How to Build an AI Project for Your Restaurant Group

It is Monday morning, and the marketing lead of a six-location restaurant group asks ChatGPT for a fall menu post. The draft lands in ten seconds. It is polished, upbeat, and could belong to any restaurant in America.

The AI is not the problem; it simply knows nothing about you. Claude Projects and ChatGPT Projects fix that. A project stores your instructions, your best writing and a fact sheet for every location, so each post and review reply sounds like your brand.

This guide shows how to build one in five steps, with an instructions template you can copy, and why it now beats a custom GPT.

Key takeaways

• The end of custom GPTs: OpenAI has announced their retirement, effective December 11, 2026, and personal accounts can no longer create new ones.
• Projects take over: both ChatGPT and Claude offer projects on every plan, free tiers included.
• Brand voice is evidence: your best review replies, top-performing posts and a list of words you never use.
• Let the AI write its own instructions: it infers your tone from ten examples better than from a description.
• One fact sheet per location: address, hours, signature dishes and local tone, so nothing gets invented.
• Test before you share: run ten real cases, including one sensitive review, before rolling it out.

Summarise this article with:

C ChatGPT C Claude P Perplexity G Grok

Why projects, not custom GPTs, in 2026

Custom GPTs are being phased out. On September 11, 2026, OpenAI announced their retirement, effective December 11, 2026, with plugins as the replacement, according to its migration FAQ. From that date, existing GPT pages are inaccessible.

Personal accounts are already locked out. OpenAI's help center states that Free, Go, Plus and Pro plans can no longer create or publish new GPTs. Only Business, Enterprise and Edu workspaces still can.

Plugins bundle instructions, reference files and connected apps. If all you need is AI that writes in your voice, a project is enough: it exists in both ChatGPT and Claude, on every plan, with no code.

Claude Projects vs ChatGPT Projects vs custom instructions

All three remember guidance, at different scales. Custom instructions in ChatGPT apply to every conversation you have. A project groups instructions, files and chats around one topic: your brand.

For a restaurant group, sharing is the deciding factor. Personal instructions stay with the person who wrote them. A shared project gives headquarters, general managers and your social media lead the same voice.

Sources: OpenAI, custom instructions, OpenAI, Projects, Anthropic, Projects. Between Claude and ChatGPT, pick the tool your team already uses: both handle this job well.

Step 1: Gather proof of your voice

A brand voice is shown, not described. Before opening any tool, collect about ten pieces that sound like you: your best Google and Yelp review replies, your top Instagram captions, the About page of your website.

Then write down what you never do. Words you avoid, first names or not, how much humor, which emojis are fine. The list of don'ts is often what separates generic copy from brand copy.

Starting from scratch? Our 30 Google review response examples give you a base to adapt.

Step 2: Let the AI write its own instructions

Most teams skip this step, and it shows. Instead of describing your brand yourself, hand the AI your examples and ask it to draft the project instructions. It spots patterns you would miss.

Review the draft line by line, then paste it into the project instructions. Here is a template to adapt, or to start from if you prefer writing by hand:

You write for [group name], [number] [cuisine] restaurants in [cities]. Tone: [three adjectives]. We address guests by first name when it appears in the review and sign off as "The [name] team." Always: mention a specific dish or detail, stay under 80 words. Never: [banned words], emojis in review replies, promises of refunds or comps. Before writing, check the location's fact sheet. If a review mentions food poisoning, an allergy, an injury or a staff member, do not draft a reply: flag it for a manager.

In Claude, the Styles feature works the same way. It reads writing samples you provide and turns them into a reusable writing style.

Step 3: Add one fact sheet per location

One shared voice is not enough for a group. Your Austin location does not talk like your Brooklyn one, and the AI must never invent a dish, an hour or an address. Hence a short fact sheet per location, added to the project files.

Keep it to one page: address, hours, specialties, signature dishes, and what makes the place different, such as a patio, a private dining room or accessibility. Update it with every menu change.

Watch the limits. A ChatGPT project holds 5 to 40 files depending on the plan, per OpenAI's help center. Past fifteen or so locations, merge the sheets into a single document.

Step 4: Test it on ten real cases

Before the team gets access, stress-test the project. Pull ten real cases from last month: five reviews of different tones, three posts to write, one private dining inquiry and one sensitive review.

Compare each draft with what your best writer would have produced. When the AI drifts, do not fix the draft: fix the instruction, then rerun the same case. That is how the guidance gets sharper.

The sensitive review is the real test. A reply that apologizes for food poisoning can read as an admission of fault once it is public on Google or Yelp. Your project should flag it, not answer it.

Step 5: Share the project with your team

A project only works if the people who write use it. ChatGPT lets you share projects on every plan with two access levels: Edit or Chat. Keep edit rights to one or two people.

Claude limits sharing to Team and Enterprise plans, with Can view and Can edit permissions, according to Anthropic's help center. Either way, move to a business plan as soon as you upload internal documents.

Finally, name an owner for the voice. They review a sample every month and update the instructions when the menu, offers or tone change.

How to use AI to create social media content for restaurants

Once the project is live, ask for the job, not the style. The voice is already in the instructions, so requests can stay short and specific:

• "Write a Thanksgiving week post for each location, using its signature dish."
• "Draft a reply to this three-star Yelp review for our Chicago location."
• "Rewrite our DoorDash menu descriptions for the fall menu, under 25 words each."

For channel-by-channel ideas, see the social media strategy every restaurant should copy. And to make sure AI assistants also describe your locations correctly, use our GEO checklist for restaurant groups.

Common mistakes

• Describing instead of showing: "warm and premium" tells the AI nothing; ten examples tell it everything.
• One project per person: everyone tweaks their own version, and the brand ends up with as many voices as users.
• Publishing without review: the project writes drafts, not final copy, especially for sensitive reviews.

Want to know whether your locations show up consistently on Google and in AI answers? Run a free visibility audit of every location in your group.

Frequently asked questions

How do I make ChatGPT write in my brand voice?

Show it rather than describe it. Collect about ten pieces that represent your brand, add a list of banned words and topics, and ask ChatGPT to turn them into project instructions. Paste those into a ChatGPT Project, test them on ten real cases, and fix the instruction rather than the draft whenever the output drifts.

What are Claude Projects?

Claude Projects are workspaces that combine instructions, a knowledge base and their own chat history. They are available on every Claude plan, with up to five projects on Free. Paid plans can expand project knowledge up to ten times, and Team and Enterprise plans let you share a project with Can view or Can edit permissions.

How do I create a custom GPT in 2026?

You can only create one from a Business, Enterprise or Edu workspace, through Explore and then GPTs. Personal plans can no longer create or publish new GPTs, and custom GPT retirement takes effect on December 11, 2026. For brand voice, a ChatGPT or Claude Project gives you instructions, files and team sharing without that deadline.

Is ChatGPT retiring custom GPTs?

Yes. On September 11, 2026, OpenAI announced the retirement of custom GPTs, effective December 11, 2026, with deferrals to February 11, 2027 for some Enterprise workspaces. They are replaced by plugins, and a migration tool converts a GPT's instructions and knowledge files. Past conversations remain accessible.

At Malou, we help restaurant groups manage their local visibility — listings, reviews, content — across every location, with one consistent brand voice. Test your group's visibility with our diagnostic tool.