Write a Good Bio for a Restaurant Owner With ChatGPT: About Page and Press

Give ChatGPT your facts and let it interview you, instead of asking for a bio from a job title. Paste a prompt that asks you twelve questions one at a time, then drafts three versions from your answers only: about 150 words for the website, about 100 for press, and a line for social, with every gap marked [CHECK].

A restaurant bio goes wrong in one way: it fills with things nobody told the assistant. Ask for a bio cold and ChatGPT tends to supply "over 15 years of culinary experience", an award, a "passion for locally sourced ingredients" and a training stint you never did. Editors and diners can check those lines, and one false award costs you more trust than a plain bio ever could. So the split is simple: you supply the facts, it supplies the sentences.

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The interview makes the bio better as well as safer. A good bio is made of specifics (what you cooked, where you learned, why you opened, what is on the menu this month) and only you hold them. Fifteen minutes of answers, spoken into your phone if typing is a chore, replaces an hour of rewriting generic copy. Voice input in the ChatGPT app works for this, subject to what your plan allows.

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The same facts then feed every request that follows: the About page, the reply to a journalist, the Instagram line, the footer on the menu. The examples below use an invented 38-seat bistro and [Name] and [Restaurant] placeholders, so swap in your own facts and the method holds.

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Twelve answers to write down before ChatGPT sees anything

Write these in a note, in your own words. Short answers are fine, but each one needs a concrete detail: a year, a number, a name, a place on the menu.

1. Your name as it appears in print, and how to say it if it is often misread.
2. Your title: owner, chef and owner, head chef. What you actually are.
3. The restaurant: its name, its style in plain words, the number of seats and the year it opened.
4. Service pattern: days, and whether you do lunch, dinner or both.
5. Your career in roles and years. Name employers only if you are happy to be quoted on them.
6. Why you opened it, in one honest sentence, ideally in your own words.
7. The food: how many dishes, how often the menu changes, and two dishes people order again.
8. Where it comes from: suppliers you are happy to name, with their agreement.
9. Recognition: for each item, the exact name, who gave it, the year and a link. Or "none".
10. Things guests notice: a counter, a children's menu, a policy. Facts, not adjectives.
11. What to leave out: family, health, past employers, and any words you never use.
12. Press contact and booking link.

The interview prompt

You are helping me write bios for my restaurant. First, interview me.
Ask one question at a time, twelve in total, from this list of topics: [paste the twelve topics above].
After each answer, ask a follow-up only if the answer lacks a concrete detail (a year, a number, a name).
Do not write anything yet. Do not suggest answers for me. If I say "skip", move on.

When I say "draft", write three versions using ONLY what I told you:
1. Website About page, 130 to 160 words, first person.
2. Press bio, 80 to 100 words, third person, plus a restaurant boilerplate of about 30 words.
3. Social bio, under 150 characters.

Rules: no awards, ratings, rankings, dates or numbers that I did not give you.
Where a fact is missing, write [CHECK] instead of guessing.
Avoid: passionate, journey, farm-to-table, elevated, curated, authentic, hidden gem, foodie, culinary.
No exclamation marks. Use the spelling I use.

Keep the facts sheet where you can reuse it, in a ChatGPT Project (or a Claude Project) rather than a custom GPT, which OpenAI is retiring. Every later draft then starts from the same source, and you update one place when something changes.

How the interview sounds

This is the shape of the first exchanges, illustrative, with the follow-ups that pull out detail. The first answer in each pair is what most people give. The second is what belongs on the facts sheet.

ChatGPT: Question 5 of 12. What is your career, in roles and years?

You: I worked in hotels for a few years and then a small restaurant.

ChatGPT: Roughly how many years in each, and what was the most senior role you held in the hotels?

You: Six years in hotel kitchens. I started on cold starters and finished as sous chef. Then two years at the small place, where the menu changed with the week's deliveries.

ChatGPT: Question 6 of 12. Why did you open this restaurant?

You: I love food and wanted my own place.

ChatGPT: That could describe most restaurants. What did you want to cook or run differently from the places you had worked?

You: A short menu, written weekly, for people who come back.

If the assistant doesn't push back, push yourself. An answer with no year, number or name is probably not ready. "I love food" is true of nearly every owner and tells a reader nothing, whereas "a short menu, written weekly" is a decision you made and can defend.

