Smarter operations, stronger margins: A look at what's new at MarginEdge in 2026

From AI-powered insights to smarter kitchen workflows and spending, all in one place, here's how MarginEdge is making restaurant operations easier in 2026.

Running a profitable restaurant means keeping a close eye on every dollar. But between fluctuating ingredient prices, rising labor costs, food waste, and unexpected expenses, protecting your margins is easier said than done.

And when you're busy running the day-to-day, finding the time to figure out where you're losing money, let alone what to do about it, can feel impossible.

That's why we've spent 2026 building smarter ways to help you control costs, uncover opportunities to save, and make more profitable decisions.

Here's a look at what's new in MarginEdge this year and how it all adds up to a healthier bottom line.

Get AI-powered insights from your data 

You already have the data you need to make better decisions. The challenge is finding the time to dig through it, connect the dots, and figure out what to do next.

This year, we've been making that easier.

Tom AI 

With Tom AI, we launched an AI in-app assistant with the ability to answer questions about your restaurant data.

Want to know if ingredient prices are creeping up? Ask Tom to show you price trends on your most-purchased products. Wondering which dishes are eating into your margins? Ask which menu items have the highest plate cost percentage. 

Tom helps you spot potential issues before they take a bigger bite out of your bottom line.

MarginEdge AI Connector

The AI Connector securely connects your MarginEdge data to AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude, giving you an entirely new way to interact with your restaurant's numbers.

Instead of spending time pulling reports and comparing spreadsheets, you can ask questions like:

• Which location had the biggest increase in food costs last month, and why?
• What ingredients have increased the most in price over the last 90 days?
• Which menu items are becoming less profitable based on current ingredient costs?
• Where are my biggest opportunities to reduce spending?

You can even use AI to create custom reports, analyze trends, and automate recurring analysis.

Get all your spending, all in one place

Your team often needs to make last-minute purchases to keep operations running smoothly. But tracking that spend is difficult, and handling reimbursements is time-consuming. 

That's where MarginEdge Card comes in.

Introduced earlier this year, MarginEdge Card is a corporate charge card built specifically for restaurants. It gives your team the flexibility to make purchases while giving you visibility and control over spending. It keeps all your spending in MarginEdge, and receipt upload by text means it's easier to track what you’ve purchased.

And we've kept making it better. Recent updates include spending limits, easier card activation, digitized receipts, and improved visibility into missing receipts.

That means fewer receipts to chase down, less manual reconciliation, and more confidence that spending is staying on track.

Turn your sales forecast into shift-ready prep plans

Knowing how much to prep is a balancing act. Make too much, and you're throwing money away. Make too little, and you're scrambling to keep up with demand.

Last month, we introduced SmartPrep, which turns sales forecasts into actionable prep plans, so your kitchen knows what to make and how much.

Kitchen teams can work through digital prep checklists, scan barcodes to track what's on hand, and print labels with prep details and QR codes using a compatible label printer.

SmartPrep works with your existing prep lists and recipes in MarginEdge, without requiring a fully built-out recipe library. SmartPrep helps your team stay consistent, spend less time managing prep, and keep more money from ending up in the trash.

A clearer picture of your business, from one location to fifty

The more restaurants you operate, the harder it becomes to see what's happening everywhere. This year, we've focused on making multi-location operations easier to manage, compare, and improve.

With Store Groupings, you can organize locations by region, concept, or market and compare performance in ways that reflect how your business actually operates.

The new Multi-Unit Product Pricing Report makes it easier to spot differences in what locations are paying for the same products, helping identify purchasing opportunities.

We've also added support for multiple POS product mix (PMIX) connections, giving restaurants with more than one POS system a more complete view of sales data. And with an updated home page, improved budgets, and additional reporting guidance, it's easier to find the numbers that matter.

Whether you're managing one restaurant or an entire portfolio, the goal is the same: Know what's happening, understand what needs attention, and make better decisions faster.

The little things that make a big difference

Sometimes it's being able to make a quick edit without leaving the screen you're on. Sometimes it's eliminating a few clicks from a task you do every day.

We've made dozens of those improvements this year.

Invoice approval is more flexible, with new ways to edit line items, update vendor item information, and manage miscellaneous charges. Accounting exports are easier to navigate. Shared device workflows are smoother.

We've also expanded our integrations, including 31 new POS integrations and new EDI connections, to help more of your restaurant systems work together.

Individually, these changes might seem small. But across hundreds of invoices, dozens of inventory counts, and countless daily tasks, those minutes add up.

And getting that time back is what it's all about.

Everything we've released in 2026 so far:

It's been a busy year! Here's a look at the major features and enhancements we've introduced from January through October.

