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How to start with AI (without breaking the bank)
A grocery chain and a steel service center share AI secrets you can use today.
Dino Gane-Palmer
March 11, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 9 minutes
Hi, and happy Tuesday.
Imagine your company cutting its operational costs by double-digit percentages without overhauling its entire business. Or drastically reducing the time it takes to fill orders, set prices, and serve customers—even if you’re in a hands-on, product-based industry.
💡By the end of this issue, you’ll discover why careful, incremental AI adoption is critical for staying ahead and how you can start applying it in your organization with minimal risk.
🔥 Skip to the end to steal this week’s AI prompt.
✉️ Reply to this mail with your questions about this week’s content.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Picture walking through a bustling grocery aisle on a sunny weekend. Shoppers weave their carts between shelves, while grocery staff scurry to restock inventory, and managers keep one eye on pricing strategy—and the other on labor costs. Meanwhile, a steel facility across town deals with heavy coils, aging equipment, and a never-ending search for new ways to reduce waste and boost margins. The stakes? Staying efficient and agile, or watching the competition leave you behind.
In a recent interview, in Cabo (Mexico)☀️🕶️, I spoke with two innovators tackling exactly these challenges:
Luke Kotara, CEO of Berkot’s Foods, a fast-growing regional grocery chain in the south suburbs of Chicago.
Aaron Dallek, CEO of MD Metals and DMaterials, focusing on steel service and next-generation materials.
AI accelerates recurring intellectual processes
AI can feel like a black box—full of fancy terms like “large language models,” “quantum computing,” or “humanoid robots.” Yet at its core, AI simply helps us accelerate recurring intellectual processes. Imagine a dedicated assistant that never sleeps, constantly scanning data for patterns on your behalf. The difference between grocery stores, steel plants, and even the company you find yourself employed at comes down to where we plug in that assistant.
From the interview, Luke shared:
“We’re starting to see AI used in automatic ordering—forecasting weather to adjust hamburger bun orders on a sunny weekend... or using loyalty program data to send targeted digital coupons.”
And for Aaron:
“AI helps with brainstorming ideas for my startup, DMaterials. With Copilot, our office staff can automate tasks, while on the manufacturing side, we see the potential for humanoid robots in future facilities.”
We’ve seen similar use cases from major FMCG brands and industrial suppliers worldwide. A 2023 McKinsey report found that businesses employing AI-driven forecasting and dynamic pricing can improve revenue by up to 8%—while cutting overhead in analytics and customer service.
Yet real-life AI adoption isn’t as simple as flipping a switch. Many business leaders worry about the cost of new technologies, integration with legacy systems, and the risk of failure in adopting an unproven tool.
Will your customers embrace AI-driven “walk-out” style shopping? Are robots ready to replace intricate human tasks in steel processing? And what about quantum AI, which promises to solve problems we can’t even begin to handle on classical computers?
From the interview, Aaron also raised the issue of reshoring:
“We want to rebuild U.S. manufacturing. But we’re expensive compared to offshore. The only way is through AI productivity and automation. That’s not robots stealing jobs; it’s how we stay competitive.”
Success hinges on realistic, incremental steps
Many companies fail by betting on an expensive, futuristic system that either isn’t ready or doesn’t align with everyday needs. Instead, the sweet spot lies in adopting smaller, proven solutions that quickly show ROI.
Luke highlighted a key grocery-store approach:
“We look for proven winners, so it’s less risky. For example, AI-driven loyalty coupons are already widely used and cost-effective. Next up might be AI-based automated orders based on weather patterns.”
Aaron stressed trying AI tools at low cost first:
“We gave our staff copilot access to see if it creates immediate efficiency. If it works, we scale.”
Research Insight: Harvard Business Review found that companies taking a phased approach to AI see three times higher ROI within the first two years compared to those that invest in large-scale overhauls without testing.
Let’s step back to see the bigger picture. AI adoption isn’t an all-or-nothing gamble. Combining incremental pilots with robust monitoring helps you adapt quickly and push forward confidently. By carefully choosing initial AI-driven tools—like predictive ordering, targeted marketing, or copilot-like assistants—you set the stage for advanced use cases later, from robotics to quantum-enhanced data analysis
The Path Forward
Identify Your AI Starting Point
Where is your biggest data bottleneck? Which tasks are repetitive, time-consuming, or prone to error? Start there.Embrace Baby Steps
Think minimal investment, quick wins. With each success, reinvest the savings or insights to tackle more advanced AI.Monitor, Measure, & Move On
Measure outcomes meticulously. If it works, great—double down. If not, pivot to a new approach.
Can’t think of where to start? Start here.
Many types of everyday business documents come from meetings we have with our colleagues. Upload this transcript into your company AI chatbot along with an example document you’ve typically produced from such meetings and use this prompt:
Using the above MEETING TRANSCRIPT, please create a <DOCUMENT TYPE> similar to the given example.
Need ideas for the type of document you want to produce? Here is list:
Case Study, capturing client stories
Voice of Customer Reports
Meeting Minutes
Internal Newsletters
Sales Call Reports
Project Status Reports
Product Roadmap Updates
Lessons Learned Documents
Strategy & Decision-Making Documents
SWOT Analysis
Competitive Analysis Reports
Employee Performance Review Notes
Thought Leadership Articles
Social Media Content
Investor Meeting Summaries
It won’t be perfect, but it’ll be a useful first draft.
Because technology is progressing faster than ever, and the only risky choice is standing still.
I'd love to hear about the challenges you’re exploring. Reply to this email if you want to brainstorm solutions together.
Best,
Dino
FROM OUR INTERVIEW SERIES
| 🎯 What you’ll learn:• How AI-powered phone systems are saving labor costs in grocery retail•The impact of AI-driven price optimization and automated ordering• How small-to-midsize businesses are integrating AI tools like Copilot |
 | 🎯 What you’ll learn:• Why full automation in grocery stores is still too expensive• How AI-powered shopping carts are a practical alternative to cashierless stores• The role of humanoid robots in future manufacturing |
 | 🎯 What you’ll learn:• The “baby steps” approach to successfully adopting new technology• How quantum AI could transform industries in the next 5 years• Why reshoring manufacturing will depend on AI-driven automation |