What a bio with no facts looks like, and what is wrong with it

This is an illustrative reply to a cold prompt such as "Write a bio for a restaurant owner".

With over 15 years of culinary experience, [Name] is an award-winning chef whose passion for locally sourced ingredients has made [Restaurant] a beloved destination for foodies. Trained in some of the finest kitchens, [Name] brings a unique blend of tradition and innovation to every plate.

That is 45 words with seven problems. "Over 15 years" and "award-winning" are invented, and the second is the kind of claim an editor checks. "Passion" turns up in so many restaurant bios that it tells a reader nothing. "Locally sourced" is a claim you may not be able to support. "Beloved destination for foodies" is puffery. "The finest kitchens" can't be checked. "A unique blend of tradition and innovation" would fit any restaurant that has ever opened. The first two are risks. The rest are a cost, because a reader can't tell your place from the one down the road.

The interview, answered: an invented bistro

Here are illustrative answers to the twelve topics. Everything about this bistro is made up for the example.

1. [Name]
2. Chef and owner
3. [Restaurant], a neighbourhood bistro, 38 seats, opened in [year]
4. Dinner Wednesday to Sunday; lunch on Saturday and Sunday
5. Six years in hotel kitchens, from cold starters to sous chef; then two years in a small restaurant whose menu changed with the week's deliveries
6. "I wanted to cook a short menu, written weekly, for people who come back."
7. About a dozen dishes at a time; roast chicken for two and a burnt-honey tart are always on; the rest changes weekly; the new menu goes online on Mondays
8. Bread from [bakery]; vegetables from [grower], who delivers twice a week (both agreed to be named)
9. None to claim yet
10. A counter at the pass for walk-ins; a half-portion menu for children on Sundays
11. Leave out family and previous employers by name; never use "foodie"
12. [press email]; [booking link]

If you run the room, cook without training, or co-own

The twelve topics assume an owner who cooks. Swap one or two for your situation and the rest still works.

In every case the rule is the same: describe what you did, not what a restaurant owner is supposed to have done. A self-taught line might read "[Name] learned to cook by running a weekly supper club for 40 guests before taking the lease on [Restaurant]". It is only worth writing if it is true, and it is more interesting than any borrowed training.

Teach it your voice before it drafts

Facts make a bio true. Voice makes it sound like you. Paste two things you wrote without help (a menu introduction, an email to a supplier, a reply to a review) or a transcript of a voice memo in which you describe the restaurant, and ask the assistant to describe your style before it writes a word.

The style prompt

Here are two things I wrote and one voice memo transcript. Describe my style in five bullet points:
sentence length, words I use a lot, words I avoid, how formal I am, and what I never explain.
Do not write a bio yet. I will confirm or correct the list, and then you will follow it.

Correct the list, then save it in the Project beside the facts sheet. A correction might be "I never use the word delicious". The few minutes it takes is what stops every draft from sounding like the same warm, generic restaurant.

Three versions from one facts sheet

Each version has a different job, so the same facts go in a different order. The website version tells a story to someone deciding whether to book. The press version leads with who and what, so an editor can paste it. The social line has to work in a glance.

Which version does what

Instagram's bio limit has been 150 characters, spaces included, so paste the line into the app to check the current limit before you rely on it. These are illustrative drafts of the sort the interview prompt produces.

Website About page

I'm [Name], chef and owner of [Restaurant], a 38-seat bistro that opened in [year].

I spent six years in hotel kitchens, working up from cold starters to sous chef, and then two years in a small restaurant where the menu changed with the week's deliveries. That second job taught me what I wanted to cook: a short menu, written weekly, for people who come back.

We serve about a dozen dishes at a time. The roast chicken for two and the burnt-honey tart stay on; everything else follows what is good that week, and the new menu goes online on Mondays. Our bread comes from [bakery] and our vegetables from [grower], who delivers twice a week.

We are open for dinner Wednesday to Sunday and for lunch on Saturday and Sunday. There is a counter at the pass for walk-ins, and a half-portion menu for children on Sundays.

[Name]

Press bio and boilerplate

[Name] is the chef and owner of [Restaurant], a 38-seat neighbourhood bistro that opened in [year]. After six years in hotel kitchens, from cold starters to sous chef, and two years in a small restaurant whose menu changed with the week's deliveries, [Name] opened [Restaurant] to cook a short menu, written weekly, for people who come back. About a dozen dishes are on at any time, with a roast chicken for two and a burnt-honey tart always on the menu. Open for dinner Wednesday to Sunday and lunch on Saturday and Sunday. Interviews, images and menus: [press email].

