Restaurant inventory software: AI search visibility ranking (2026)
How AI search engines rank restaurant inventory software by visibility and citations. 20 brands measured monthly across Google AI Mode: which brands the AI names in answers, which domains it cites as sources, and how the leaders compare. Restaurant inventory software used to track food costs, stock usage, recipes, purchasing, waste, and back-of-house profitability. Composite score: 70% visibility (% of AI answers naming the brand) + 30% citation rate (% citing the brand's domain). Full methodology →
Refreshed Jun 12, 2026Download this ranking as a PDF
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At a glance
What we observed in this categoryauto-generated
MarketMan leads the restaurant inventory software category with a visibility score of 25.0%, more than double the 12.5% held by Restaurant365, Toast, and Crunchtime. The category average visibility sits at just 3.1%, making MarketMan's score roughly eight times the norm. This gap is significant because it means Google AI Mode is consistently surfacing MarketMan in responses while most of the 20 tracked brands register zero visibility, concentrating buyer exposure at the very top of the ranking.
A notable divergence appears between visibility and citation. Compeat holds a 50.0% citation rate despite 0.0% visibility, meaning the AI references it as a source without naming it as a recommended brand. Craftable shows a similar pattern with 25.0% citation against 0.0% visibility. Crunchtime is the mirror case, with 12.5% visibility and 0.0% citation. These splits indicate that being named in AI responses and being trusted as a cited source are distinct outcomes in this category.
Google AI Mode is the top engine for every brand in the dataset, confirming that citation and visibility patterns here are driven entirely by a single engine. The top cited sources list is anchored by restaurant365.com and marketman.com as brand-owned domains, alongside third-party sources including forbes.com, reddit.com, restroworks.com, and therestauranthq.com. The presence of youtube.com and reddit.com in the source list suggests the AI is drawing on community and video content alongside editorial reviews.
Movers & shakers since last refresh
Biggest visibility risers
-
MarketMan 12% → 25% · rank #3 → #1+12pp
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Restaurant365 0% → 12% · rank #2 → #2+12pp
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Crunchtime 0% → 12% · rank #13 → #5+12pp
Biggest visibility fallers
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Yellow Dog 12% → 0% · rank #6 → #8-12pp
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WISK 12% → 0% · rank #5 → #12-12pp
The ranking
| # | Brand | Visibility | Citation | Top engine |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
marketman.com
|
25% | 50% | Google AI Mode |
MarketMan leads with 25.0% visibility and 50.0% citation, both more than double Restaurant365's visibility score and well above the 3.1% category average. |
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| 2 |
restaurant365.com
|
12% | 50% | Google AI Mode |
Restaurant365 matches MarketMan's 50.0% citation rate but trails on visibility at 12.5%, and its citation rate fell 37.5 points from the previous period despite a visibility gain. |
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| 3 |
restaurant365.com
|
0% | 50% | Google AI Mode |
Compeat achieves a 50.0% citation rate equal to the top two brands while recording 0.0% visibility, the sharpest visibility-to-citation gap in the entire dataset. |
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| 4 |
toasttab.com
|
12% | 12% | Google AI Mode |
Toast sits at 12.5% visibility and 12.5% citation, the only brand in the top five where both metrics are equal, placing it mid-tier with no standout strength in either dimension. |
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| 5 |
crunchtime.com
|
12% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
Crunchtime rose eight places from rank 13 to rank 5 with a 12.5% visibility gain, but records 0.0% citation, meaning it appears in responses without being sourced. |
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| 6 |
craftable.com
|
0% | 25% | Google AI Mode |
| 7 |
apicbase.com
|
0% | 12% | Google AI Mode |
| 8 |
yellowdogsoftware.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 9 |
foodager.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 10 |
simpleorder.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 11 |
optimumcontrol.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 12 |
wisk.ai
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 13 |
bluecart.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 14 |
xtrachef.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 15 |
marginedge.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 16 |
oracle.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 17 |
supplytrackapp.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 18 |
cogs-well.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 19 |
usesilo.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 20 |
chefmod.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
Sources AI engines trust in this category
Across the 8 buyer-intent queries we ran on restaurant inventory software, these are the domains Google AI Mode cited most often. If you're not on this list — or if your competitors are — that's a concrete PR / linkbuilding target.
How to read this ranking
Four things worth knowing before you act on the numbers above. These are the same definitions across every industry page — for category-specific observations, see the What we observed section above (where available) and the per-brand insights inline in the ranking.
Visibility = being named
A brand's visibility % is the share of AI answers that mention it by name in the response prose. This is who AI engines actively recommend to the buyer.
Citation rate = being trusted
Citation rate is the share of AI answers that include the brand's domain as a clickable source link. This is what the AI treats as authoritative evidence — different from being named.
Top engine differs by brand
The "top engine" column shows which AI surface each brand performs best on. Big gaps between a brand's score across engines usually points to specific content or schema gaps.
Rankings move month to month
AI engines re-crawl and re-rank on shorter cycles than classical search. We re-audit every brand on this list at least every 30 days and refresh this page automatically.
Get your own restaurant inventory software brand audited
The brands above were curated from public market-leader lists. Want the same measurement against your own brand — including the queries you appear on, which competitors get named instead, and a prioritised fix list? Run a free preview.
Frequently asked about restaurant inventory software AI visibility
Who leads AI visibility in restaurant inventory software?
MarketMan leads with 25.0% visibility and a composite score of 32.5, both figures significantly above the category average visibility of 3.1%. Restaurant365 is second at 12.5% visibility.
What sources does Google AI Mode cite most for restaurant inventory software research?
The top cited sources are restaurant365.com, restroworks.com, forbes.com, marketman.com, youtube.com, reddit.com, therestauranthq.com, and restaurant.eatapp.co, indicating a mix of brand-owned, editorial, and community content.
Which brands are cited frequently but rarely named in AI responses?
Compeat has a 50.0% citation rate but 0.0% visibility, and Craftable has a 25.0% citation rate with 0.0% visibility, showing both are referenced as sources without being surfaced as recommended brands.
Which brands gained the most AI visibility recently in this category?
MarketMan, Restaurant365, and Crunchtime each gained 12.5 visibility points in the most recent period. Crunchtime's rise was the most dramatic, jumping eight places from rank 13 to rank 5.
Which brands lost AI visibility and how significant was the drop?
Yellow Dog and WISK each lost 12.5 visibility points, dropping to 0.0% visibility. WISK's rank fell seven places from rank 5 to rank 12, the largest rank decline recorded in the dataset.
How concentrated is AI visibility across the 20 tracked brands in this category?
Visibility is highly concentrated, with a category average of just 3.1% and seven of the top ten brands recording 0.0% visibility. MarketMan alone accounts for the majority of named brand appearances.