 0 clears it.

Use the product name exactly as inventory answers show it.

Warning

A par level applies to that product in every store in your brand, not only the store you asked about. The change is made as soon as the assistant runs it.

You need the Store Manager role or above to change anything here.

Mark something out of stock:

"We're out of the chicken sandwich at [Main Street]."

"86 the large fries at [Airport] until end of day."

"Take Add Bacon off at [Main Street] until 5:30 pm."

"We ran out of bacon at [Main Street]."

You get back: what is now out at each store, and until when. Without a time, it stays out until you say it is back. "End of day" means 4:00 AM store time. When you name an ingredient, such as bacon, the assistant first lists every item made with it and every choice with it in the name, such as "Add Bacon". Say which to leave on before you agree. This needs recipes on your menu items. See Ran out of an ingredient.

See what is out, and bring it back:

"What's out of stock at my stores?"

"The chicken sandwich is back at [Main Street]."

"Bacon is back in at [Main Street]."

"Put everything back in stock at [Airport]."

Check and change a price:

"What does the BLT cost at each store?"

"Change the BLT to 7.49 at [Main Street]."

"Make the large coffee 2.99 in the app only at [Airport]."

"Raise the BLT to 7.49 for delivery apps at [Main Street] and [Airport]."

You get back: the old and new price at each store. A price change sets the in-store price and the app price together. Say "in store only", "in the app only", "for delivery apps" or "everywhere" to change something else. Name the stores every time: a price change never applies to every store on its own. For more than one store, the assistant shows the change and asks you first.

New prices reach the registers within a few minutes, and your app and website right away. Delivery apps get the new price when you change it for them.

Note

Out-of-stock items come off the registers, your app and website, and your delivery apps. An older point of sale is not changed. See Out of stock (86).

Online orders

These questions are about orders from your ordering app and website. You need the Store Manager role or above to see orders. You need Store Owner or above to change them.

Find an order

"Which online orders are waiting?"

"Show me order 4821."

"Find the online order for Maria Lopez from today."

"Show me the oldest open order at [Main Street]."

"How many online orders were cancelled this week?"

You get back: order lists show status, customer, store, time placed, time due, item count and total. One order shows its items and modifiers, totals, customer contact details, payment and refunds, and pickup instructions. In Claude, one order comes as an Order card panel. Click Next open order → to move to the next one at the same store.

Order lists cover the last 7 days unless you name other dates. Orders paid in cash show a total of 0.

Update an order

"Mark order 4821 ready."

"Send order 4821 to the register again."

"Cancel order 4821. The store is out of dough."

You get back: each step and whether it worked.

  • Mark ready closes the ticket, finishes the customer's loyalty points, and tells the customer the order is ready.
  • Send to the register again puts the order back in the queue. The register picks it up on its next check.
  • Cancel refunds any card payment in full and tells the customer. A delivery app order is cancelled with the delivery app. Fran-Trak tells the assistant to ask you to confirm before it cancels.

Customer notices follow your store's settings. If the store has app notifications turned off, the customer gets no notice.

Message the customer

"Tell the customer on order 4821 their order will be 10 minutes late."

"Ask the customer on order 4821 if a large is OK instead of a medium."

You get back: the ways the message was sent: push notification, email or in-app inbox. Push needs the customer's app with notifications on. Guest orders have no in-app inbox.

The message is sent as soon as the assistant runs it. Read the wording it plans to send first.

Refund an order

"Refund order 4821 in full."

"Refund $4.50 on order 4821. The drink was missing."

You get back: first, a question. The assistant states the amount, the customer and the order, and asks you to confirm. Fran-Trak tells it to ask, but cannot see your chat. Check the amount before you agree. The customer's notice says a refund usually appears within 5 to 10 business days.

  • A refund can be the full amount or part of it.
  • Orders from delivery apps are refunded through the delivery app, not here.
  • Orders paid in cash have no card payment to refund.
  • A card payment that has not settled yet may only be refundable in full. For part of it, try again the next business day.

Reports

Ask for a report by name, with the dates and stores you want.

"Run the Daily Sales Summary for September."

"Run the Void Detail report for [Airport] yesterday. Who voided the most?"

"Show me the Waste Summary for all stores last month."

"Run Actuals Vs. Forecast for last week."

"Run the Mobile Sales Detail report for last month."

"Show me the Tickets report for tickets created this month."

"What reports can you run?"

You get back: the report's rows for every store you asked about, in one answer. In Claude, this comes as a Report table panel. There you can sort by any column, page through the rows, and download them, if your app allows downloads.

Things to know about reports:

  • Most reports return detail rows, without the portal's subtotals. Ask the assistant for totals, and it adds them up.
  • One report run covers up to 2 years.
  • Actuals Vs. Forecast shows only stores that have a forecast.
  • Item-level reports, such as Void Detail and Waste Detail, may leave out sales older than about 90 days. If so, the answer says older rows are missing.

To learn what each report shows, see Reports.

Follow-up questions

Keep going in the same chat. The assistant remembers what you just asked.

"Now just [Airport]."

"Same thing for last month."

"Break that out by store."

"Compare that with last year."

"Which items drove the drop?"

"Show that as a table."

"Make that a chart."

Your AI app draws its own charts and tables from the answer. In Claude, sales questions already come with a chart.

In a Claude panel, you can also change the dates, stores or sorting yourself. The assistant sees what you changed.

Tips for good answers

  • Name the stores. Use the names from "Which stores can you see?". Part of a name works if no other store shares it. If it matches more than one store, the assistant asks which one.
  • Say the dates. "Last week", "September" or "9/1 to 9/15" all work. Dates follow each store's own calendar.
  • Say gross or net. "Sales" means gross sales unless you ask for net.
  • Ask for a chart or a table when you want one.
  • Ask several stores at once. One question covers them all, store by store.
  • Ask follow-ups to drill in, rather than starting over.
  • Keep big questions smaller. Sales questions cover up to 3 years. If an answer is cut short, ask about fewer stores or fewer dates.
  • Check the numbers that matter. Before you file or pay from a figure, compare it with the portal's report.

Actions that change data

These requests change real orders, real money and real settings

  • Cancel and refund cannot be undone. Fran-Trak tells the assistant to ask you to confirm both first.
  • Mark ready, send to the register again and message the customer run as soon as the assistant asks. Each one reaches the customer or the store.
  • Set a par level changes that product for every store in your brand.
  • Change a price and mark out of stock change what your stores sell right away. For more than one store, or a whole ingredient, the assistant shows you the change and asks first.

Before you agree, read what the assistant says it will do. If your AI app asks you to approve an action, check the order number and the amount.

Everything else you ask only reads your data. See Ask an AI assistant.