Should vegan restaurants ship /llms.txt or keep GBP plus schema as the assistant source?
Quick answer
Keep an honest Google Business Profile and crawlable Restaurant + Menu JSON-LD first. That is still what assistants quote for best vegan near me. Add a root /llms.txt only as a claim-safe map to HTML you already own: menu, kitchen policy, Event URL, reserve path. It is not a ranking hack and not a second eco essay. Eco DTC files live in brand llms.txt. Kitchen markup lives in restaurant AI citations. December sittings live in festive Event pages. Do not invent a citation percentage.
Vs other Intelligence guides
| Guide | Job |
|---|---|
| Brand llms.txt | Eco DTC origin file pointing at materials, FAQ, comparisons. Not a restaurant entity. |
| Vegan restaurant AI citations | Year-round Restaurant + Menu JSON-LD and a 15-prompt near-me log. Do this first. |
| Vegan restaurant Google listing | GBP category, attributes, menu URL. The map pack still leans this. |
| FAQ pages for AI citations | On-page question HTML + FAQPage. Link those URLs from the file. Do not recook FAQ as llms.txt. |
| Festive Event page AEO | Dated Event URL + Event JSON-LD. Point the file at that URL. Do not paste the sitting into the blockquote only. |
| Kitchen policy page | The HTML policy the file should list. |
| AEO vs SEO | Channel definition. Not a dining file spec. |
| This guide | Whether vegan restaurants should ship /llms.txt or keep GBP plus schema as the assistant source |
Composite operator guidance. Not legal advice on EmpCo or a promise that any assistant will read llmstxt.org files. Do not treat a worksheet link count as a typical citation lift.
Three sources. The file is only a map.
| Source | What assistants still use | This week |
|---|---|---|
| GBP | Local pack, hours, attributes, menu URL | Listing field kit. A txt file does not replace it. |
| Restaurant + Menu JSON-LD | Hours, cuisine, dish diet flags, owned menu URL | AI citations. Honest VeganDiet only. |
Root /llms.txt | A curated list of those HTML URLs, plus a summary that will get quoted | This fence. Ship only after the HTML is true. |
Staff line: "GBP and schema are the kitchen. llms.txt is a map to HTML we already published." If the menu is still a PDF, do not ship the file.
Proof ladder (dining llms.txt)
| What is true this week | You may ship | You freeze |
|---|---|---|
| GBP honest. Restaurant JSON-LD validates. HTML menu URL live. Kitchen policy URL live. | Root /llms.txt with kit-true blockquote and 5 to 12 absolute HTTPS links to those pages. Optional Event URL if the sitting fires. | Eco feast, climate kitchen, planet-positive dining in the summary. Invented citation %. Linking Instagram or a PDF host. |
| GBP messy, or MenuItems disagree with the ticket | Nothing as llms.txt. Patch GBP and schema first. | A map that points models at the wrong diet label. |
| HTML menu missing. Party facts live only in a PDF | Partial: keep GBP + schema. Convert the menu to HTML. Event page: festive Event AEO. | llms.txt that lists a Drive PDF as the menu. |
Eco DTC brand already has /llms.txt on the shop domain | That kit stays on the shop. Restaurant origin is a different entity if the dining site is separate. | Copying materials-proof links onto a restaurant file. Brand llms.txt. |
If you cannot name the kitchen fact the GBP already uses, the blockquote is blank.
Dining file kit
- H1 = the GBP restaurant name, not a slogan and not eco kitchen.
- Blockquote = 1 to 3 sentences copied from the ticket and GBP: fully vegan vs vegetarian with vegan dishes. Same diet words as schema.
- Link 5 to 12 live HTML URLs: menu, kitchen policy, reserve or Event URL, location/about, allergen path. Absolute
https://only. - One-line notes after links must already be on the page ("vegan kitchen, policy on /kitchen"). No new adjectives.
- Refresh when hours, diet tags, or the Event sitting change. Stale files teach last year's Christmas date.
| Leave out | Why |
|---|---|
| Eco-friendly, eco feast, climate kitchen, carbon-neutral dinner | The summary gets quoted. EmpCo from 27 September 2026 still applies. |
| PDF menus, UTM links, staging, gift-card PDP titled NYE | Broken or mixed URLs poison the map. NYE vs gift cards. |
| Every Instagram post and every old blog | Conflicting captions become "the restaurant said X and Y". |
A greener llms-full.txt than the short file | Same kit, or skip full until you can generate it. Brand rule: eco DTC llms.txt. |
Print vs banned
| Surface | Allow | Kill |
|---|---|---|
/llms.txt blockquote | GBP name, city, vegan vs vegetarian kitchen fact | Eco feast. Climate kitchen. "ChatGPT recommends us". |
| Linked URLs | Owned HTML menu, policy, Event, reserve | PDF host. Portal dump. Gift-card NYE URL. |
| GBP / schema | Stay honest. The file does not patch them. | Leaving vegetarian on GBP while the file says fully vegan. |
| robots.txt | Allow /llms.txt (and full if you ship it) | Global Disallow: /*.txt |
Restaurants on a CMS that can write a root file can ship this week. Shopify Online Store 2.0 still cannot drop a file next to theme.liquid and get that URL. Dining sites that are not Shopify should still curl the origin. Score leftover adjectives in the green claims calculator.