About [Restaurant]: [Restaurant] is a 38-seat neighbourhood bistro, open since [year], serving about a dozen dishes that change weekly. Dinner Wednesday to Sunday, lunch Saturday and Sunday. [website]

Social bio

Chef-owner at [Restaurant]. About a dozen dishes, changed weekly. Dinner Wed to Sun, lunch Sat and Sun. Book below.

With a 12-character restaurant name in place of [Restaurant], that last line is 115 characters, so it fits with room for a longer name. Notice what the three versions don't contain: no awards, no ratings, no "passion", no "locally sourced". They are plain because the facts are specific, and the roast chicken for two does more work than any adjective could.

Check every claim against your own answers

Drafts drift even with strict rules, so audit them. The drafts above are the cleaned-up versions. In a first pass you might find a slip such as "trained in top hotel kitchens" when your answer said "hotel kitchens". "Top" is the assistant's word, so it comes out. Use a second prompt for the audit and a table for the result.

Here are my twelve answers and the three drafts. List every factual claim in the drafts. For each, quote the answer
that supports it, or write UNSUPPORTED. Do not rewrite anything. Then list any word that adds praise
(for example "top", "finest", "beloved", "unique") so I can decide whether to keep it.

The human checks are the ones no prompt can do: dates against your CV, hours against your live listings, supplier names against permission. If the three versions disagree on a fact, an editor will notice before a diner does, so fix the facts sheet and redraft instead of patching one version.

Awards, ratings and other claims that need a paper trail

The "local" and "sustainable" row deserves an extra line. If you have customers in the EU, rules on generic green claims have applied since 27 September 2026: words such as "eco-friendly" are banned there unless you can show recognised excellent environmental performance, so drop the adjective unless you can back it. Allergen and dietary wording is a safety matter, not copywriting. The facts belong in your kitchen procedures and on your menu, and the tutorial on AI chatbots and allergen questions explains why that line is drawn where it is.

Shorter versions for programmes and introductions

Event organisers and radio producers ask for 50 words, sometimes 25. Don't cut the 100-word version by hand and risk dropping a fact in the wrong place. Ask the assistant to compress from the facts sheet, with the same rule that nothing new may appear.

The compression prompt

From my facts sheet only, write a 50-word bio and a 25-word bio in the third person.
Keep my title, the restaurant name and the opening year. Do not add any fact that is not in the sheet.
If 25 words cannot hold the opening year, drop the year before dropping the restaurant name.

About 50 words: [Name] is the chef and owner of [Restaurant], a 38-seat neighbourhood bistro open since [year]. After six years in hotel kitchens and two in a small restaurant, [Name] cooks a short menu, written weekly, for people who come back. Dinner Wednesday to Sunday; lunch Saturday and Sunday.

About 25 words: [Name] is chef and owner of [Restaurant], a 38-seat bistro cooking a short menu, written weekly. Before that, six years in hotel kitchens.

Read both against the full bio for anything that has changed meaning. Compression most often goes wrong by merging two facts into one that is no longer true, such as turning "six years in hotel kitchens, then two in a small restaurant" into "eight years in hotel kitchens".

The press request, answered in five minutes

Journalists asking for a bio usually want it fast. A typical, illustrative request reads: "I'm putting together a feature on neighbourhood restaurants. Could you send a short bio, a headshot, a line on the restaurant and your opening hours by Thursday noon?" With the facts sheet and the three versions saved, your reply is a paste and a check.

Hi [first name], thanks for asking. Below is my bio (about 100 words), a one-line description of the restaurant and the key facts. A headshot is attached. I'm happy to talk if it would help, and can do [days and times].

[press bio] [boilerplate]

Key facts: [Restaurant], 38 seats, open since [year]. Dinner Wednesday to Sunday, lunch Saturday and Sunday. Booking: [link]. Press contact: [press email].

[Name]

Two things make an editor's life harder: a bio that contradicts the website, and a quote that doesn't sound like you. For quotes, speak them. Record a voice memo answering the question, ask the assistant to tidy the transcript without changing a word's meaning, and send it only if you would say it. Never let ChatGPT write a quote for you. Once printed under your name, it is yours. For a full release rather than a bio, writing a press release journalists will read covers the rest.

