Darwin restaurateur turns to AI to keep hospitality alive
A Darwin restaurant owner believes a homegrown artificial intelligence tool could be the lifeline the hospitality sector needs, with a locally built AI assistant having the potential to save hospitality from its staffing and phone-order headaches.
After nearly two decades in the business, Saffron Restaurant’s Selvam Kandasamy knows all too well the headaches of staffing and fielding endless phone calls.
“If you understand this industry, you realise how much trouble the phones can be,” he said. “You spend a lot of time taking orders, informing customers of open times and the menu.
“The hospitality industry is also one of the hardest industries for staffing. I’ve been in it for 19 years and it’s still difficult to predict how many people will come in one day — it could be 10 people or 100. We can never be certain how many staff to organise for that night and if we have someone on the phone, then it takes away from customer service.”
Enter “Deepika” — Kandasamy’s new AI-powered front-of-house assistant. “It can take a booking, read the menu, answer FAQ and take orders — this is the best function,” he said. “It is so accurate and there’s no waiting, no line busy, it can even talk to 50 people at once. This technology will enable the survival of the industry.”
The AI, built by Charles Darwin University graduate Arsh Hasan, isn’t about replacing jobs. “It’s not about taking jobs, it’s complementing jobs,” Hasan said. “The AI tool can take the calls while staff in the room concentrate on the customers.”
While some diners might still prefer a human on the other end of the line, Kandasamy says they’ll have that option — though they might have to wait longer.
Jonathan Jackson, 12th August 2025