File freeze (labeled example)
Replace every cell from GBP, the live menu URL, and curl. Do not copy the example as a citation benchmark.
| Field | Worked example | Your cell |
|---|---|---|
Root /llms.txt returns 200, text/plain or markdown, no login | 1 file example, or NONE | [llms_status] |
| Live HTML URLs listed | 8 live links example | [live_links] |
| Eco-feast / climate-kitchen lines in the file | 3 leftover eco-feast file lines example. Kill them. | [climate_lines] |
| HTML menu URL (not PDF) | Owned /menu example, or NONE | [menu_html] |
Those cells are worksheet labels, not a citation quota. If [menu_html] is NONE, llms.txt is blank until the menu is HTML.
Go / no-go
| Call | When |
|---|---|
| No-go on llms.txt | Eco feast in the summary, no HTML menu, GBP diet disagrees, PDF-only links, invented citation %, greener full file than the short file |
| Go on GBP + schema, skip the file | Listing and Restaurant JSON-LD honest, HTML menu live, you choose not to ship a map yet. Assistants can still cite the pages. |
| Go on a dining file | Kit-true blockquote, 5 to 12 live HTML links, root 200, robots Allow, GBP and schema already match, 15-prompt near-me log already run once |
| Partial go | US origin only until EU copy is scoped. Or ship llms.txt and skip llms-full until generated. |
Re-query "best vegan [city]" and "[name] vegan menu". Winning looks like a citation of your menu or Event URL, not a hallucinated eco kitchen. Readiness: AEO readiness calculator.
GBP and schema first. The file is a map.
If the pages behind the links are a PDF or an eco feast, the index just helps models quote that faster.
Template fields and 7-day run
| Field | Fill with | Do not invent |
|---|---|---|
[gbp_name] | Exact listing name | A trading-as slogan |
[diet_fact] | Fully vegan / vegetarian with vegan dishes, as the card | Vegan restaurant on a cheese board |
[menu_html] | Owned HTML menu URL, or NONE | A PDF in Drive |
[policy_url] | Kitchen policy HTML, or NONE | A mill climate PDF |
[event_url] | Live Event HTML, or NONE | A gift-card PDP |
[markets] | US / EU / UK / both | One eco feast for every origin |
Brief: "Name: [gbp_name]. Diet: [diet_fact]. Menu: [menu_html]. Policy: [policy_url]. Event: [event_url]. Markets: [markets]. If menu HTML is NONE, llms.txt is blank. Kill eco feast lines. Do not invent a citation %."
- Day 1: Export GBP diet label, schema MenuItems, live menu URL, and any leftover eco-feast lines on the site.
- Day 2: If [menu_html] is NONE, publish HTML. Event sittings: festive Event AEO. Policy: kitchen policy.
- Day 3: Freeze banned adjectives. File the blockquote in the substantiation folder.
- Day 4: Write
/llms.txt. Curl 200. Allow it in robots.txt. - Day 5: Optional homepage
rel="describedby". Do not recook the eco DTC file on a shop domain. - Day 6: Re-run the near-me log: restaurant AI citations.
- Day 7: Score leftover eco-feast file lines in the green claims calculator. No-go if the summary is greener than the ticket.
Frequently asked questions
Should vegan restaurants ship /llms.txt or keep GBP plus schema as the assistant source?
Keep GBP and Restaurant plus Menu JSON-LD honest first. Ship a root /llms.txt only as a claim-safe map to HTML you already own: menu, kitchen policy, Event URL. It is not a ranking hack. Do not invent a citation percentage. Do not put eco feast in the summary. Eco DTC /llms.txt stays a different kit.
Is this the same as the eco brand llms.txt guide?
No. That page is a product origin file pointing at materials proof. This page is a restaurant origin file pointing at menu, policy, and Event HTML. Do not recook the DTC kit to cover dining.
Does /llms.txt replace Google Business Profile or Restaurant schema?
No. The map pack still leans GBP. Assistants still quote schema, reviews, and directories. The file only lists URLs. Patch GBP and schema before you write it.
Can we list a PDF menu if that is what the kitchen uses?
No. Convert the menu to crawlable HTML first. PDFs starve assistants and teach stale prices.
What do we measure if not citation %?
Root 200, leftover eco-feast lines in the file, whether listed URLs are HTML, and named-in-answer vs fact errors on the near-me log. File-exists is not a KPI.