Where a Small Business in North Yorkshire Should Start with AI: One Task, One Restaurant Table

Start from the irritation, not the technology

Ask yourself which job you did three times this week that you would rather not have done. It is rarely something grand. It is a reply you typed, a reminder you sent or a figure you copied from one screen to another. That job is the candidate.

An Indian restaurant and its group enquiries

This directory lists 49 Indian restaurants and takeaways, counted on 10 October 2026: 14 in Harrogate, nine in Scarborough, seven in Skipton, six in Selby, four in Ripon, three in Northallerton, two in Malton and four elsewhere. 46 show a website and 42 show Sunday opening hours.

Picture a restaurant that takes tables for a birthday of twelve or a work leaving do. These enquiries come by email, through the website and on WhatsApp. Each needs the same follow-up: a date, a number of guests, any dietary needs, a deposit if the restaurant asks for one, and a reminder close to the day. Most are handled in a gap between services and some are not handled at all.

That is a good first task. It repeats, there is a clear right answer, a mistake is easy to spot, and someone on the staff can check it each morning.

What starting looks like

Dean Keating's website lists four steps.

1. A free call. Describe how the business runs.
2. An audit of the work worth automating, from which he picks the single task that makes the most difference.
3. Build and install in the tools you already use.
4. Training and support, so your own people can run it.

He does not try to automate everything at once. The cost is given after the free call, with no obligation, and you leave with a plan you can use with or without him.

What it is not

It is not a course, it does not answer the phone, and it is not a chatbot product you subscribe to.

Signs you are not ready yet

If you cannot say what a correct answer looks like, tidy that first. If the information lives only in your head, write it down; an agent can only give facts you have supplied. If nobody has time to look at the cases it passes on, solve that before you add more.

Where he is

He works from Horndean, Hampshire, so the setup is remote and he is not based in Yorkshire. If you would rather have someone in the room, say so on the first call and look at providers based in North Yorkshire.

If you want the wider picture first, read what AI agents are and using ChatGPT in a small business. The Indian restaurants listed here show who else is competing for the same diners.

Contact

Call or WhatsApp Dean Keating on 07418 627304, or email dean@deankeating.com. See the Dean Keating profile on NorthYorkshire.co. Websites: ai-agent.deankeating.com and deankeating.com.

About this guide

NorthYorkshire.co is published by Dean Keating, who also runs the service described here. He is based in Horndean, Hampshire, on the south coast, not in North Yorkshire, and works with North Yorkshire and Yorkshire businesses remotely. This guide recommends our own service, so compare it with other providers before you decide.