Google highlighted on its official blog how Edy Massih, owner of the Lebanese deli and grocer Edy's Grocer in Brooklyn, uses Gemini as an on-demand "sous chef" for his business[1]. The post covers three ways Gemini helps him scale family recipes for catering events serving up to 200 guests, auto-generate shopping lists, and adapt menus for guests with dietary restrictions.
Scaling Recipes Without Kitchen Math Errors
Edy's Grocer runs a deli and grocery in the Greenpoint neighborhood of Brooklyn, alongside catering, pop-ups, and community events[1]. Scaling up his family's Lebanese recipes for large parties by hand had been a source of costly mistakes.
"You can't just multiply ingredients by 50," Massih says. "You'll ruin the dish."[1] Instead of doing the math on scrap paper, he now uses Gemini to convert family recipes into bulk catering batches instantly. In one example cited in the post, Gemini scales a chicken shawarma wrap recipe from 8 servings to 50, adjusting spice ratios so they don't overpower the dish and grouping ingredients by grocery aisle[1].
Auto-Generating Shopping Lists and Prep Schedules
Manually combining ingredients across multiple recipes for a catering order is time-consuming. Massih instead feeds event menus into Gemini, which produces organized, aisle-by-aisle prep sheets, totals shared ingredients, and structures prep schedules days in advance[1].
"It serves up precise ingredient breakdowns and creates a complete shopping list with everything I'd need, all while keeping our food waste and cost to a minimum," Massih says[1]. As an example, Gemini can build a shopping list for a mezze platter serving 10 to 12 people — hummus, baba ganoush, and tzatziki, plus warm pita and vegetable crudités — organized aisle by aisle with exact quantities[1].
Adapting Menus for Dietary Restrictions
Catering for a crowd means making sure every guest can eat safely. Massih asks Gemini for creative substitutions that meet dietary needs without sacrificing the flavor of classic Lebanese dishes[1].
"Modifying the recipes on top of scaling would be incredibly challenging. So, I have Gemini do all the math and logistics for me," Massih says[1]. One example in the post shows Gemini adapting a dessert spread of pistachio baklava and salted tahini brownies for guests who are gluten-free and nut-free, while preserving the flaky texture and rich flavor[1]. Massih adds that the tool "has freed my time up," letting him spend less time on administrative tasks and more time sharing Lebanese food and culture with customers[1].
Google's Broader Push to Support Small Businesses with AI
Edy's Grocer opened in 2020, when chef and caterer Edy Massih took over the space formerly occupied by Maria's Deli, a Polish deli he had frequented as a regular customer[2].
Throughout 2026, Google has been expanding Gemini features aimed at small businesses. In June, it introduced a Gemini integration for Google Business Profile and a "business notebook" feature that lets owners manage their own data while working with Gemini[3]. The Edy's Grocer story appears to be part of that broader push to bring AI tools into small business operations.
Summary
The Edy's Grocer case Google highlighted shows that Gemini isn't just useful for large-scale enterprise workflows — independent business owners like a neighborhood deli or catering operation can also put it to work on everyday tasks such as scaling recipes, building shopping lists, and accommodating dietary restrictions. As AI tools find their way into kitchen operations like this, similar stories are likely to keep emerging.
Source[1]: https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/gemini/edys-grocer-gemini/
Source[3]: https://k-tai.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/news/2116692.html
