What Naples Restaurant Owners Actually Get Wrong About ChatGPT

Most restaurant owners in Naples have tried ChatGPT at least once. They typed something in, got something back, shrugged, and went back to running the kitchen. And honestly? That reaction makes sense — if you went in without a clear job for it to do, what you got was probably forgettable.

The ones seeing real value aren't using it like a search engine. They're using it like a junior employee who needs very specific instructions.

The Biggest Mistake: Generic Questions

Here's the difference in practice.

Generic: "Write me a social media post."

Specific: "Write a casual Instagram caption for a new grouper special at a waterfront Naples restaurant. The vibe is relaxed, like a local talking to a neighbor. Target tourists visiting in March who want authentic Florida seafood, not something from a chain. Keep it under 150 characters and end with a light call to action."

The second prompt costs you 30 extra seconds to write. It produces something you can actually use, or at least something you can edit in 60 seconds instead of scrapping entirely.

The gap between a useless output and a useful one is almost always in the prompt, not in the tool.

It's a Drafting Partner, Not a Vending Machine

The restaurants seeing the most return are using ChatGPT iteratively — they don't expect one shot to be final. They paste in a draft, ask it to punch up the energy, or make it shorter, or add a seasonal reference. They paste in their best performing Instagram captions and ask it to write five more in that style.

That last one is underused. If you have old content that worked — emails, descriptions, specials — paste those in as examples. Tell it: "Here are three social posts that got strong engagement for our restaurant. Write me five more in this exact tone for our upcoming spring menu."

That's not magic. It's just giving the tool enough context to do something useful.

What Naples Restaurants Are Actually Using It For

The practical use cases that come up most often:

Menu descriptions. Taking a dish that's been described the same way for three years and rewriting it to be more evocative. "Pan-seared snapper, herb crust, lemon beurre blanc" is accurate but flat. ChatGPT can give you five variations in thirty seconds.

Google review responses. Replying to reviews — good and bad — takes time and is easy to put off. A template that you tweak for each response, drafted by AI, cuts that job from ten minutes to two.

Specials emails. A weekly or biweekly email to your list doesn't need to be polished editorial. It needs to be warm, short, and useful. Draft the structure once, refresh the content with AI each time.

Staff announcements and internal updates. Not glamorous, but if you're writing the same kind of message every week, there's no reason to start from scratch each time.

The One Habit That Changes Everything

The most common complaint from restaurant owners who feel like ChatGPT didn't work for them is that they tried it once, got a mediocre output, and stopped.

The shift is treating it like a new hire who needs training. The first few interactions are about teaching it your voice — what you sound like, who you're talking to, what you care about. Paste in your best writing as examples. Tell it what to avoid. Correct it when it's off. After a few rounds, the outputs get noticeably better.

You wouldn't fire a good employee because their first draft needed editing.

ChatGPT is a tool. Like any tool, it works better once you know how to use it. The learning curve is shorter than you think — most restaurant owners are productive with it within a week of actually trying.