How ChatGPT Helped Me Find Cocktail Bars, Chinese Takeout and a Potato Salad Recipe
When I was in New York at the end of June, I used ChatGPT to find cocktail bars that were near a specific subway stop in Manhattan and that took reservations. I had just made plans to meet a friend for a drink, and while i normally love to poke around and look at reviews and webpages, I didn’t have much time that day.
With a few prompts, it came back with not only a list of bars (several of which I hadn’t ever heard of), but also direct links to the bars’ reservation pages. My friend and I ended up at Oscar Wilde (which, full disclosure, I had been to before), but that was only because the first couple of choices didn’t have reservations available.
On the same trip, I also asked ChatGPT to recommend Chinese takeout places near my hotel. I chose Great NY Noodletown from the list and had the most amazing roast duck noodles I think I’ve ever had.
And last week, I prompted ChatGPT to recommend a potato salad recipe for my 4th of July party. While the recipe needed some adjustments, it was much quicker and easier than using Google, since I was in the midst of party prep.
If you're like me, you're one of the 25% of US internet users who are using AI to plan a trip, or who expect to in the future, according to a recent study by MoneyLion. The most common reason for using AI? For restaurant reservations. I can see why - my cocktail bar recommendations were fun and interesting, and my roast duck noodles were not only delicious, but enough food for me to pop it in my hotel room fridge and have for lunch the next day.
Not surprisingly, younger people in the MoneyLion survey were much more likely to turn to AI for trip planning: 20% of people 18-34 were currently using it for that purpose, vs. just 2% of those 65+.
And when it comes to recipes and menu planning, many people are already interested in using AI. According to an early 2023 survey by Morning Consult, 48% of US adults are interested in using AI for recipes—a figure that may well be higher by now.
I find I’m using generative AI more and more for personal reasons—and the more I experiment, the more I like. By including helpful links to reservation sites and restaurant reviews, ChatGPT is making it easier for me to do the things I used to turn to Google for.
I know I’m an early adopter. But I’ve also been following tech trends for long enough to know that once the ball starts rolling, it picks up speed very quickly.
My takeaway?
Businesses of all sizes that market to consumers need to make sure they show up in the places consumers are going when they need an answer fast: generative AI platforms.
1) Know how you show up. This is table stakes. Enter your business’s name into ChatGPT or another chatbot and see what it says. You may be surprised.
2) Fix the problems. You can try to get the chatbots to fix what they show, but this can be time-consuming. On Perplexity, for instance, if you see an error or outdated information in the results you can flag it, send an email or open a support ticket. The easier route is to fix what you can control — your own site. Make sure your site is optimized for chatbots, and that the things the chatbots summarize or learn about your business are what YOU want people to know.
3) Bring in an expert. Over the past few months I’ve gotten to know BrandRank.ai, which helps businesses understand how they show up in AI search, where the vulnerabilities are, and how they can improve their presence in AI. This isn’t a paid ad; I’m legitimately a big fan. There’s a huge need for this—whether you’re a big brand or a small noodle shop in Chinatown.
