How This Store Owner Uses ChatGPT for Menus, Posts, and Radio Ads (And Saves Hours Every Week)

If you’re a business owner drowning in daily operations while knowing your marketing needs work—but you just don’t have time to figure out ChatGPT on top of everything else—you’re experiencing exactly what David Pendleton felt three months ago.

David owns Waterboro Market and Cafe in Maine, juggling gas station operations, restaurant service, ordering, deposits, price checking, and trying to squeeze in marketing whenever possible. He told me: “I was unsure whether that conference was even for me” when he attended a ChatGPT workshop last October, having never heard of it before.

Three months later? David walks around his store having voice conversations with ChatGPT, creating radio commercials, and transforming basic ingredient lists into appetizing menu descriptions—all while saving hours every week.

The difference wasn’t learning some complex system. David discovered that ChatGPT works best when you start with one repetitive task you’re already doing and simply make it better.

Stop Rewriting Everything From Scratch

David’s first breakthrough came with something incredibly basic: menu descriptions. Before ChatGPT, he was doing what most business owners do—just listing ingredients and prices. “Something that just listed ingredients is what I would have done,” he explained.

Here’s what changed: Instead of staring at a blank page trying to make frozen breakfast burritos sound appealing, David now tells ChatGPT: “Please create a menu description for this breakfast burrito. Here are the ingredients: scrambled eggs, cheese, sausage, peppers, wrapped in a flour tortilla.”

ChatGPT transforms that ingredient list into: “Start your morning right with our hearty breakfast burrito, featuring fluffy scrambled eggs, melted cheese, savory sausage, and crisp peppers all wrapped in a warm flour tortilla.”

The result? David said: “It made it sound so much more appetizing.” Instead of spending 20 minutes crafting descriptions for new menu items, he gets professional-sounding copy in 30 seconds.

What you can try today: Pick one repetitive writing task—product descriptions, email responses, or social posts. Give ChatGPT the basic facts and ask it to make them more engaging.

Turn Daily Tasks Into Marketing Wins

The real breakthrough came when David realized he could use the same approach for social media. Before ChatGPT, social media was “on a very spotty type of leg”—posting only when he needed something instead of consistently building his brand.

Now when David gets a new product delivery, he walks around the store with his iPhone, talking to ChatGPT through voice-to-text: “Please create a Facebook post for this new energy drink. It contains natural caffeine, B-vitamins, comes in three flavors, costs $2.99, and we’re located at Waterboro Market and Cafe.”

Within seconds, he has a complete social post ready to go. He told me: “I can literally walk around the store with my phone, having a conversation with chat.”

The transformation: David went from avoiding social media because it took too long to posting consistently because it became effortless. The voice-to-text feature completely changed how he approaches marketing tasks.

Build Your Marketing While You Work

Here’s where it gets interesting: David didn’t stop at menus and social posts. He asked ChatGPT to write a 30-second radio commercial for his beverage section. He listed what he wanted to promote—hot coffee, smoothies, slushies, fountain drinks—and ChatGPT delivered a complete commercial script including music cues, narrator instructions, and background sound effects.

“I was floored,” David said. “I presented that to my sales lady that takes care of my radio for me. And I said, this is my next commercial.”

The key insight: David treats ChatGPT like a business partner, not a magic solution. When ChatGPT suggested his convenience store needed “cappuccino machine whirring” sounds, he edited it out because “that’s not what we are.” He keeps refining his prompts to teach ChatGPT about his specific business.

Start With One Task Today

David’s approach works because he didn’t try to revolutionize everything at once. He started with menu descriptions, then added social posts, then radio ads. Each success built his confidence for the next experiment.

Pick your starting point:

  • If you write product descriptions, try: “Make this ingredient list sound more appealing for my restaurant/store”
  • If you do social media, try: “Create a Facebook post about [product/service] for my [type of business]”
  • If you send customer emails, try: “Help me write a friendly response to this customer question”
  • If you create any promotional content, try: “Write a [flyer/ad/sign] for my [specific offering]”

Remember: You’re not looking for perfection. You’re looking for a 19-minute task to become a 1-minute task.

The Simple Truth About Getting Started

David’s advice for business owners still hesitating? “Right now, it’s as bad as it’s ever going to be. Experiment with it, play around with it. Don’t be afraid to ask it questions, and just have fun with it.”

The technology isn’t magic, but it becomes incredibly powerful when you start with something small and specific to your actual business needs.

This breakdown came from a real conversation on The ChatGPT Experiment podcast, where David shared exactly how he went from zero ChatGPT knowledge to using it daily for marketing tasks. [Listen to the complete episode here]. If you’re ready to stop putting off ChatGPT and start saving time on marketing tasks you’re already doing, subscribe for more insights that actually work in the real world.