{"id":80815,"date":"2026-07-02T13:38:53","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T11:38:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aton.com\/ordini-destrutturati-food-service-ai\/"},"modified":"2026-07-07T15:21:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T13:21:16","slug":"unstructured-food-service-orders-ai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aton.com\/en\/unstructured-food-service-orders-ai\/","title":{"rendered":"How much does an unstructured order really cost in food distribution?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\">In <strong>food service<\/strong>, a significant share of orders still comes through <strong>unstructured channels<\/strong>: a WhatsApp voice note, a quick phone call, or an email written in a hurry by the chef at 11 p.m. while closing the kitchen. The message arrives, someone at headquarters reads it, interprets it, re-enters it into the management system and hopes they have understood it correctly.<\/p>\n<p>With ten customers, this may be manageable. With a thousand, it becomes one of the company\u2019s highest <strong>operating<\/strong> <strong>costs<\/strong>, yet one that very few businesses can truly quantify.<\/p>\n<h2>The invisible cost of manual order entry<\/h2>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\">On average, an operator at headquarters spends <strong>between 5 and 15 minutes entering an unstructured order into the system<\/strong>: reading the message, identifying the customer, matching the items to the catalogue, checking prices and terms, entering the order lines and checking for possible errors. Multiplied by hundreds of orders a day, the result is an activity that absorbs resources, generates errors and slows down the entire supply chain.<\/p>\n<p>Every correction requires a phone call, a return or a credit note. When products have a short shelf life and margins are tight, every error has a direct and immediate cost.<\/p>\n<p><strong><div class=\"custom_button\"><a href=\"https:\/\/aton.com\/ordini-e-ingresso-merce-one-ai\/\" class=\"dropbtn mx-auto _slim\" title=\"Inserimento ordini in 15 secondi con .one\" target=\"\" ><div class=\"dropbtn_content\">Inserimento ordini in 15 secondi con .one<\/div><div class=\"dropbtn_drop\"><i class=\"sn_sprite _button_drop \"><svg viewBox=\"0 0 147 64\"><use xlink:href=\"\/wp-content\/themes\/aton\/assets\/images\/icons.svg#button-drop\" \/><\/svg><\/i><\/div><div class=\"dropbtn_spacer\"><\/div><\/a><\/div><\/strong><\/p>\n<h2>The problem grows with catalogue complexity<\/h2>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\">In food distribution, the <strong>catalogue<\/strong> is constantly changing: new SKUs are added, others are discontinued, prices change every week and commercial terms vary from customer to customer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\">When a sales rep collects an order verbally, they do not always have the latest version of the price list in front of them. When an operator re-enters the order, they do not always know which item matches the customer\u2019s approximate description.<\/p>\n<p>The result is a cycle of corrections that repeats itself every day, taking up time that could be spent developing new customers, managing promotions and improving service.<\/p>\n<h2>Unstructured food service orders: how AI changes the process<\/h2>\n<p>With the<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/aton.com\/en\/onesfa-sales-force-automation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">.one SFA <\/a>Sales Force Automation<\/strong> and the support of<strong> artificial intelligence<\/strong>, <a href=\"https:\/\/aton.com\/en\/ai-for-processing-orders\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">unstructured orders are interpreted automatically<\/a>: the system recognises the customer, matches the items to the catalogue, checks prices and terms, and provides the operator with a structured order proposal, ready for validation. What used to take up to 15 minutes can now be completed in just a <strong>few seconds.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><div class=\"custom_button\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"dropbtn mx-auto _slim\" title=\"Sales Force Automation in the AI Era\" target=\"\" ><div class=\"dropbtn_content\">Sales Force Automation in the AI Era<\/div><div class=\"dropbtn_drop\"><i class=\"sn_sprite _button_drop \"><svg viewBox=\"0 0 147 64\"><use xlink:href=\"\/wp-content\/themes\/aton\/assets\/images\/icons.svg#button-drop\" \/><\/svg><\/i><\/div><div class=\"dropbtn_spacer\"><\/div><\/a><\/div><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>When the order stops being a problem to manage and becomes structured data from the outset, the entire operational chain, from headquarters to logistics, works with reliable, real-time information.<\/p>\n<p><strong><div class=\"custom_button\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"dropbtn mx-auto _slim\" title=\"Contact\" target=\"\" ><div class=\"dropbtn_content\">Contact<\/div><div class=\"dropbtn_drop\"><i class=\"sn_sprite _button_drop \"><svg viewBox=\"0 0 147 64\"><use xlink:href=\"\/wp-content\/themes\/aton\/assets\/images\/icons.svg#button-drop\" \/><\/svg><\/i><\/div><div class=\"dropbtn_spacer\"><\/div><\/a><\/div><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In food service, a significant share of orders still comes through unstructured channels: a WhatsApp voice note, a quick phone call, or an email written in a hurry by the chef at 11 p.m. while closing the kitchen. The message arrives, someone at headquarters reads it, interprets it, re-enters it into the management system and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":80817,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"class_list":["post-80815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","keyword-sales-en","keyword-tech-en"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Unstructured orders in food service: reduce costs with AI - Aton<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Discover the cost of managing unstructured food service orders and how AI can turn them into structured orders.