Kitch Social — AI caption writing, visual post builder, and automatic scheduling for restaurants
A complete walkthrough of Kitch Social's design studio and post scheduler — how to write captions with AI, build on-brand graphics, and publish automatically to Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok.
The short version: Kitch Social gives restaurants a post builder, an AI caption writer, and an automatic publisher in one place. You pick a template, describe what you want to say, schedule a time, and Kitch publishes to Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok automatically — no social media manager required.
Here is a complete walkthrough of how it works.
The problem Kitch Social solves
Most restaurants know they should post more consistently. The reasons they do not fall into three categories:
- Time. Writing captions, sourcing a photo, sizing the graphic, writing the caption again for TikTok, and posting three times a day across three platforms is a part-time job.
- Design. Most operators do not have Canva skills, a designer on call, or a template that actually looks on-brand.
- Memory. The best time to post is two hours before a meal period. That is also when a restaurant is at its most chaotic.
Kitch Social is built around all three constraints. You design once. The AI writes. The scheduler publishes for you.
Part 1: The Design Studio
The Design Studio is where you build the post graphic. It lives inside your dashboard under Social Posts → Create.
Step 1: Choose a template
Templates are sized and structured for the platform. Each one includes:
- A headline slot — one tight line ("wood-fired lamb special", "we close early Friday")
- A detail slot — one or two short sentences for context or the call to action
- An image area — where your food photo or brand image goes
- A brand bar — your restaurant name and any persistent visual element
Available template categories:
| Template | Best for |
|---|---|
| Feature dish | Showcasing a menu item or seasonal special |
| Promo & offer | Happy hour, prix fixe, event tickets |
| Hours & notice | Early close, holiday hours, closures |
| Behind the pass | Team moments, kitchen prep, sourcing stories |
| New menu item | New launch or limited-time addition |
Step 2: Upload your photo
Drop in your food photo directly in the Studio. The builder crops it to fit the template without you managing dimensions — the output is always sized correctly for the platform.
For feed posts (square, 1080×1080), a dish photo taken in natural light on a clean surface works well. For stories (vertical, 1080×1920), a tighter crop on a single element reads better than a wide shot.
Step 3: Fill in the text fields
The Studio shows you the live post as you type. A complete post for a weekend lamb special might look like:
Headline: Lamb special · Friday & Saturday Detail: Slow-braised shoulder, roasted root vegetables, natural jus. Available for dinner only — limited plates each night.
Two fields. No copy strategy required. The Studio keeps the type at a size that reads on a phone screen without squinting.
Step 4: Match your brand
The first time you set up Kitch Social, the Studio pulls your brand colours and typeface from your restaurant profile. Every template uses them automatically. If you want to adjust a specific post — say, a seasonal campaign in a slightly different palette — you can override the colour for that post without changing your defaults.
The result is a graphic that looks like you produced it intentionally, not like you downloaded a free Instagram template.
Step 5: Export or schedule
Once the post looks right, you have two options:
- Download — export a high-resolution PNG ready to post manually anywhere
- Schedule — send it directly to the Kitch scheduler and set a publish time
Most operators use Schedule most of the time. Download is there for when you need the image for a menu board, a print flyer, or a partner to post on your behalf.
Part 2: The AI Caption Writer
The AI caption writer sits next to the Design Studio. It writes the social copy — the actual caption that appears below the photo on Instagram or in the TikTok caption field.
How to use it
You give the AI a one-line brief. It returns a draft caption in your restaurant's voice. You read it, edit anything that feels off, and keep it.
Here is what that looks like in practice.
Your brief:
"Weekend lamb special — slow-braised shoulder, limited plates, dinner only"
What the AI writes for Instagram:
The lamb shoulder is back for Friday and Saturday dinner. Slow-braised for six hours, served with roasted root vegetables and a natural jus. Limited plates each night — if you've been waiting, this weekend is the one.
Reservations at the link in our bio.
#lambspecial #weekenddinner #[yourcity]eats
What the AI writes for TikTok:
Slow-braised lamb shoulder. Six hours. Friday and Saturday only. Link in bio for reservations.
The AI adjusts length and tone by platform automatically. Instagram copy tends to be a few sentences with a soft call to action. TikTok copy is short, punchy, and built to pair with video or a quick-cut photo. Facebook sits between the two.
You do not have to write three versions. You write one brief. The AI handles the rest.
When the AI gets it wrong
It sometimes produces a phrase that sounds generic or off-brand — especially on the first draft. The right move is to adjust the brief, not to rewrite the whole caption. If the output sounds like marketing copy, your brief was too abstract. If it misses the tone, add a line to the brief: "we are not a fine dining restaurant — write this casually."
One adjustment is almost always enough.
