How would your brand appear if someone asked an AI assistant to recommend an artisan chocolate gift, explain the difference between fermented drinks or suggest new British condiments?

For food & drink start-ups, these questions offer another route to discovery. Generative engine optimisation, or GEO, is the practice of improving a brand’s visibility in answers produced by AI platforms such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Perplexity.

Research from Muck Rack and Generative Pulse offers some useful clues about the content these platforms reference. Their October 2026 report, What is AI Reading?, draws on more than 40 million AI responses, examining the sources cited and how they vary between platforms and questions. Around 84% of citations came from what the researchers classify as earned media, a broad category encompassing journalism, research, government sources, social platforms and third-party corporate content.

The study covers multiple industries rather than food & drink specifically, so it does not provide a guaranteed formula for getting a product recommended. However, its findings suggest several practical priorities for emerging brands.

Start with the questions your customers ask

Before deciding what to publish, consider what someone might ask when looking for a product like yours.

A shopper might want ideas for using chilli oil beyond noodles. A deli buyer might be researching British-made savoury snacks. Someone buying a gift might be comparing different types of craft chocolate.

These questions need different answers. In the research, practical guides accounted for 68% of citations for how-to questions, while buyer’s guides and reviews accounted for 45% of citations for “best-of” questions.

For a start-up, this suggests building content around specific needs. A hot sauce producer could publish a guide to choosing heat levels and pairing sauces with food. A drinks brand could explain serving suggestions, flavour profiles and storage. Begin with questions you already receive at tastings, through customer emails or from prospective stockists.

The aim is to provide a useful answer with enough detail to help someone make a decision.

Give your product pages more substance

Your own website has an important role. Product and service pages represented 58% of the study’s owned-media citations, followed by practical guides at 24%.

For food & drink brands, a useful application is to make product pages a dependable source of information. Alongside appealing photography and a brand story, consider including:

• Ingredients, allergens and relevant dietary suitability.

• Pack sizes, prices and where to buy.

• Clear flavour descriptions and serving suggestions.

• Storage instructions and shelf-life information.

• Provenance, production methods and verified certifications.

• Wholesale information or a clear route for trade enquiries.

Explain what makes the product distinctive in concrete terms. “Made in small batches in Yorkshire using British-grown rhubarb” tells a reader more than “a revolutionary taste experience”, provided it accurately describes your product.

Check that information remains consistent across your website, stockist listings and trade materials. Clear facts give both prospective customers and anyone writing about your brand something reliable to work with.

Make specialist media part of your plan

The research reinforces the value of looking beyond national headlines. Claude, Gemini and Perplexity cited outlets with substantially smaller audiences than those typically cited by ChatGPT, with Claude showing particular interest in trade and regional publications.

For an emerging food business, this supports a focused approach to PR. Identify publications serving speciality retailers, relevant product categories and your local area, then consider what would interest their readers.

That could be a significant stockist win, a distinctive production technique, a regional sourcing partnership or a founder’s informed perspective on a category.

Make the story easy to assess: provide accurate product details, strong images, availability information and a spokesperson who can answer questions. A relevant, well-supported pitch gives an editor more to work with than broad claims about being innovative.

Build opportunities for independent evaluation

The report found that 30% of cited journalism consisted of reviews and buyer guidance.

For food & drink start-ups, the practical opportunity is to help relevant writers and reviewers experience the product. Offer samples where appropriate, explain its intended use and provide the information needed for a fair assessment.

An independent review can answer questions that your own marketing cannot settle alone: how something tastes, how it compares with alternatives and who might enjoy it.

Keep editorial coverage and paid promotion clearly distinguished. The research found that around 99% of citations came from non-paid sources, but it did not test whether a particular marketing investment causes more recommendations.

Share knowledge that goes beyond the product

Founders often have valuable expertise that never makes it beyond conversations at their stand or shop counter.

You may understand how different cacao origins affect flavour, why a preserve sets differently with seasonal fruit or how to cook with an unfamiliar ingredient. Turn that knowledge into clear, accessible content.

Useful formats might include an ingredient explainer, a practical recipe guide or an interview about your production process. Where you make factual claims, provide supporting evidence and be clear about the limits of your expertise.

This gives your website a purpose beyond selling: helping people understand and enjoy the category you work in.

Measure patterns over time

One AI answer is a limited measure of visibility. When researchers repeated the same prompts, overlap between cited sources ranged from 41% to 94%, depending on the provider.

Start with a manageable set of questions reflecting your customers’ interests. Repeat them over time across several platforms, recording whether your brand appears, whether it receives a linked citation and whether the information is accurate. Track mentions and citations separately.

Use the results to identify gaps. If your brand repeatedly appears with an outdated stockist or an unclear product description, investigate the sources supplying that information.

For a small business, a practical first step is to improve a few core product pages, publish one genuinely useful guide and develop relationships with a handful of relevant journalists. Each creates a clearer, more credible account of what you make and why someone might choose it.

Research source: Muck Rack and Generative Pulse, October 2026.

Download the full report at generativepulse.ai/report