US Foods Launches AI-Powered Menu IQ For Profitability
"Our customers are demanding easier, more intuitive solutions to help improve menu profitability, and Menu IQ enables us to meet this need"
US Foods has launched Menu IQ, an AI-powered profitability tool designed to address a key challenge in the restaurant industry. Managing food costs and maximizing menu profitability. Announced on February 23, 2026, this solution is integrated into the company's MOXē platform at no additional cost to customers.
Restaurant operators often face mounting pressure from volatile ingredient costs, tight profit margins, and the complexity of tracking profitability across diverse menus. According to James Jones, Senior Vice President of Digital Commerce at US Foods, menu profitability consistently ranks among operators' top concerns.
"Every day we hear about our operators' biggest challenges, and menu profitability sits at the top of their concerns," Jones explained. "Our customers are demanding easier, more intuitive solutions to help improve menu profitability, and Menu IQ enables us to meet this need."
Transformation Through AI
Menu IQ transforms traditional menu management from an intuition-based practice into a precise, data-driven strategy. The platform delivers real-time visibility into which dishes are driving profit margins, enabling operators to make instant, informed decisions about menu optimization.
By pulling actual food costs directly from MOXē Inventory data, the tool provides accurate calculations and identifies optimization opportunities for underperforming items. The solution's AI recipe management capability allows operators to simply upload recipes and receive automated food cost calculation, eliminating hours of manual spreadsheet work.
Menu IQ's design philosophy centers on intuitive, actionable insights. The platform offers AI-powered recipe management that automatically calculates food costs upon upload. Its real-time profitability tracking allows operators to monitor margin performance anytime, anywhere.
The most valuable are the insights that identify underperforming dishes and optimization opportunities at a glance, enabling swift adjustments. The seamless integration with MOXē Inventory ensures accuracy by using actual food costs rather than estimates.
This connection creates a closed-loop system where purchasing, inventory, and menu management work together, providing operators with a comprehensive view of their business operations.
Distribution to Digital
As one of America's largest foodservice distributors, US Foods operates more than 70 broadline locations and over 90 cash and carry stores, serving approximately 250,000 customer locations nationwide.
The launch of Menu IQ reinforces the company's strategic positioning in an increasingly competitive landscape where digital transformation has become a key differentiator among major distributors. Unlike traditional foodservice companies that focus solely on product delivery, US Foods is evolving into a comprehensive technology partner through its MOXē platform ecosystem
Jones emphasized this transformation in his statement saying, "Menu IQ delivers real-time visibility into which dishes are driving margins so our operators can adjust instantly to make smarter decisions about which changes will drive increased profitability. This is a great example of how we continue to help our customers Make It."
As the restaurant industry continues to face unprecedented challenges, from labor shortages to inflation, tools like Menu IQ provide operators with the data-driven insights necessary to remain competitive and profitable. For the 30,000 US Foods associates serving customers nationwide, Menu IQ shows how technology can enhance restaurant management.