“What do I need from Sysco?” Build and send the order from your AI chat

Thursday afternoon, Sysco's cutoff is in two hours, and the order isn't done. The usual routine: walk the walk-in with a clipboard, compare what's there with the par sheet taped to the door, work out cases in your head, then log into the vendor's site and type it all in. Somewhere in there you notice you're short on to-go cups, which come from a different vendor with a different cutoff.

If Mays already knows your items, pars and vendor prices, the order is a question, not a chore.

Part of our series Run your restaurant with your AI: one real situation per post, with the words you type and what happens in Mays. The prompts and results are illustrative examples.

What the manager types

Jordan R., who runs the kitchen at Harbor Lane Café's Midtown location, asks:

"What do I need from Sysco for Midtown?"

Step 1: the suggestion (changes nothing)

The AI asks Mays for the suggested order at Midtown, the same one Suggest from par builds on the Purchasing screen. For each item below its par level, Mays works out the packs needed to get back to par and picks the cheapest vendor for it among Midtown's vendors. Per vendor, the answer lists:

• each item, what's on hand, the par, and the packs to order (3 cases of 24);
• the price per pack, each line's total and the order total;
• the next delivery day and the order cutoff, on Midtown's own clock;
• whether the total is below the vendor's minimum order.

It also names the items that are below par but have no vendor price at Midtown, which the suggestion would otherwise leave out without a word. Jordan sees that to-go lids are short and that no vendor has a price for them yet.

None of this changes anything. You can ask it ten times.

Step 2: the draft order

"Make the Sysco order from that, but only 2 cases of romaine."

The AI asks Mays for a preview of a draft purchase order to Sysco for Midtown: the suggested lines, with your change, priced from Sysco's price for that location in Mays. The preview shows the lines, the total, the next delivery and the cutoff, and warns you if:

• the cutoff for an earlier delivery has passed, so this order is for a later one;
• the total is below Sysco's minimum for Midtown;
• a line has a $0 price;
• there's already a draft order to Sysco at Midtown, so you don't end up with two.

Say yes and Mays saves the draft. The draft is not sent. It's on the Purchasing screen like any other draft, and you can still change it in Mays.

Step 3: sending, with its own preview

"Send it."

Sending is the step that reaches outside Mays, so it has its own preview, and the AI has to wait for you to say send it after you've seen it. The preview names:

• the vendor and how the order goes out: emailed to the vendor as a PDF, placed in the vendor's own ordering system for a vendor set up with a connector, or only marked as sent for a vendor you order from by hand (then Mays doesn't contact them, and you place the order yourself);
• the exact order email it goes to and who's copied (by default, the location's own email);
• the number of lines, the total and the expected delivery day.

It also says plainly that this contacts the vendor and can't be unsent. If anyone changed the order between the preview and your yes, Mays shows a fresh preview instead of sending the old one.

Cancelling a sent order later never tells the vendor; the cancel preview reminds you to call them.

What it replaces

The order is built from data that's already in Mays, so nothing gets copied from a clipboard into a browser.

What it needs to work

• Items with par levels and vendor prices at the location. An item without a par is never suggested, and one without a vendor price is listed as missing. You can add both from a chat (see Snap a vendor price sheet, get inventory items in Mays).
• Current counts. The suggestion is only as good as the last count.
• An order email for the vendor, if Mays is to email the order. Without one, the send preview stops and tells you to add it under Inventory → Vendors.
• Permissions: anyone who can view inventory can ask what to order. Creating and sending orders needs Manage inventory at that location, the organization's Allow AI apps to take actions setting, and make changes ticked when you connected.

What Mays doesn't do here

• It doesn't send without you. Every order is a draft first, and the send has its own preview and needs your explicit yes.
• It doesn't count your stock. It works from your counts in Mays.
• It doesn't negotiate or shop around outside Mays. It picks the cheapest vendor per item among the vendor prices you've recorded at that location.

Try it before your next cutoff

1. Connect Mays to ChatGPT, Claude or Grok from mays.app/ai (ChatGPT, Claude, Grok). Connect Mays to ChatGPT, Claude or Grok explains every permission.
2. Ask "What do I need to order for [location]?"
3. Turn a vendor's suggestion into a draft, read the send preview, and send it.

How orders work in the app: Placing purchase orders.

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