AI incorrectly tells customers iconic Cheltenham restaurant is shut
Eight out of 10 internet searchers are now satisfied with AI summaries. But what if AI's sources are wrong and damaging untruths about your business spread? It's already happening.
Dear readers,
Imagine waking up to find AI has told everyone searching online for your business that it has folded when it has done nothing of the sort – and your customers are already reacting.
That’s exactly what happened to a Michelin-starred Gloucestershire restaurant, Lumière.
It is a winner in a marketplace that relies on word of mouth and digital marketing and where such ‘news’ could prove fatal. And if it’s happened once, it will no doubt happen again.
There is a whole debate to be had about AI around this, but what it seems to come down to is that human beings need to mark AI’s homework when it writes us something. We have to be very careful what we put online if we want the internet to grow up big and strong and healthy. As the saying goes, ‘you are what you eat’. Or are we.
A BBC study published last year found significant issues of some form with 51 per cent of all AI answers; 19 per cent of AI answers which cited the BBC content introduced factual errors and 13 per cent of the quotes sourced from BBC articles were either altered or didn’t actually exist in that article.
What is most important in the story below is the very real human element. The impact on the business hit by this was huge. That’s the livelihoods and lifework of a family-run business that helps put Gloucestershire on the map. It could have been fatal. The team is still counting the cost and trying to recover.
And it also cries out for a conversation around ethics too – as well as the responsibilities we have to one another.
All of which means the main read below and its images have taken up most of the room on this email and left little for anything else!
We hope you appreciate our attempt to spread the word and support Lumière. IT IS OPEN FOR BUSINESS. And we hope the article may even work in its own small way as an education/discussion piece as we begin to learn to live with the latest iteration of the internet.
Have a great week.
Best regards,
Editor | 07956 926061 | LinkedIn: Andrew Merrell | andrew.merrell@raikesjournal.co.uk
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Iconic Cheltenham restaurant recovering after ‘AI’ mistakenly tells everyone it was closed
Eight out of 10 internet searchers are now satisfied with AI summaries. But what if AI’s sources are wrong and damaging untruths about your business spread? It’s already happening.
This is a story about how an outstanding Cheltenham restaurant was left fearing for its future after being declared closed as a result of a competitor’s overreliance on AI.
Lumière in Cheltenham is not just one of the county’s finest dining experiences: its Michelin star makes it one of the country’s best.
The intimate space off Clarence Parade is the lifework of chef Jon Howe and his wife, front of house and business manager Helen Howe, and the result of a 17-year pursuit of excellence.
Lumière relies on its reputation, generated by that rare alchemy when the finest food and service come together, to ensure its small number of covers are regularly filled by loyal and new customers.
It’s a reputation helped by the digital world where mouth watering images and glowing reviews abound, a world where ‘news’ and ‘rumour’ spreads like wildfire across social media networks unchecked.
Little will cull the enthusiasm for a restaurant like a bad review, except perhaps news it had shut. Imagine that news dropping when it couldn’t be further from the truth. How do you stop that?
That’s exactly what happened to Lumière just last month (May). The damage is ongoing.
Worse still, the source announcing incorrectly it had closed was a work of fiction and was posted by another Cheltenham restaurant, The Nook on Five.
That post even declared itself well-placed to fill the ‘gaping hole’ left by the sad closure of Lumière.
In a town where the hospitality trade is tight and usually supportive the Howe’s would still be in shock if they were not so busy firefighting.
It’s now week four.
“Jon only found the posts by accident. He often has a little bit of time on a Tuesday morning as he waits for our deliveries to come in, during which he’ll check things like reviews and other posts - and that’s when he came across the news,” said Helen.
The couple had just returned from a week away.
“I’ve had to dedicate a lot of time to this, with other staff covering for me and doing extra shifts as I’ve tried to sort it out.”
The Nook on Five was opened in November 2022 by owner and director Ed Surman from SH Retail Investments.
When you consider eight out of 10 of us who search online now simply read the AI summary and go away satisfied, the issues could only just be beginning if AI is sourcing from factually incorrect posts.
The Howes are clear; the post about Lumière had an immediate impact on bookings.
“We are a small restaurant with only 16 tables/covers, which we usually fill and are often fully booked for every single Saturday. But for the first few days afterwards were only half full,” said Helen.
What did The Nook say?
“It blamed its marketing team which it said had used AI to write a number of articles about fine dining in Cheltenham.
“It claimed there was a theatre called Lumière in another part of the country which had closed and it had referenced that in the copy. The article then got published unchecked.”
The Nook’s full statement is below.
For Howe the frustration has only been added to since.
“The Nook ‘corrected’ the original article with another AI generated piece which did say we were open but was full of other errors, because for the second time, nobody had bothered to check it before publication. It did finally take it down, but it took a week,” said Helen.