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/aton.com\/en\/unstructured-food-service-orders-ai\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Unstructured orders in food service: reduce costs with AI - Aton\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Discover the cost of managing unstructured food service orders and how AI can turn them into structured orders.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/aton.com\/en\/unstructured-food-service-orders-ai\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Aton\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/aton.spa\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-02T11:38:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-07-07T13:21:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/aton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Banner-articoli-sito-6.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Alice Zanatta\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Alice Zanatta\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aton.com\\\/en\\\/unstructured-food-service-orders-ai\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aton.com\\\/en\\\/unstructured-food-service-orders-ai\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Alice Zanatta\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aton.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/bd7b8bc4880d340cf0b6a9f6550d6968\"},\"headline\":\"How much does an unstructured order really cost in food distribution?\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-02T11:38:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-07T13:21:16+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aton.com\\\/en\\\/unstructured-food-service-orders-ai\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":458,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aton.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aton.com\\\/en\\\/unstructured-food-service-orders-ai\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aton.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/Banner-articoli-sito-6.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aton.com\\\/en\\\/unstructured-food-service-orders-ai\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aton.com\\\/en\\\/unstructured-food-service-orders-ai\\\/\",\"name\":\"Unstructured orders in food service: reduce costs with AI - Aton\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aton.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aton.com\\\/en\\\/unstructured-food-service-orders-ai\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aton.com\\\/en\\\/unstructured-food-service-orders-ai\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aton.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/Banner-articoli-sito-6.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-02T11:38:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-07T13:21:16+00:00\",\"description\":\"Discover the cost of managing unstructured food service orders and how AI can turn them into structured orders.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aton.com\\\/en\\\/unstructured-food-service-orders-ai\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/aton.com\\\/en\\\/unstructured-food-service-orders-ai\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aton.com\\\/en\\\/unstructured-food-service-orders-ai\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aton.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/Banner-articoli-sito-6.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aton.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/Banner-articoli-sito-6.jpg\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1080,\"caption\":\"unstructured food service orders\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aton.com\\\/en\\\/unstructured-food-service-orders-ai\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aton.com\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"How much does an unstructured order really cost in food distribution?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aton.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aton.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Aton\",\"description\":\"Accompagniamo la tua azienda verso la trasformazione digitale sostenibile\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aton.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aton.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aton.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Aton S.p.A. Societ\u00e0 Benefit\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aton.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aton.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aton.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/03\\\/aton_logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aton.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/03\\\/aton_logo.png\",\"width\":295,\"height\":171,\"caption\":\"Aton S.p.A. Societ\u00e0 Benefit\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aton.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/aton.spa\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/company\\\/aton-s.p.a.\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/atonspasocietabenefit\\\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aton.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/bd7b8bc4880d340cf0b6a9f6550d6968\",\"name\":\"Alice Zanatta\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/aton.com\\\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aton.com\\\/en\\\/author\\\/alice-zanatta\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Unstructured orders in food service: reduce costs with AI - Aton","description":"Discover the cost of managing unstructured food service orders and how AI can turn them into structured orders.