AI & automation

• MarginEdge AI connector — Securely connect your restaurant data to AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude to analyze performance, identify trends, and get answers faster.
• Tom AI — A smarter in-app AI assistant that can answer questions using live MarginEdge data.
• AI recipe uploader improvements — Build and update recipes faster with AI-powered ingredient matching and reusable uploads.

Spending & payments

• MarginEdge Card — A corporate charge card built for restaurants, with spending controls and accounting integration.
• MarginEdge Card spending limits — Set limits to help keep team purchases within your spending policies.
• Digitized card receipts — Simplify receipt capture and transaction documentation.
• Missing receipt visibility — More easily identify purchases that still need receipts.
• Card onboarding & activation improvements — A smoother experience getting cards ready to use.
• Restaurant names on cards — Easier identification of cards across restaurant locations.
• Bill Pay setup improvements — A simpler setup experience for Bill Pay.

Kitchen operations & recipes

• SmartPrep — Turn sales forecasts into daily prep plans, with predictive prep, checklists, and label printing.
• Recipe scaling — Adjust recipe quantities directly from the View Recipe page.
• French & Spanish recipe translation  — Make recipes more accessible to multilingual kitchen teams.
• Recipe status improvements — Clearer status badges for easier recipe management.
• Recipe entry notes — Better communication with the recipe entry team.
• Recipe count-by improvements — More flexibility in recipe counting.
• Recipe type improvements — Easier recipe setup and categorization.
• Menu analysis chart improvements — Clearer visualizations of menu performance.

Inventory & bar operations

• QR code printing for products & recipes  — Print and scan QR codes to speed up inventory counts.
• Multi-unit inventory status report  — Track inventory status across locations.
• Count sheet selection for inventory reports  — Choose which count sheets to use in reporting.
• Count-by flexibility — More control over inventory counting units.
• Post-inventory adjustment improvements — Smoother adjustments after completing inventory.
• Freepour Smart Scale mobile setup scan  — Set up beverage inventory using your phone.
• Freepour count sheet improvements — Better synchronization and editing.

Reporting & performance

• Store groupings  — Group and compare locations by region, concept, or market.
• Multi-unit product pricing report  — Compare product prices across locations.
• Updated home page & improved budgets — Easier access to key performance information.
• Built-in report guidance  — Helpful explanations directly within reports.
• Usage report improvements — Updates to make usage reporting more useful.
• Theoretical usage report improvements — Better visibility into theoretical versus actual usage.

Invoices & accounting

• Invoice approval enhancements — More ways to edit and manage invoices during approval.
• Invoice creation improvements — A smoother invoice creation workflow.
• Invoice adjustment improvements — Greater flexibility when reviewing invoice details.
• Invoice deletion visibility — Clearer information and notifications about deleted invoices.
• Refreshed accounting export screen — An improved accounting export experience.
• Skip vendor mapping  — Additional flexibility in accounting setup.
• Payment account improvements — A more intuitive experience managing payment accounts.

Multi-unit & commissary

• Franchise New Item Review support  — Improved workflows for franchise item management.
• Commissary Theoretical Usage reporting  — Better visibility into usage for commissary operations.
• Commissary recipe toggle  — More flexibility in managing commissary recipes.
• Commissary prepared item visibility  — Easier identification of commissary-related prepared items.
• Commissary order notes — Order notes included on commissary PDFs.
• Franchise accountant permissions — More precise access controls for franchise accountants.
• Multi-unit user management improvements — Easier user setup across locations.

Integrations & connectivity

• 31 new POS integrations  — More ways to connect your POS data to MarginEdge.
• Multi-POS PMIX support  — Support for product mix data from multiple POS connections.
• New public APIs — Expanded ways to connect MarginEdge with other systems.
• Shamrock EDI integration  — Streamlined electronic invoice processing.
• Allen Brothers EDI integration  — Additional electronic invoice connectivity.
• DishBooks accounting integration  — Connect MarginEdge with DishBooks.
• PixelPoint POS integration  — New POS connectivity.
• Toast pre-modifier support — Improved handling of Toast modifier data.
• Gordon Food Service bid exports  — Export product data to support vendor bidding.
• Multiple POS connection management improvements — Easier management of multiple POS integrations.
• POS data pull improvements — Updates to POS data retrieval timing.

Mobile & general improvements

• Shared Device Mode improvements — Easier workflows for teams using shared devices.
• Mobile product list improvements — Better navigation and usability.
• Security enhancements — Continued improvements to account security.

We're not slowing down anytime soon.

If there's one theme running through everything we've built this year, it's this: Running your restaurant should get easier as your technology gets smarter.

You shouldn't have to spend hours searching for answers, chasing down paperwork, or double-checking every task to keep your business running smoothly.

Your systems should work together. Your team should have the tools to get things done. And you should have the visibility and control to focus on what matters most.

That's the future we're building at MarginEdge. And there's plenty more to come.

Have questions about any of these releases? Reach out to help@marginedge.com. We're always happy to help.