“And because of how online works, while no one can read the article any more, a summary still comes up in searches.”
Which means it continues to colour those AI summaries we all now treat as Gospel.
The law around defamation requires an apology of at least similar visibility to the mistake to be made at the earliest opportunity.
A deeper dive into the digital underbelly of The Nook’s website by the Howe’s IT manager found numerous other posts that also referenced Lumiere, its Michelin star as well as other popular Cheltenham restaurants in an attempt to draw the eyes of traffic its way.
Howes is trying to sort the situation out through direct communication with Surman, rather than come over all litigious.
For the Howe’s it’s not just the damage to their business and the shock of where it came from, unintended as it was, it’s the need to recognise how a bombshell like this for one business will multiple and impact many more.
“The restaurant and hospitality sector in Cheltenham is like a family. It’s usually very supportive.
“When we get customers here, for example, we recommend other places in the town for people to stay, to have breakfast, to go for a drink.
“So if you think of those empty seats we had, perhaps all those are people who would have come to Cheltenham but didn’t come at all. That would not just have impacted us.”
Analysis of the stats shows that those who saw the article (which was 180 plus at one point, and rising) were searching for Lumière by name yet found the post by The Nook instead.
“They were probably all searching for us. And most (visitors to the restaurant) bring at least one guest with them.
“That might not sound like a lot, but we seat just 16 people per serving and rely on filling those covers. So to lose any of those, and we did, is damaging to us.”
That loss hit the prime weekend period, a time where Lumiere can expect to be fully booked. When you consider a single diner might spend between £150 and £200 half the tables empty for one sitting could cost Lumière £1,600 and rising.
This particular crisis occurred in the run-up to the Jazz Festival, when the town is a hive of activity and its restaurants and bars enjoy a vibrant period.
Surely you can just go to the restaurant’s website and double-check it’s still open, you might say?
You could, but as we’ve said above, statistics show eight out of 10 of us are now satisfied with the AI summary when we search online. And we take it as Gospel.
Paul Gordon, of Willans LLP solicitors, a lawyer referenced for his expertise in independent UK guide The Legal 500, is not acting for Lumière but was good enough to discuss the situation generally in light of the rapid changes arising from the use of AI.
Gordon said the rapid pace of the digital landscape suggested a change in the law would probably be needed to help legal protections keep pace.
“But the existing laws of defamation still apply to copy published in this manner,” Gordon confirmed.
Which should act as a warning to anyone thinking of publishing unedited content, especially anything that could damage the reputation or livelihoods of other businesses or individuals.
Darren Stevens, of Prestbury Marketing, has been making his own deep-dives into the world of AI, what it means for his clients and how their companies will now be found online.
For Stevens, we’re in the middle of a new digital revolution.
“It used to be simple for companies. They get the website right, the messaging right and the SEO right (the keywords behind hidden underneath the website where Google’s all-seeing eyes crawl), they market themselves and everyone found them,” he said Stevens.
“With AI it doesn’t work like that. It is not as clear which pages of your website are cited by AI. In the case of AI, being cited in a good thing. It means it’s found you.
“Most businesses have no idea now how visible they are any more,” he said.
“Making your website visible again and understanding what will work for you is important.
“We know if you are mentioned on LinkedIn or YouTube, and ideally by a trusted third party, AI likes that. We know that. But where ever it is, getting that messaging right is absolutely crucial,” said Stevens.
“If you are publishing something about yourself or especially about a competitor, you need to do your due diligence - not just for their sake, but for your own credibility.”
The Raikes Journal did contact Surman who referred us to the statement The Nook on Five released regarding Lumière Cheltenham.
“We recently published a piece of content that included inaccurate information regarding an independent restaurant Lumière in Cheltenham.
“The article incorrectly suggested that the restaurant had closed. This was not the case, and the business remains open and operating.
“Unfortunately, the inaccuracy in the blog occurred when an AI tool used within our business automatically generated a draft and published it directly to our website before it had time to go through our usual review process. That oversight is entirely on us.
“As soon as we became aware of the mistake, we removed the blog and issued a public apology the same day across our social media channels.
“Since then, we have been in direct communication with Lumière to help rectify the situation, and we are reviewing our internal processes to ensure this does not happen again.
“As a family-run, independent restaurant ourselves, we are keen to support fellow independents and regularly recommend Lumière to both tourists and local diners who visit The Nook on Five
“We apologise for the error and for any unintended impact this may have had.
“The content has been removed, and we are reviewing our editorial processes and our selection of AI tools to strengthen verification and approval procedures. Steps are being taken to reduce the likelihood of similar issues arising in the future.”