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/aton.com\/en\/unstructured-food-service-orders-ai\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Unstructured orders in food service: reduce costs with AI - Aton","og_description":"Discover the cost of managing unstructured food service orders and how AI can turn them into structured orders.","og_url":"https:\/\/aton.com\/en\/unstructured-food-service-orders-ai\/","og_site_name":"Aton","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/aton.spa\/","article_published_time":"2026-07-02T11:38:53+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-07-07T13:21:16+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1920,"height":1080,"url":"https:\/\/aton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Banner-articoli-sito-6.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Alice Zanatta","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Alice Zanatta","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/aton.com\/en\/unstructured-food-service-orders-ai\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/aton.com\/en\/unstructured-food-service-orders-ai\/"},"author":{"name":"Alice Zanatta","@id":"https:\/\/aton.com\/#\/schema\/person\/bd7b8bc4880d340cf0b6a9f6550d6968"},"headline":"How much does an unstructured order really cost in food distribution?","datePublished":"2026-07-02T11:38:53+00:00","dateModified":"2026-07-07T13:21:16+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/aton.com\/en\/unstructured-food-service-orders-ai\/"},"wordCount":458,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/aton.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/aton.com\/en\/unstructured-food-service-orders-ai\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/aton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Banner-articoli-sito-6.jpg","inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/aton.com\/en\/unstructured-food-service-orders-ai\/","url":"https:\/\/aton.com\/en\/unstructured-food-service-orders-ai\/","name":"Unstructured orders in food service: reduce costs with AI - Aton","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/aton.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/aton.com\/en\/unstructured-food-service-orders-ai\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/aton.com\/en\/unstructured-food-service-orders-ai\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/aton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Banner-articoli-sito-6.jpg","datePublished":"2026-07-02T11:38:53+00:00","dateModified":"2026-07-07T13:21:16+00:00","description":"Discover the cost of managing unstructured food service orders and how AI can turn them into structured orders.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/aton.com\/en\/unstructured-food-service-orders-ai\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/aton.com\/en\/unstructured-food-service-orders-ai\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/aton.com\/en\/unstructured-food-service-orders-ai\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/aton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Banner-articoli-sito-6.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/aton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Banner-articoli-sito-6.jpg","width":1920,"height":1080,"caption":"unstructured food service orders"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/aton.com\/en\/unstructured-food-service-orders-ai\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/aton.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How much does an unstructured order really cost in food distribution?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/aton.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/aton.com\/","name":"Aton","description":"Accompagniamo la tua azienda verso la trasformazione digitale sostenibile","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/aton.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/aton.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/aton.com\/#organization","name":"Aton S.p.A. Societ\u00e0 Benefit","url":"https:\/\/aton.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/aton.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/aton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/aton_logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/aton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/aton_logo.png","width":295,"height":171,"caption":"Aton S.p.A. Societ\u00e0 Benefit"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/aton.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/aton.spa\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/aton-s.p.a.","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/atonspasocietabenefit\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/aton.com\/#\/schema\/person\/bd7b8bc4880d340cf0b6a9f6550d6968","name":"Alice Zanatta","sameAs":["https:\/\/aton.com\/"],"url":"https:\/\/aton.com\/en\/author\/alice-zanatta\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aton.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aton.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aton.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aton.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aton.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80815"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/aton.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80815\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80821,"href":"https:\/\/aton.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80815\/revisions\/80821"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aton.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aton.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}