This told essay is based on a conversation with Adam Jones, 53, owner of Myers Bagels in Burlington, Vermont. Edited for length and clarity.
We specialize in making Montreal style bagels. For us, it’s just north of us. For the rest of the country, it’s a newer item. We haven’t proven them much so it won’t be as airy. It is dense and has a bit of a chewy texture. Wood is also used in the preparation of bagels.
We’re about 22 people, and we all take orders, make bagels, and do everything.
To stay competitive, you must constantly reinvent the wheel. Social media is where you need to be. I’m not naive to it, but it’s not the stronger part of my experience. So, I’m studying.
In the past, I had great employees, college students, who loved social media itself, so they were happy to take on social media. It’s fine for a few months, but then the rest of your life begins, so it’s no longer a full-time job. It will slowly die. We get along fine, but then I throw another and the same thing happens.
Why we used AI for our SNS postings
I was introduced to a company that helps small and medium-sized businesses with AI. Useful for human resource development. I have a paid accountant and bookkeeper. They can give me an analysis, but why not ask for a third opinion?
The program addresses many different aspects of business, one of which is social media. It was good. I have a calendar where I can create a month’s worth of posts to release on Instagram. This is a college town, so graduation is coming up. What’s a nice twist on a graduation post to encourage someone to enroll? Programs come up with ideas.
You can import the photos you take and use them, but you can also tweak them. Some of the photos were real. I looked at it and said, “Not bad.” Some of the AI bagels they had in the background didn’t look like ours, and I said, “Can you make this smaller and thinner?”
It didn’t take long for our viewers to realize that what we posted was not 100% Meyer’s. I appreciate their passion for making sure we don’t make this the way they want.
AI turned Myer’s Bagels online reviews into handwritten notes. myers bagel
Someone had a photo of our retail bag For the grocery store. These were actually pictures of the bag. AI invaded our Google, Yelp, or old Instagram comments and pulled out reviews from Sam. The culprit placed our bags in front of a log that wasn’t ours and created a fake handwritten note with the quote.
Was it false? yes. Was it our fire, our image, our background? No, for people promoting McDonald’s or other food, it’s in the studio. But Sam is a real person. Sam said the word and it was our bag.
I have a photo of a baker rolling out dough that I used before. The AI took the photo and layered it on a nice wooden cutting board, with a fire in the background and a kettle to boil the bagels.
Our layout isn’t like that, and we know it. But it was our real bagels, real hands, real dough.
Customers noticed that AI had generated a new layout for the Myers Bagels retail store. myers bagel
I think there were 25-30 comments between each of these two photos, and some people responded to them.
We had some very passionate and determined people who came to our Google reviews. They left us 1 star and made no claims about the food, only about this situation. No one called us directly. That was the reaction through social media. The pen is mightier than the sword.
A few people defended us by saying, “Look, they’re a small business. They just wanted to be more creative.” I appreciate those comments, but there were certainly far more negative reactions.
Some people are very polite, while others I would classify as not so polite. I don’t judge on that part. The media makes that possible, and for us to participate in it, you have to be ready to react or sacrifice whatever you do.
I apologized, but I’m not anti-AI
I received quite a bit of feedback on some of my posts. I went in and pulled them over and apologized.
I wasn’t married to that idea. It was a test, or a first step. So I was going to erase them and say, “I’m going to do better. I’m listening.” If I don’t like the flavor of a bagel and it doesn’t sell, I’ll create a new bagel flavor.
We are not anti-AI. AI is what will keep Myer’s here for the next 30 years, so we will continue to use AI in many aspects of our business. Without special help, I cannot keep up with the rhythm and pace of growth.
AI isn’t going away. I see it as a tool to do things better and easier as a business owner.
It’s not good for everything, but it’s a valuable tool for making Myers better for my employees and me. Ultimately, it’s good for consumers because it keeps prices down and inflation down. There’s a bigger picture here.
I think there is still room for social media, but we need to be more careful about it.