AI Restaurant Web Architect (using ERNIE)

"A smart tool that uses PaddleOCR-VL and ERNIE 4.5 to instantly transform PDF restaurant menus into professional, responsive websites."

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Inspiration The inspiration behind this project was the realization that millions of small businesses, like local restaurants, still rely on static PDF menus that are not mobile-friendly or searchable. I wanted to leverage Baidu’s ERNIE and PaddleOCR-VL to create a seamless bridge between traditional print-ready documents and modern web experiences.

What it does AI Restaurant Web Architect is an automated pipeline that transforms static PDF menus into interactive, responsive, and professional web dashboards. It doesn't just copy text; it understands the hierarchy of a menu—separating Starters, Mains, and Desserts—to create a functional digital storefront.

How we built it

Data Extraction: We used PaddleOCR-VL to process the "Jamie's Italian" menu PDF, extracting text and layout structures.

AI Transformation: The extracted Markdown data was fed into the ERNIE 4.5/5 model. We used custom prompts to guide the AI in generating clean Bootstrap HTML/CSS code.

Deployment: The final output was deployed using GitHub Pages to ensure a live, accessible demo for the hackathon.

Challenges we ran into The biggest challenge was maintaining the relationship between dish names and descriptions in a multi-column PDF layout. We overcame this by using PaddleOCR-VL’s advanced layout analysis to ensure the data stayed structured before reaching the ERNIE model.

Accomplishments that we're proud of We are proud of achieving a "Zero-Code" conversion flow where a user can go from a PDF to a live URL in minutes. Seeing the complex Jamie's Italian menu transform into a beautiful digital UI was a major milestone.

What we learned We learned the power of combining Multimodal LLMs with specialized OCR tools. We also gained deep insights into using the Baidu AI Studio API for real-world application building.

What's next for AI Restaurant Web Architect The next step is to add real-time translation features using ERNIE, allowing menus to be instantly converted into multiple languages for international tourists.

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