San Francisco restaurant gets angry backlash for AI menu images

There are countless lessons people learn when opening their first business, especially a restaurant in San Francisco. Unforeseen expenses, permitting delays and the slog of red tape are some of them. But the one the Lozanos didn’t see coming was the vitriol they would get from locals over some images in their window. AJ and Lyndsey Lozano, the Marin couple behind Grind & Unwind, opened their restaurant on Haight Street in May. They took over the space formerly housing Citrus Club, a longtime Asian fusion eatery and bar that closed in April, according to Lyndsey. Their all-day concept — with a menu of coffee, pastries and sandwiches that gives way to pub fare and beer at night — played to Lyndsey’s experience running a microbakery and working in coffee shops, along with AJ’s desire to run a bar. So far, her banana bread and chocolate chip cookies have been selling out almost daily.  Less beloved, however, was their marketing strategy. When the Lozanos put AI-generated images of menu items in their window, things got ugly.  “Yum, slop” is the title of a Reddit post from June 30 that has more than 670 upvotes and features a close-up picture of the Lozanos’ menu display. “I reckon utilizing AI imagery for the storefront menu board doesn’t correlate with a long tenured small business in this neighborhood,” the poster commented. Another wrote “I’d rather see s—tty photos taken in a light box with a 1 megapixel camera than whatever this AI s—t is supposed to be.” Others called the focaccia in the image akin to a “loofah” or “lung,” said the “Frappuccino” drink looked like it was wearing “fishnet stockings” and wrote that the slaw topping a pulled-pork sandwich reminded them of “the mutated cordyceps from the Last of Us.’’  “It was kind of a stir on Haight Street, which is good and bad, I guess,” Lyndsey Lozano said. “But the response was not what we were expecting.” The poster was meant to be temporary, she said, as they’ve been busy caring for their three kids — all under the age of 5 — while opening the restaurant. They didn’t even have a sign yet. Then, on the morning of July 2, Lozano arrived to find the awning outside her business covered in graffiti, with what she has determined is the word “seriously” scrawled in red. She was frustrated. AJ was disheartened. “I want people to come to our restaurant, but, like, why is this such a big deal that it influences people on such intense level,” Lyndsey Lozano said. “Like, is it really that horrific that you have to act on such a feeling?” Perhaps the sudden loss of a neighborhood staple — Citrus Club was open for decades and frequented for its cheap noodles and creative cocktails — made it hard to win favor with the tight-knit community.  “We kind of jumped on the opportunity when the space became available,” Lozano told SFGATE. “It was a very, very fast turnaround, so people were like, ‘What happened to the Citrus Club?’” On July 6, the Lozanos removed the artificial intelligence display. They painted over the graffiti, estimating it will cost them over $700 to finish the job. For now, they’ve strung LED lights in the window and stuck their pastry display in the middle for all to see Lyndsey’s homemade treats. Business is picking up, and the Lozanos have hired cooks to help debut new menu items, including a smashburger. They plan to start hosting events, like pasta-making classes and paint and sip nights, for the community. “Honestly, we just kinda wanna move forward and forget about the sign and hope people come try our quality food and really make it a cool spot that locals can gather,” Lozano said. — California Costcos roll out first new food court item in years — California city decides to ban drive-thrus entirely rather than approve new In-N-Out— San Francisco restaurant gets angry backlash for AI menu images— ‘Underperforming’ SFO restaurant with $24 breakfast burrito expected to close For all things fascinating in Bay Area food, sign up for our Eat the Bay newsletter here.