Diners choose where to eat by asking practical questions before they arrive, and more of them now ask an AI assistant. It can only recommend you if the answers are on your site as readable text. Three things matter most for a restaurant or cellar door: your menu, your facilities, and your allergen information.
Put your full menu online as readable text
When a traveller asks “what’s on the menu here” or “how much is a steak”, an assistant answers from text it can read. A menu saved as an image or a PDF is unreliable for it: image text is usually not read, and a PDF often gets skipped. Add a “Menu” page and type each section as a heading with each dish and price as real, selectable text, with dietary tags (v, gf, vegan). Put it at the top level of your navigation, and update the text when the menu changes so an assistant never quotes last season’s specials.
List your facilities where guests can find them
Families and groups ask assistants for venues with a kids’ play area, wheelchair access, or dog-friendly seating. Spell out what you have, and honestly what you do not: wheelchair access, a play area, high chairs, dog-friendly seating, parking, baby-change. Use the exact words people search so an on-site search and an assistant both find them. Add the same detail to your Google Business Profile under the attributes and amenities fields.
Spell out allergy and intolerance information
Diners with allergies ask direct, high-stakes questions: “coeliac-friendly restaurant in this town”, “somewhere safe for a nut allergy”. Write three things in plain language: what you can adapt (gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-aware), what you honestly cannot guarantee (a shared fryer, trace contamination), and a real contact for guests who want to check before booking. It is both a safety courtesy and a findability signal. If your site does not say, AI leaves you out and the diner goes to a venue that spelled it out.
Frequently asked questions
Can I just upload my menu as a PDF?
Better not. A PDF is unreliable for AI to read and often skipped, and it is clumsy on a phone. Publish the menu as real text on a page instead, and keep a PDF only as an optional extra.
Do I have to show menu prices?
“How much is it” is one of the most common questions, and prices as text let an assistant answer accurately. Missing prices push a diner to a venue that shows them.
What facilities should I list?
The ones families and groups check: wheelchair access, a kids’ play area, high chairs, dog-friendly seating, parking, and baby-change. List what you have and, honestly, what you do not.
What should I say about allergies?
What you can adapt, what you cannot guarantee, and a contact for guests who want to check. Honesty matters more than a long list, because a careful diner is making a safety decision.
Why does all this affect whether AI recommends me?
Assistants recommend venues from what your site says in readable text. Menu, facilities, and allergen detail let AI match you to a diner’s exact question. Locked in a PDF, an image, or your head, it cannot.
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