FoodML — AI Consulting for Restaurant & Hospitality Kitchens

Michael Gutowski, founder of FoodML — on the line at Shopify NYC

chef & founder

RECIPE №01 · how it works

How to bring AI

into a kitchen that actually runs on it.

LED BY: Michael Gutowski

BASED: Brooklyn, NY

FOCUS: Menus · prep · training

STATUS: taking engagements

what you bring —

1kitchen willing to try something new
1POS system, or a clipboard
1menu, as it exists today
1team that can read a phone
0IT projects required
1 pinchcuriosity

bring lunch, we’ll bring the whiteboard.

how an engagement runs —

1.Walk the line. I come in, watch service, and find where the actual friction is — not the org chart's version of it.
2.Sketch the tool. Smallest thing that removes the most pain. Tested on real prep, not a slide deck.
3.Ship & train. Deployed with the team using it, in their language, adjusted during real service.
4.Hand off. Documented so it runs without me. No dependency on a vendor relationship.

The founder.

· CIA-trained · ships his own code

FoodML is an AI consulting practice for restaurants and hospitality teams, founded by Michael Gutowski — a CIA-trained chef who also builds software.

He's run kitchens in hotels (The Knickerbocker), a private membership club (Zero Bond), and corporate campuses — including three years inside the Food at Google program and, currently, Shopify NYC via Restaurant Associates — where he's built and shipped internal AI tooling (menu and allergen logic, prep math, kitchen signage automation) used daily in production.

FoodML exists because the tools the industry builds for chefs generally aren't built by chefs. Engagements are small, hands-on, and scoped to one real problem at a time — not a platform pitch.

Reach out at chef@foodml.xyz.

What FoodML does.

// scoped engagements, not a platform

MENU AI

AI-assisted menu engineering, dietary & allergen logic, recipe costing.

· project-based

KITCHEN TOOLS

Custom internal tools — labels, signage, prep-math copilots — built for how your kitchen actually works.

· fixed scope

TRAINING

Hands-on AI workshops for culinary and ops teams. Practical, not theoretical.

· half-day to multi-day

ADVISORY

Fractional advisor for food-tech founders and hospitality groups building for the kitchen.

· monthly retainer

Selected work.

· a few examples, not a client list

Zero Bond

Menu redesign

private membership club, NYC

Menu-development engagement alongside chef Alfred Portale
Menu structure, seasonal rotation, kitchen workflow

Confidential client

AI tooling & training

hospitality consulting firm

Ongoing engagement — details under NDA
Available on request with client permission

Internal build

Kitchen AI tooling

Restaurant Associates @ Shopify NYC

Not a FoodML client — my own day-job build
Dish labels, allergen cards, BEOs, planograms, used daily