How to get your restaurant recommended by ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity

What our measurements show

Restaurants are the trade where AI assistants agree with each other the most. On 2 October 2026 we put the same question to ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity for pizzerias in 10 cities: in 7 cities out of 10, at least one place was named by all three. For dentists and garages it was 0 out of 10 (full study).

Why the agreement? Because for restaurants, the three assistants read the same sources. A place that is well established in those sources shows up everywhere; a place that is missing shows up nowhere.

Where AI gets its restaurant information

In our restaurant rankings (five cities in Switzerland, Belgium and Canada), the sites AI cited most were, in order:

• food guides: the Michelin Guide, Gault&Millau, Falstaff;
• Reddit threads, where locals and travellers ask for and share places;
• tourism websites: the national tourism site, the local tourist office;
• local food blogs and magazines.

Your own website comes far behind. Its main job is to confirm what the others say: cuisine, address, opening hours, prices.

The 5 actions, in order

1. See who is named instead of you

Ask your customers' question (“best Italian restaurant in Manchester”) to all three assistants, several times. Write down the names that keep coming back and the sources shown under the answer. The free check does it in 20 seconds; the manual method takes fifteen minutes.

2. Get into your city's sources

You do not need a star. Find the two or three sites that keep appearing for your city: the tourist office website, a local food blog, a regional magazine's list. Check that you are listed there, with the right name, the right address and an up-to-date description. If you are not, write to them and ask to be listed.

3. A complete Google Business Profile, with recent reviews

Gemini relies directly on Google Maps. A precise category (“Italian restaurant”, not “restaurant”), exact hours, the menu, photos, and reviews that keep coming in. The 8 points to check are in Google Business Profile and AI.

4. Say in plain text what sets you apart

In the answers we analysed, AI almost always justifies its pick: quality of the produce, reviews, a speciality, years in business (the most frequent words). Write these down on your website: type of cuisine, signature dish, local produce, opening year, awards. A menu as an image or a PDF does not count: AI does not read it.

5. A website crawlers can read

Menu, hours and address must appear as text, without waiting for a script. Test it with Your site as AI sees it, then add the structured data block (type Restaurant) with the generator.

Common mistakes

• A menu as a PDF or a photo: invisible to AI.
• Different opening hours on the website, the Google profile and directories: AI no longer knows which one to trust.
• Relying on social media alone: an active Instagram account does not replace a mention in a source AI reads.