30-second summary
- Restaurant Schema describes your establishment (cuisine, menu, prices, hours, reviews) in a language Google and AI read without guessing.
- It favours rich results in Google — without ever guaranteeing them.
- It helps your restaurant be understood and cited when a guest asks ChatGPT or Google AI: "a good Italian restaurant near here".
- The absolute rule: mark up only what is true and visible on the page. No fake rating, no fake reviews.
This guide expands on the fourth lever of our pillar article on the Local Pack. It is the most technical of the five, but also the one that prepares for the future: as search shifts towards AI-generated answers, restaurants whose data is structured gain a head start.
Structured data, in plain terms
When a human reads your page, they instantly understand that "open Tuesday to Sunday, 5 to 11 p.m." is an opening time, that "$25–40" is a price range and that "Italian cuisine" describes your style. A machine, however, sees text without labels. Structured data (Schema) adds those labels in the code, to say explicitly: this is an opening time, this is a price, this is the cuisine type.
The vocabulary used is that of schema.org, and the type we care about is called Restaurant. Filled in well, it turns your page into a record that Google and AI can interpret word for word, rather than guessing.
The properties that matter for a restaurant
The Restaurant type offers many properties. The most useful, for a Quebec establishment:
| Property | What it describes |
|---|---|
| name | The restaurant's exact name (consistent with your NAP). |
| servesCuisine | The cuisine type(s) (Italian, Lebanese, Québécois…). |
| address / geo | The full address and geographic coordinates. |
| openingHours | The opening hours, day by day. |
| priceRange | The price range (for example "$$"). |
| menu | The link to your online menu. |
| acceptsReservations | Whether booking is possible. |
| telephone / url | The phone and the website address. |
| aggregateRating | The average rating — only if it is real and shown on the page. |
What it looks like in code
The markup takes the form of a JSON-LD block placed in the page. Simplified example (adapt it to your real information):
Each value must reflect the reality of your establishment and match what is shown on the page. The code above is a starting point, not a copy-paste: accuracy is what gives it value.
Rich results on Google: an asset, not a guarantee
Clean markup makes your information eligible for rich results — the fuller, more attractive display of your restaurant in Google. But eligible does not mean guaranteed: Google alone decides whether to show these enhancements, based on page quality and data consistency. Be wary of anyone promising "guaranteed stars in Google": that is not how it works. What you control is putting all the odds on your side with faithful markup.
Does your site speak the language of Google and AI? Get a free audit of your markup and visibility — delivered as a PDF report within 24 hours.
Explore our services for restaurants →Being cited by AI: tomorrow's visibility
More and more guests no longer type keywords: they ask. "A good restaurant for a date night in such-and-such neighbourhood", "where to brunch gluten-free near here" — to ChatGPT, to Gemini, or in Google's generated answers. These systems build their reply from clear, structured information.
A restaurant whose site exposes consistent Schema (cuisine, neighbourhood, hours, prices, dishes) gives these AI exactly the data they need to understand it and, where relevant, recommend it. It is not a guarantee of being cited — no one can promise that — but a total lack of structure makes a restaurant much harder to interpret. This is called GEO (generative engine optimization): new ground where few restaurants are present yet, hence a chance to get ahead.
The mistakes never to make
- Marking up fake reviews or a fake rating. Forbidden by Google, and risky for your reputation.
aggregateRatinggoes in only if it is real and visible on the page. - Describing what is not on the page. The markup must match the visible content, otherwise it can be ignored, or even judged misleading.
- Forgetting to update. Hours, menu, prices change: stale markup becomes false markup.
- Not testing. Validation tools exist; always check before and after publishing.
Frequently asked questions — Restaurant Schema and AI
Restaurant Schema is technical markup (structured data) added to your site's code to describe your establishment in a standardized language that search engines and AI understand without ambiguity: cuisine type, menu, price range, hours, address, area served, whether you take reservations, average rating. Without this markup, Google has to guess from the text; with it, it reads the information directly. This favours rich results (a fuller display in Google) and helps your restaurant be correctly interpreted by AI assistants. It is invisible to the visitor, but highly readable for machines.
No, and you should be wary of any guarantee. The markup is necessary but not sufficient: it makes your information eligible for rich results, but Google alone decides whether to display them, based on page quality, data consistency and many other factors. Clean, compliant markup that faithfully matches the visible page content gives you the best chance, without guaranteeing anything. Conversely, markup describing information absent from the page may be ignored, or even considered misleading.
AI assistants and generative answers rely on clear, structured information to describe and recommend establishments. When your site exposes consistent Restaurant Schema — cuisine, neighbourhood, hours, price range, dishes — you give these systems exactly the data they need to understand you and, where relevant, mention you when a user asks for 'a good Italian restaurant in such-and-such neighbourhood'. It is not a guarantee of being cited, but a total lack of structure makes your restaurant much harder to interpret. It is an evolving area where restaurants that structure their data gain an edge.
Yes, but only if they are real and present on your page. Review markup (aggregateRating) must never invent a rating or reuse reviews that do not appear on the site. Google explicitly forbids markup of fake or self-generated reviews, and such a practice can lead to a penalty. The rule is simple and applies to all Schema: what you mark up must match exactly what the visitor sees on the page. Honesty and consistency above all — it is also what protects your reputation.
Not necessarily, but it demands rigour. The markup takes the form of a JSON-LD code block added to the page, restating your real information. The difficulty is not writing the code, but keeping it accurate and up to date: if your hours, menu or prices change, the markup must follow, otherwise it becomes misleading. Testing tools let you verify it is valid before publishing. For a busy restaurateur, it is often the kind of technical task worth entrusting to a professional, to make sure it is done correctly and maintained.
Go further
Schema complements the more "human" levers of local visibility:
- Rank in Google's top 3 (Local Pack) — the pillar guide
- Optimize your Google Business Profile
- Get more Google reviews and reply to negative ones
- Citations and NAP consistency
- Turn those visitors into reservations
- All guides for restaurants
Is your restaurant understandable to Google and AI? Get a free audit of your markup and local visibility — delivered as a personalized PDF report within 24 hours.
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