The supported way to have a formatted list of choices is to use the handsontable cell type. Here http://jsfiddle.net/paestfnr/ is an example. However, if the list of choices is long and you prefer autocomplete cell type you would need to alter the cell type. Using a cell renderer within the autocomplete cell type changes only the default cell, not the list (as shown here http://jsfiddle.net/6nvxa1eo/)