Point-of-sale platform and control centre Pilot has launched Navigator, its new AI intelligence layer built to turn the wealth of data already in a Pilot POS system into instant answers and live insights.
Operators can ask Navigator questions in everyday language and receive clear answers based entirely on their own restaurant data, without needing to build reports or dig through spreadsheets manually.
During beta testing, Dean Teubes from The Palms Plett & Club Haus in Plettenberg Bay used Navigator to identify supplier pricing anomalies and unexpected increases. This enabled them to query the discrepancies directly with the suppliers and secure credits, turning an AI-generated insight into a measurable financial benefit.
Early testing has also shown Navigator to be useful across different roles, from owners monitoring overall performance and profitability to purchasing and food-cost teams investigating supplier pricing and menu-level margins. This makes it relevant to independent restaurants as well as multi-site groups.
The launch comes as South African restaurants continue to underperform the wider hospitality sector. According to Statistics South Africa’s June 2026 Food and Beverage Survey, restaurants and coffee shops’ real income fell 2,3% quarter-on-quarter, the largest single drag on the industry’s overall performance, even as the sector’s year-on-year figure ticked into modest growth.
Against this backdrop, operators can chat with Navigator to see which dish’s profitability would be hit hardest by a price increase in a specific ingredient, rather than waiting for a quarterly report to catch it. They can also let Navigator advise them on emerging trends and what they can do to improve performance.
“Restaurant operators don’t need more reports. They need to know what requires their attention every day, and what they can do about it,” says Glenn Miller, MD of Pilot. “Navigator combines Pilot’s deep hospitality experience with each operator’s own Pilot data, giving them relevant, practical answers in seconds. It helps owners move from looking at what happened to understanding why it happened and deciding what to do next.”