Buffalo Coffee Shop Drops AI Menu Poster After 100 Followers Leave and Threats Mount
Updated
Updated · Business Insider · Sep 14
Buffalo Coffee Shop Drops AI Menu Poster After 100 Followers Leave and Threats Mount
3 articles · Updated · Business Insider · Sep 14
Summary
About 100 Instagram followers left Penny's Coffee Shop after owner Megi Endeladze posted an AI-generated menu poster, prompting her to apologize and pledge not to use AI for menu art or promotions.
A barista who usually handled chalkboard design had moved away, and Endeladze—juggling the shop with a 3-month-old baby—used ChatGPT to save time on a fall menu display.
The backlash escalated from comments calling the poster "AI slop" to angry DMs and a larger account warning it would alert Buffalo's artist community unless the sign came down.
Endeladze said the poster cost about $150 to print, plus a $200 holder, and argued she had historically made signs in-house rather than hiring outside artists.
The episode reflects a wider small-business flashpoint as AI-made deli signs and other shop promotions have recently drawn online ridicule and customer anger.