Developing recipes, checking nutrients: How GenAI helps in the canteen

AI not only in offices but also in canteen operations? At ERGO, this is already a reality! Our colleague Benjamin Ostholt from Food & Beverage Management at ERGO Gourmet shares his everyday experiences with our in-house GenAI: ERGO GPT.

Hello Benjamin, just as you made a splash with "Vegan in January" you're already launching the next initiative. Can you tell us what you have planned for February?

Certainly! In February, we aim to delight all our colleagues and, of course, our external guests with four new dishes that we developed from the initial idea to the finished recipe using ERGO GPT. These four meals will be available throughout the month, each for one week at all seven ERGO locations. In Düsseldorf, they will be available every weekday, and at the other locations, they will be offered every Tuesday. Additionally, we want to provide the recipes for everyone to try cooking at home!

For those who may not know: ERGO GPT is our proprietary Large Language Model (LLM), a GenAI that is based on OpenAI’s solutions but is fully integrated into our internal IT systems, thus meeting the extremely high data protection requirements of the insurance industry.

Exciting! And since ERGO GPT has now been rolled out to all employees in Germany, the tool is naturally available to you at ERGO Gourmet as well ...

That's correct, and as far as I know, ERGO GPT is already available in other core markets, such as among the ET&S colleagues in India and Poland. But yes, we at ERGO Gourmet also like to use this language model regularly—especially since a workshop with the team that developed ERGO GPT.

During this workshop, we collaboratively considered how ERGO GPT can assist us as gastronomy professionals—specifically, how. In other words, the team, led by our ERGO Prompt Engineer Sebastian Holzborn, helped us understand how to optimise our inputs to get the most out of this powerful tool.

I can imagine that well; Sebastian has also shared his knowledge about prompts and working with LLMs with our //next users. How are you specifically using AI in your field?

In four ways: First, ERGO GPT significantly boosts our efficiency, allowing us to brainstorm faster and more comprehensively—this has been immensely helpful in planning the February initiatives mentioned earlier.

Second, the tool is extremely practical for detailed recipe development: it provides suggestions that we can build upon, refine, and adjust.

Additionally, ERGO GPT assists us in developing dishes by checking factors such as energy density or ensuring variety and alignment with different dietary preferences.

Finally, the AI is also very useful for reviewing existing concepts and optimising and adjusting them where necessary.

However, despite all these advantages, it is also important for me to emphasise: food is more than just nutrient intake; it is emotional, cultural, and personal. Therefore, while AI can support us in our field, it cannot replace the creativity, experience, and hospitality that remain irreplaceable and cannot be digitised.

Interview: Ingo Schenk