Part 3: The Post Scheduler
The scheduler is where you set the date, time, and platforms for each post. It is accessible directly from the Studio after you finish your graphic, or from the Schedule tab in Social Posts.
How to schedule a post
- Finish your graphic in the Design Studio
- Click Schedule post in the top right
- Select the platforms you want to post to (Instagram, Facebook, TikTok — any combination)
- Pick the date and time
- Confirm
The post sits in your schedule queue. At the time you set, Kitch publishes it automatically to every selected platform. You do not need to be logged in. You do not need to press anything. It just goes.
Reading the schedule calendar
The Schedule tab shows your upcoming posts in a calendar view. You can see at a glance which days have posts scheduled, which platforms each post is going to, and whether the post has published, is pending, or failed.
A typical week on the calendar for an active restaurant:
| Day | Post | Platforms |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | Weekend recap · hero dish photo | Instagram, Facebook |
| Wednesday | Behind the pass · kitchen prep reel | Instagram, TikTok |
| Friday 10am | Weekend specials announcement | Instagram, Facebook, TikTok |
| Saturday 2pm | Saturday dinner reminder |
Four posts. Two hours total across the week. Every platform covered.
Scheduling in advance
The scheduler has no limit on how far ahead you can schedule. Operators commonly use Sunday evening to build and schedule the next seven days of posts. During service, nothing needs attention — the posts go live on their own.
How to set up Kitch Social
Step 1: Connect your developer apps
Because each restaurant publishes under its own name and account, Kitch requires you to set up your own Meta developer app and TikTok developer app. This is a one-time setup — about fifteen minutes — and it ensures your posts appear from your account, not from a shared Kitch account.
From your dashboard, go to Settings → Social platforms. You will see fields for your Meta App ID and Secret (covers Instagram and Facebook) and your TikTok Client Key and Secret.
Create your apps at:
- Meta for Developers — one app covers both Instagram and Facebook
- TikTok for Developers
Once you have saved your credentials, Connect Instagram, Connect Facebook, and Connect TikTok buttons appear. Clicking one opens the standard OAuth flow — you log in to the platform, approve the connection, and Kitch stores the access token encrypted to your account. Kitch never sees your credentials. It only uses the token the platform gives it after you approve.
Step 2: Start scheduling
With accounts connected, go to Social Posts → Create. Build your first post, hit Schedule, and set a time. That is the complete workflow.
How to run the weekly rhythm
Here is a concrete weekly template you can repeat:
Sunday evening (30 minutes)
- Open Social Posts → Create
- Build a Monday post — a recap of the weekend's best dish or a Monday special. Download the graphic, draft the caption, schedule for Monday at 11am.
- Build a Wednesday post — something from behind the kitchen: a prep shot, an ingredient, a brief story about where something is sourced. Schedule for Wednesday at 2pm.
- Build a Friday post — the weekend specials, any hours changes, and a push to reserve. Schedule for Friday at 10am.
Three posts. Thirty minutes. Done.
During the week
If something happens — a delivery comes in, a dish turns out especially well, a local event brings foot traffic — open the Studio, take a photo, write a two-sentence brief, and schedule it for the same day, two hours out.
FAQ
Does Kitch post from my actual Instagram and Facebook accounts?
Yes. Once you connect your accounts using your own Meta developer app, Kitch publishes directly to your Instagram Business or Facebook Page. The post appears under your profile, not under any Kitch account.
Do I need a Meta Business account or Instagram Business profile?
Yes. Instagram and Facebook require a Business or Creator account to use their publishing API. Personal profiles cannot be published to programmatically. If your restaurant is using a personal Instagram, the account switch takes about two minutes in the Instagram app.
What happens if a post fails to publish?
Kitch marks the post as failed in your schedule and records the error message. Common causes: an expired access token (reconnect your account in Settings), an image that didn't meet the platform's requirements, or a temporary platform API outage. You can reschedule the post once the issue is resolved.
Can I edit or cancel a scheduled post?
Yes. Any pending post in the schedule can be cancelled before its publish time. Open the Schedule tab, find the post, and cancel it. To change the time or edit the caption, cancel and reschedule.
What platforms does Kitch Social support?
Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. Instagram and Facebook use the Meta Graph API (one app covers both). TikTok uses the TikTok Content Posting API.
Does the AI write the caption in my restaurant's voice?
The AI uses your restaurant name and cuisine type as context and is prompted to write in a warm, concrete, appetising style — never hype, no hashtag stacking beyond three or four relevant tags. The output is a starting point. Most operators make small edits on the first few posts, then find the drafts increasingly usable as they get a feel for the brief length and specificity that works for them.
Is Kitch Social included with Kitch OS?
Kitch Social is available as a standalone product. Kitch OS customers who want the full Social scheduling and publishing workflow can add it from the dashboard.
A live page that keeps up with your kitchen.
Start your page →