The rest of the About page, in the order a guest reads it

The bio is one block on a page that has other jobs. Guests usually arrive to answer practical questions, so the story shouldn't bury them. An order that works for most restaurants:

1. One sentence saying what the restaurant is, beside a real photograph of the room or the food.
2. The bio, in first person, 130 to 160 words.
3. How the menu works, with a link to the live menu.
4. Suppliers you have agreed to name, with what they provide.
5. Practical facts: address, hours, booking link, access and how to book a larger group.
6. A press line: contact details and a link to a press kit page.

A press kit page needs only a handful of items: the press bio and boilerplate, a headshot, the logo, three food photographs and the fact box. Use a real photograph for the headshot. Editors expect one, and a generated portrait invites questions you'd rather not answer. Check that you hold the photographer's permission for editorial use, and put their credit wording next to each picture.

Keep the facts in one place and check them twice a year

Save the facts sheet and the approved versions in the Project, with a "last checked" date at the top. Refresh it when something real changes (new hours, a new chef, a first anniversary, a new listing with its proof) and read it through twice a year regardless. Then ask the assistant to redraft all three from the updated sheet, and run the audit again. The same sheet feeds the other places your story appears, including your Google profile description in the restaurant Google Business Profile tutorial, the footer on the website built as in the restaurant AI website builder comparison, and your menu copy. Writing menu descriptions that still sound like you uses the same principle, supplying the facts and keeping your voice.

Read it aloud, then run the swap test

Before anything goes live, read the website version aloud. If you would never say a sentence to a guest at the door, change it. Then apply the swap test: could this paragraph be pasted onto any other restaurant's page? If yes, it is not finished. The fix is almost always a fact you left out of the sheet.

Once the facts sheet and the three versions are saved, the next request takes minutes. The same sheet can brief a photographer, introduce you to a new supplier or fill in a booking platform's profile, and each time you check the same few facts and nothing else. Most owners can build it in an afternoon with the twelve answers above.

Questions owners ask about AI-written bios

Can ChatGPT write my chef bio without any facts from me?

It can write one, but it will fill the gaps with plausible inventions: years of experience, awards, a training story you never lived. Those are the lines an editor or a diner can check. Give it your facts first, tell it to use only those and to mark gaps, and then you are editing true sentences instead of deleting false ones.

How long should an About page bio be?

Long enough to cover who you are, why the restaurant exists, what is on the menu and when you open, which is usually 120 to 180 words. Press editors often want 80 to 100 words and a one-line description, so keep both versions saved. Ask the editor for their length if they give one, and don't pad to reach a number.

Do I need to tell readers that AI helped write my bio?

A bio you wrote the facts for, edited and published in your own name is your writing, in the way a template or a copy editor's changes would be. What matters is that every statement is true and yours. Where a tool speaks to guests on its own, such as a chatbot, say so plainly.

What if I really do have an award or a press mention?

Use it, with the paper trail: the exact name, who gave it, the year and a link. Tell the assistant to copy that wording exactly and not to upgrade it, for instance from "listed in" to "award-winning". Keep the proof in your facts sheet so you can answer an editor who asks.

Further reads

• How to Use ChatGPT for Restaurants: Five Jobs to Hand It Each Week — Five weekly restaurant jobs to hand to ChatGPT after the bio.
• What Are Diners Really Saying? Using AI to Analyse Your Reviews — Find what diners say, then reflect it in your story.
• Restaurant Influencer Marketing: Shortlist and Brief Creators With AI — Brief a creator using the same facts sheet.
• ChatGPT Prompts for Restaurants: 10 for Menus, Rotas and Replies — Ten ChatGPT prompts for menus, rotas and replies.
• AI Restaurant Logo Generator: Trademark and Print Checks Before Signage — Trade mark and print checks before a new logo.
• How to Answer Restaurant Complaints With AI Without Escalating — Reply to complaints in your own voice, calmly.
• AI Tools and AI Development: The Complete 2026 Guide — the AI hub, including every tutorial in the AI-for-business series.

Sources: Instagram help pages as reported by secondary sources (bio length limit, 150 characters at the last check), OpenAI's help pages on Projects and the custom GPT retirement, and Directive (EU) 2024/825 on generic environmental claims, as checked in October 2026.