Over the summer in Chicago, between the James Beard Awards, the Utility Show, and the National Restaurant Association show, restaurateurs were bombarded with an assortment of products that leaned into the desperation many feel in the face of rising food prices and tight margins, products that could allegedly save a languishing business. This happens at shows annually, but 2026 offered a new theme: AI.
Restaurants have already been hiring slightly less. The restaurant association blames the pandemic and reports there are at least 200,000 fewer restaurant jobs across the country, or a 3.6% dip, in July 2026 compared to February 2020. One slash to the workforce has been real-live humans who answer the phone. While my colleague Jaya Saxena had already reported about her frustrations in finding a restaurant’s address online, good luck with finding a phone number.
AI merchants see an opportunity and have rolled out an assortment of call-answering. DoorDash’s boutique label, SevenRooms, promises that “Voice AI answers the calls your team can't get to.” The Beard Foundation, which is also figuring out AI's impact on its programming, has rolled out a cheatsheet for restaurant owners who say they’re overwhelmed by tech options. Over the last two months, Chicago chef Rick Bayless has filled my social media feed as a spokesperson for Owner.com, touting the platform’s benefits. Bayless didn’t return a request for comment. However, a lot of these tools haven’t made anyone happy.
AI is polarizing, and while it’s a general umbrella term for various technologies — including the generative AI that creates that slop we’ve learned to detest — marketers have shifted their budgets toward AI in part to lure chefs like Bayless. I reached out to several restaurant industry folks about AI and they declined to comment, worried how the public would react. One restaurant owner, who was courted by an AI company, told me they couldn’t refuse the offer; they wouldn’t have to worry about operational costs of their business for six months.
Then there’s Shawn Rogers who unexpectedly found himself in the middle of a viral moment earlier in September. He’s the owner of Cowabunga! Pizza Pies in Chicago, where his business was reviewbombed after a customer took to Google to leave a one-star review, venting about the restaurant’s AI bot answering machine. Michaelangelo, one of the four Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, inspired the bot’s voice. The reviewer was suspicious about sharing credit card information while being “forced to talk to the most grating AI ninja turtle you could imagine.”
Ownership — Rogers, presumably — replied: “Cool story, bro! Welcome to the future! Try not to use Google anymore either. It’s AI too.” As an olive branch, the responder asked the customer to stop by for in-person interaction, but instead it ignited a cascade of negative reviews and namecalling from ownership.
Being the journalist that I am, I knew I needed to reach out to the bot and hear its side of the story. While sitting on the bench waiting to pick up my child from school, I called Cowabunga with the hope of getting all my burning fandom questions answered. However, Master Splinter would not hesitate to call my attempts a failure. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles started as a gritty black and white comic book before transforming to the cuddly cartoon and video game characters it’s most remembered for. But the AI Bot didn’t acknowledge the turtle’s print origins, and repeatedly made references to the saccharine cartoon. The voice called itself “Mikey,” and acknowledged that it was a “party dude.”
I started with tough questions and found out it was unaware of Michaelenglo’s looming apocalyptic future as the lone surviving turtle in the critically acclaimed The Last Ronin series. The bot did not respond to name-dropping April O’Neil, and it failed to laugh when it asked for my name and I said “Casey Jones.” The bot brushed me off in the name of efficiency, always returning to pushing pizza. The Leonardo pizza came topped with pepperoni, bacon, sausage, and Canadian bacon: “Definitely a meat lover’s favorite,” Mikey told me. The Raphael had “jalapeño for a little kick.” Michaelangelo certainly displayed eccentric tastes in the ‘90s cartoon, baking pizzas with hot fudge and garlic, anchovies and bananas, and chocolate sprinkles and clam sauce. Sadly none of these pizzas are available at Cowabunga.
Still, I asked about dessert, wondering if the Technodrome, the headquarters of TMNT villain Krang, would factor. In character, I was given a rundown of the ice cream offerings and told “The Technodrome’s not on the menu, but our sweets are still pretty epic.”
Feeling more confident, I finally asked if there were “any problems with this AI phone prompt.” It appeared the bot had PR training as it evaded my question asking if I would prefer to be connected to a team member. It also told me it would text me a secure payment link after I made my order.
This was a new experience, and I thought more about the customer service experience, about “the spiel” servers give customers, including classic lines like “How are the first few bites?” Danny Meyer discussed the futility of the spiel on a recent episode of TASTE. The spiel might as well be AI at this point, and as I dove deeper into the pop culture vault, I remembered the futuristic diner scene from Back to the Future II where on-screen AI celebs (Michael Jackson, Ronald Reagan, and — yes — the Ayatollah Khomeini) replace human servers. Is “Mikey” just another step toward that?
Meanwhile, in the aftermath of the death of Peter Cullen, the voice of Optimus Prime, I listened to Mikey’s voice. It wasn’t very convincing, kind of a valley boy that sounded more like Cody from another ‘90s classic, Step by Step. And it’s hard to ignore the anti-worker practices. Cullen and other voice actors worked hard to establish themselves. The way execs are threatening to use AI in voice acting is disgusting.
I also recorded the call, which also presents me with a dilemma. Did I commit a crime? Illinois is a two-party consent state, meaning if I record a phone call with you, you have to agree. I am not sure how this law applies to AI.
I reached out to Rogers (not through Mikey) and he politely declined comment.
While the bot did offer to connect me with a real human — which is strange because I was calling on a Wednesday; Cowabunga is open only on Friday through Sunday — there are bigger questions about hospitality. Sure, the majority of pizza orders come online, via apps or a restaurant’s website. But as efficient as that might be, there’s a layer of sterility. Especially from a neighborhood pizzeria like Cowabunga that offers discounts to firefighters and police officers.
There’s a rush to adopt AI coming from all sides, and that rush often leaves customers like Cowabunga’s confused and frustrated. As I drove down the Kennedy Expressway where I saw a billboard touting an upcoming event to help make Chicago residents more AI literate. The initiative’s name, “CHI+AI,” sounds like an awful Starbucks drink. Hilariously, the billboard is a short distance from this AI slop mural from Wintrust Bank that went up last year. Not every restaurant needs to be an early adopter and AI isn’t the only solution. John’s Food & Wine in Chicago is a fine dining restaurant where customers order at the counter. The idea is this will help the restaurant pay back-of-the-house workers more. Food & Wine just named John’s its Restaurant of the Year.
AI will mature, and the tools will improve. But my experience with “Mikey” left me confused. Instead of talking about the totally-rad New York-style pizzas, we’re fixated on an AI bot that doesn’t solve anyone’s problems. We’re not closer to eating pizza, and that doesn’t feel like true turtle power, dudes.
New on Ravenous This Week
Courtney E. Smith
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🐦⬛ Bird Droppings
- Jaya was quoted in this Boston Globe piece by Devra First about the rise of independent media.
- I chatted with Serious Eats founder Ed Levine about ICE's impact on restaurants and how Ravenous reported this story about Chicago chef Carlos Cantatore's abduction.
- On his hilarious Substack, Damon Young asks an important question about a perceived lack of hot food served at social functions held by white people. It's OK to laugh.
- In Chicago, the 2027 Jean Banchet Award finalists were named. The awards will take place on Sunday, January 27. Good luck to everyone involved.
- Bon Appétit has hired a new restaurant editor. It's former Washington Post and Eater editor Gabe Hiatt who moved to New York for the job. Congrats, Gabe!
