Key Takeaways
- Restaurants are increasingly using AI‑generated images for menus to cut graphic‑design costs, especially amid rising food and labor prices.
- Consumers often find these images unappetizing and misleading, describing them as “uncanny,” “leather‑like,” or resembling textures such as reptile skin or loofahs.
- Backlash can be swift and public, leading to vandalism, negative social‑media reactions, and even graffiti on storefronts.
- Experts note that AI tends to exaggerate fat and alter texture, which may subconsciously push diners toward larger, higher‑fat portions.
- While some restaurant owners defend AI as a fun, cost‑saving tool, industry professionals urge that AI use remain invisible to diners to avoid turning them off.
- Food‑delivery platforms like DoorDash offer AI‑enhanced photo tools but prohibit misleading imagery and review compliance, though distinguishing AI‑generated from heavily edited photos remains challenging.
A Lunchtime Encounter Sparks Outrage
During a recent lunch break, Jill Sennett, a 37‑year‑old nurse in Denver, saw something so unappetizing she felt compelled to share it with her 26,000 followers on X. “Artificial intelligence‑generated menu images from a Jamaican barbecue pop‑up restaurant in which the meats looked like leather belts crawling with tiny beetles,” she posted. The images were reshared by more than 500 people who expressed similar disgust. Sennett summed up the sentiment, saying, “Eating is such an essential human experience… I think it’s a bad cultural thing that restaurants are converting to these horrific, uncanny food images that are unappetizing.” Despite her reaction, she still ordered chicken and macaroni and cheese from the pop‑up because it was one of her limited lunch options and she had dined there before.
The Rise of AI‑Generated Menu Imagery
Sennett’s experience is part of a broader trend: restaurants are increasingly deploying AI to create pictures for menus, social media, and marketing material. A 2026 report from the National Restaurant Association found that 26 % of restaurant operators use AI for tasks ranging from marketing and inventory management to employee scheduling, menu optimization, and order taking. The primary motivation is cost savings; with food and labor prices inflating, profit margins are thin, and owners see AI as a way to avoid hiring graphic designers or photographers for every promotional piece.
Cost‑Driven Decisions Behind the Images
The manager of the Jamaican Jerk and Barbecue Restaurant that hosted the pop‑up at Sennett’s hospital confirmed he had used ChatGPT for the menu images instead of paying a designer, as he does for his brick‑and‑mortar location. “We decided we would design something that was eye‑catching,” he said, declining to give his name. “Restaurant people are trying to be cost‑effective.” This mindset mirrors that of many small operators who view AI as a quick, inexpensive shortcut to produce eye‑catching visuals without the overhead of traditional creative services.
Public Backlash and Vandalism
Consumer reaction to AI‑generated food pictures can be swift and fierce, particularly in tech‑savvy regions like the Bay Area. When San Francisco café Grind & Unwind displayed a sign featuring menu items that locals quickly identified as AI‑generated, vandals graffitied the storefront with a word owner Lyndsey Lozano deciphered as “seriously.” Lozano told SFGate that the response was “not what we were expecting,” and that the signage was only meant to be temporary. She and her husband spent an estimated $700 to paint over the graffiti after taking down the AI signage. In a Reddit thread titled “Yum, slop,” commenters compared the AI‑rendered bread to textures like reptile skin and a loofah, underscoring the visceral discomfort many feel toward these images.
Expert Opinions on AI’s Visual Shortcomings
Professional photographer Jamie Soja, who shoots images for restaurant marketing and food‑delivery services, observed that AI often gets the food’s texture wrong. “The color and texture and the ingredients look kind of off in the way that they’re arranged,” Soja said, adding that lighting can also appear unnatural. This mismatch between expectation and reality fuels diners’ skepticism. Hunter Lewis, editor in chief of Food and Wine magazine, echoed the concern, noting that while AI can streamline back‑end operations, its use in customer‑facing imagery should be invisible: “AI images can be a real turnoff… The American dining public is smart. They know what they want, and they know what is real.”
Research Reveals Subtle Effects on Appetite
Academic work is beginning to quantify how AI‑generated food images influence consumer perception. In a 2024 study, Charles Spence, a professor of experimental psychology at the University of Oxford, found that participants generally preferred AI‑generated food images when they were unaware of the images’ machine origin. However, after disclosure, the same images were rated as less appealing. Spence observed that AI tends to add fat—such as butter on mashed potatoes—when prompted to make food look more tempting. He worries that such subtle nudges could subconsciously encourage diners and chefs to opt for larger, higher‑fat portions, potentially affecting public health over time.
Industry Voices: Defense and Caution
Not all restaurateurs view AI negatively. Nila Norero Salvatore, owner of Bella Café in San Francisco, said she personally has not received complaints about the ChatGPT‑designed signs advertising her breakfast menu. The 65‑year‑old described herself and her husband as “old‑fashioned,” but called experimenting with AI “fun” and “new for us.” She also uses ChatGPT to help write reference letters for workers and craft the café’s employee handbook. “I think it’s a great way of advertising our products, even though sometimes [people] say AI isn’t effective or it’s not natural,” she said. Still, she acknowledged that the technology’s shortcomings are visible to many customers, as evidenced by the negative reactions elsewhere.
DoorDash’s Role in AI‑Enhanced Imagery
Food‑delivery platforms are also weaving AI into their ecosystems, intensifying the debate. DoorDash offers AI photo tools “to improve the presentation of an existing image of a dish,” by adjusting lighting, color, or background, according to an emailed statement from the company. Its policies prohibit eateries from creating or altering misleading images of menu items, and DoorDash says it reviews menu images to ensure compliance. Nonetheless, a cursory search revealed images marked with DoorDash’s “AI‑enhanced” label—applied automatically when a restaurant uses its AI editing tool—making it difficult even for professionals like Soja to distinguish between a heavily edited photo and a fully AI‑generated one.
Looking Ahead: Balancing Innovation and Authenticity
The tension between cost‑cutting AI tools and consumer demand for authentic, appetizing food imagery shows no signs of abating. While some restaurants proudly proclaim they will never use AI—opting instead for hand‑drawn burgers shared on social media—others continue to experiment, drawn by the promise of savings and novelty. As norms for AI in advertising are still being established, industry experts like Hunter Lewis advise that any AI use remain invisible to diners to avoid turning them off. Ultimately, the challenge for restaurateurs will be to harness AI’s efficiency without sacrificing the trust and pleasure that come from seeing a meal look as delicious as it tastes.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/sep/06/ai-food-menu-images