The Times Entrepreneurs Network asked a select group of founders for tangible examples of how artificial intelligence is delivering results for their businesses.
In the fourth of our five-part series, Lynas Foodservice says it is encouraging its clients to trust AI with their ordering, allowing the wholesaler to compete with larger rivals.
When Lynas Foodservice started implementing AI, the 75-year-old business expected the technology transition to be tricky but actually found that getting customers to believe the technology worked was the hardest part.
Andrew Lynas, managing director of the £200 million-turnover Northern Irish food wholesaler, decided to start using an AI-powered ordering system for its clients in 2024.
“We still are a traditional industry,” Lynas said. “Lots of places will write down on a piece of paper and they’ll phone in. They’re phoning today for tomorrow; that’s the way our industry works. It’s quite time-consuming; it’s labour-intensive.”
The company was using phone lines to take orders, but had managed to migrate the majority of orders to a form on its website. Lynas, 44, decided to try AI tools after he and some executives had been using ChatGPT and Copilot for daily tasks.
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Lynas found Choco AI, a German company, specialising in software for food services ordering. Choco uses a combination of its own AI models and third-party technology, which it adapts to each customer’s catalogue, pricing rules, substitutions and operational constraints. Customers are able to order on the platform and an app using handwritten or printed lists, a voice note or a WhatsApp message.
Although Lynas had had some “terrible” experiences with introducing new software previously, he found implementing this technology a “smooth” process. However, he has struggled with sceptics in his industry who think AI is “too good to be true”. While some customers believed it would work, they still thought it wouldn’t be able to decipher their handwritten lists or a Derry accent.
“The hardest bit is just convincing them that the technology is that good now,” Lynas said. “It’s getting them to trust it; it’s helping them understand it isn’t out to get you. You can’t break it.”
Internal habits die hard as well. Lynas recently found a member of staff manually entering an order from an email and reminded them to use the AI tool instead.
Lynas is trying to convince customers to migrate to the AI tool by telling them to experiment, with the customer sending one order in and Lynas demonstrating the technology to them, sometimes on an in-person visit.
While the company has lowered the number of jobs in the ordering department of the business, Lynas said those staff had been moved to other areas of the company, such as sales. He added that the company was still focused on human interaction, arguing that the tool had strengthened its relationships by freeing up time to develop those connections.
Lynas also said that AI had allowed his company to compete more effectively. “For a fraction of the cost, AI allows smaller players like ourselves to compete with the very biggest in our industry.”