Menufy survey: Diners would check menus after AI recommendations

In a Menufy-commissioned survey released September 23, 54% of respondents said they would review menus and prices before deciding whether to order from an unfamiliar restaurant recommended by AI. The survey also found that 47% would visit the restaurant’s official website.

Menufy, an online ordering and digital growth platform for independent restaurants and small chains, said Dynata surveyed 1,000 U.S. adults in September. In the same survey, 60% said they use AI tools to help decide where to eat.

For restaurants, Google’s current documentation describes two places that information can surface: web pages in AI search and menus on Business Profiles.

Google’s guide to generative AI search, updated July 10, says its systems retrieve relevant web pages from the Search index to help build answers. They can also run related searches at the same time to gather more information.

Eligibility requires a page to be indexed and eligible for a Search snippet. The site must also be included in Search’s generative AI features in Search Console. Meeting those conditions does not guarantee an appearance.

Google says Business Profiles can help local businesses appear in AI responses and other Search results. It requires no special AI text files or special schema markup for visibility in Google Search.

The Business Profile menu editor gives food and drink businesses a place to add item names, descriptions and prices. Changes can take 24–48 hours to appear on Search and Maps. Google may also transcribe menu information from a restaurant’s website into its profile.

Restaurants whose menus come through the Business Profile API may not see the same editing feature. Updating a menu across multiple profiles requires the API, the connection used by software to manage profile information.

When Google finds several menu sources for a restaurant, the menu options show when they were last updated. Operators can choose their preferred source in the Full menu tab and save it. The chosen menu then appears as public information on the profile.