With AI technology, restaurant marketing firm Cornerstore Strategy engineers whole menu from scratch

Ohio-based Cornerstore Strategy has successfully created a complete restaurant dinner menu using advanced machine learning and AI technology. The tool generated, without human intervention, an entire restaurant’s dinner menu using only its AI engine with a few simple example menu items as inputs.  

Cornerstore Strategy specializes in making restaurant, bar and coffee shop menus more profitable through the use of marketing psychology and menu engineering. This is the first time they have used text-based AI technology in their work, purely as a proof of concept. While the final results included some occasionally unique ingredient choices, the appetizers, entrees, desserts and cocktails generated by the artificial neural network are remarkably creative and realistic. 

The menu created includes a title, simple description and a price for each item. Among the many dishes generated were a honey pecan chicken served over rice; grilled shrimp dressed with pesto-roasted broccoli and drizzled with pine nut oil; and ranch chilaquiles with cotija cheese and toasted corn tortilla chips. The most expensive entree proposed by the algorithm was an artisan wild mushroom burger with toasted pecans, aioli and brie for $25.

The AI-generated cocktails were more adventurous than the appetizers and entrees and came with expressive names. Among other ingredients, the ‘Ekuzma’ cocktail is made with rye whiskey and roasted pears, the ‘Baked Animal’ contains bacon-infused bourbon and Nocino, and the ‘Wild Wander’ is carried by volcanic pisco and chrysanthemum tea. 

“AI is simply a tool restaurants could use to generate new and interesting ideas, building from the great dishes and concepts already in place,” said Brad Mason, founder of Cornerstore Strategy. “The AI systems available are quickly becoming exponentially more sophisticated and increasingly difficult to differentiate from human-generated content. Rather than fear it, I’m excited about this technology’s potential to magnify our own creative abilities and help us innovate more rapidly.”

To see the full AI-created menu, visit https://cornerstorestrategy.com/new-blog/ai-menu

About Cornerstore Strategy

Cornerstore Strategy is a marketing consultancy based in Columbus, Ohio. We seek to make corporate marketing best practices accessible to independent restaurants, bars and coffee shops. Cornerstore Strategy offers a wide range of marketing services including menu engineering, pricing analysis, market research, trends analysis, and PR/publicity.