How to Make AI Recommend your Restaurant in 2026
AI ANSWERS ARE DRIVING 50% TRAFFIC & 300% CONVERSION
While 50% of restaurant traffic is driven by AI answers with 300% higher conversion, popular restaurants are being omitted from AI answers and becoming irrelevant. But, why did ChatGPT recommend specifically Cafe Renaissance, and excluded dozens of other local, larger and more popular restaurants?
The challenge is that popular restaurants that are easily found through a Google search are being excluded from AI answers. In fact, AI answers are excluding 88% of restaurants that are usually recommended through traditional search engines and SEO.
HOW IT WORKS
Search engines recommend products, brands, and businesses primarily based on key words. However, AI recommendations are based on customer psychographics, specifically ‘beliefs’.
The goal of traditional search engines and SEO is to understand the customer’s current needs and wants, and then serve them the most relevant product or service. In contrast, the goal of AI is to become as human-like as possible. AI collects tons of information about the customer, with the goal of truly understanding the customer’s belief system as a human. Then, AI generates brand recommendations that align with the customer’s values and inspirations.
In other words, traditional search engines and SEO make recommendations at the product level, while AI answers make recommendations at the brand level.
HOW TO WIN WITH AI
Today, 50% of customers get their restaurant recommendations through AI answers, but that trend is fast growing to reach 80% within a year or two. That means, your customers will no longer run a Google search, but rather will directly visit your restaurant based on ChatGPT, Gemini or other AI engines recommendation.
Our team of AI researchers, brand strategists and psychologists spent the last year, and a significant budget and resources, conducting advanced research to reverse-engineer AI recommendations. As a result, we have developed Generative Brand Optimization™, a new approach to make AI answers recommend a specific brand. This is not a plug and play tool, but rather a comprehensive brand AI strategy that enables AI to recommend your restaurant and attract your ideal customer.
“In 2026, AI will make or break any restaurant.
There will be BIG winners, but also big losers.”
The bad news, more and more customers are using AI answers to choose their desired restaurant and your restaurant is likely not showing up. The good news, there is a small time window while AI recommendations are still not saturated and less competitive. The sooner you make AI consume your brand attributes, the faster it will start recommending your restaurant to your ideal customers and position you as the leader in your category.
If you’re interested in AI recommending your restaurant, let’s talk.
Learn more: Generative Brand Optimization™
