This week, restaurant operator-turned-AI startup founder Eli Feldman gave me a demo of his latest product, Ask Colette, an AI operations assistant for restaurants. The thesis behind the startup is that the next major software layer in foodservice will not come from Toast or Square bolting AI onto their existing platforms, but rather a new category of operator-built tools designed around the messy, human, off-platform 80% of restaurant decision-making that no system of record currently captures. The startup was founded late last year by Feldman alongside former Toast vets Robert O’Toole and Frank Chen. The team is currently dogfooding Colette inside of Feldman’s Boston-based rotisserie chain Shy Bird with the goal of creating a template for other operators who are seeking answers that typically require querying 2-3 various systems of record.