Choco’s chief executive, Julian Hammer, says the company needed a way to handle thousands of daily orders without growing its staff. "We were spending too much time on manual data entry," he told reporters last week. "Our restaurant partners needed faster confirmations and fewer mistakes."
The Berlin-based startup, which connects restaurants with food suppliers, began testing OpenAI’s API in early 2023. Within months, it deployed automated order processing for over 3,000 partner restaurants. Orders that once took minutes now finalize in seconds, Hammer said. Error rates in order details dropped from 4% to below 0.5% after the system flagged mismatches in real time.
Choco’s logistics team previously spent hours reconciling discrepancies between restaurant orders and supplier invoices. Now, AI agents cross-check quantities, prices, and delivery windows automatically. When mismatches occur, the system alerts staff only when human review is needed. This reduced manual work by 70% in the first six months, according to internal data.
The automation also sped up onboarding for new suppliers. Previously, adding a supplier required days of paperwork and phone calls. With AI tools, Choco now verifies documents and contracts in hours. "Suppliers get approved faster, and restaurants get ingredients sooner," Hammer said. The company has since expanded the system to handle invoices and payment confirmations.
Choco’s shift to AI comes as food distributors face rising labor costs and tighter margins. Hammer noted the tools helped the company scale without proportional hiring. "We’re not just replacing people," he said. "We’re letting our team focus on problems AI can’t solve yet."
Source: openai.com