During the pandemic, the need for outstanding visuals to sell your food is even greater than before, when competition was already fierce for food dollars. That’s where professional-looking food photography comes in.

Consider food photography being worth not only a thousand words, but a thousand dollars in revenue for your restaurant brand. In a digital world that’s easily influenced by visual storytelling, this is the impact that high quality styled food images can have in attracting new business to your restaurant.

Consider food photography being worth not only a thousand words, but a thousand dollars in revenue for your restaurant brand.

According to the TripAdvisor “Influences on Diner Decision-Making” survey from 9,500 international diners, 60% of respondents from the US reported that online photos influence their dining decisions. The impact of online photos proved even higher in Spain at 72%, followed by Italy with 67%, France with 64%, and the UK with 52%. This is definitely something to keep in mind when trying to attract tourist (and other) diners.

For restaurant brands large and small, the importance of capturing high quality, well-planned menu photography remains the same – HIGHLY IMPORTANT! And during the pandemic, the need for outstanding visuals is even greater.

So, when is using a phone to take your restaurant brand’s photography a good idea?

For chefs or restaurateurs, if you have basic photography knowledge and understand lighting, angles, product positioning, shot styling, and are tech-savvy with the latest editing applications, then go for it! 

• TIP: Scroll through Instagram to find inspiration and shot examples to guide your photoshoot.

However, if you are like most of us, with little photography expertise beyond selfies, and even less time to spend in this area, and if you want to put your best visual face forward, here are some other solutions to create a professional profile at reasonable cost:

Hire new talent

Aspiring photographers or recent photography graduates are a great place to start as they need projects to build their portfolios and often have very affordable rates. Try posting a free ad on jobsites like Indeed.com and on your restaurant’s social media pages to attract résumés.  

Find the food influencers

A food influencer is an Instagram user with an above average following who focuses on curating and sharing food and restaurant-related content that produces user engagement to influence consumers’ decision-making. 

These are savvy photographers and editors who are always on the lookout for new content to curate! 

TIPS:

• Find and follow Instagram influencers whose content relates to your restaurant brand. For example, pizza places should find influencers who curate and post content about pizza.
• Invite influencers to your restaurant to taste the menu and enjoy the overall brand experience. If you put on a great show, they will likely take LOTS of photos!
• Get the photos! Discuss if you can use their photos to post on your digital platforms. NOTE: Some may request a fee per image.
• Give credit where credit is due. Social media etiquette is always giving photographers or curators credit for their photos by tagging them in the post. This helps to promote their skillsets and personal brand in return for photo use, which sometimes is enough to eliminate fees. 

Whether you choose to take your own photos, or use a trained photographer, understanding how to make your food look its best from the kitchen preparation to the final shot can help to achieve your desired look.  

Your website and social media channels might be the first experience and interaction potential guests have with your brand. You have one chance to attract business from that first impression.

This is why it is so important to put your best shot forward!

TIPS:

• Select menu items that are unique to your brand and also present well.
• Decide on a consistent element to your brand photography. Whether it’s a backdrop, tabletop surface, or prop, this helps to define your brand.
• Go for natural lighting. This means shooting near windows. If your restaurant interior is dark, then rent lighting and reflectors to achieve a natural lighting affect to avoid the “flash.”
• Develop a shoot schedule and shot list. This should outline:
  • The item details, or combination of items. Consider the kitchen and bar prep time when arranging the shot list.
  • Which dishware and glassware the items will be shot in.
  • The angle of the shot and lighting details.
  • What props or people will be featured in the shot.
  • An example image of the final look you are trying to achieve.

Consumers will search your website and scroll through your social media channels to read reviews and look at photos of your menus and space before deciding whether or not to book a reservation or order from your restaurant. Those visuals may mean the difference between choosing your place…or the eatery down the street.

Social media influencers seem to be everywhere these days. They create content on platforms like Instagram and Facebook to sway their followers to engage with the businesses they promote.

But does influencer marketing work for restaurants?

Trevor Lui, restaurateur, cookbook author and co-founder of the agency Quell, says it can. “I think that in the age of trying to figure out how to expand the reach of your brand, utilizing people that have reach within their own network on a social level is beneficial.”

“I think that in the age of trying to figure out how to expand the reach of your brand, utilizing people that have reach within their own network on a social level is beneficial.”

Trevor Lui, restaurateur, cookbook author and co-founder of Quell

Sean Beckingham, principal at the food and beverage marketing agency Branding & Buzzing, agrees. He says working with an influencer allows you to address their niche audience. “They’re going to tell the best story from their lens.”

Beckingham says digital marketing “is not just about an influencer having an Instagram account. It’s about running ads, having a content strategy. It’s about partnerships. You have to really open up your basket of marketing.”

But influencers are still important.

“When you’re purchasing their power, they can do many things for you,” Lui says. These include posting on their account, temporarily taking over your account or live feed, or being a brand spokesperson. Each has a different fee structure, which may involve a combination of dollars and product.

Beckingham notes that the COVID-19 pandemic’s toll on restaurants has led his agency to approach costs differently. “Where we used to charge restaurants to do certain things, we’re asking suppliers to cover costs. We’re doing everything we can to keep them (restaurants) open because they’re such an important part of society.”

Building authentic partnerships

Beckingham says restaurant operators can find influencers through an agency, social media specialist, or on their own. Lui’s first approach is to “rely on a tight network of people that I’ve done work with in the past,” whether influencers or trusted advisors who select them for him.

• Tip: Whatever the approach, don’t focus only on follower count.

Beckingham advises vetting influencers to ensure they’re a good fit. Are both they and their audience local to you? Do their demographics fit your target market? He suggests using selection tools like geo-targeted maps in Instagram, hashtag searches, and identifying contributors to local publications. Also ask for the influencer’s media kit — it should explain their demographics and reach.

• Tip: Assess the authenticity of a potential influencer partnership. Would your burgers-and-fries brand resonate with their wellness-focused followers?

Ryan Hinkson of @EatFamous, an influencer and food culturalist with 275,000 Instagram followers, echoes the importance of authenticity. “The times when I’m most excited to actually try something or eat somewhere are usually when I get the best results.”

Building and measuring success

Successful campaigns start by discussing with the influencer your goals, such as target reach and specific outcomes. Also communicate expectations for deliverables and data measurement. “I have very tangible, transparent and clear outcomes for what I want to achieve on any program,” Lui says, “so I have those conversations well in advance.”

• Tip: Develop measurable tactics to meet your goals.

For instance, if your initial focus is on building your social media following, a contest to drive engagement can be effective.

Lui, who recently launched a new brand, Joy Bird, says, “The more impressions on your brand, the faster it gets bumped up in any type of algorithm. Because everything is algorithm based.”

They partnered with an influencer to run a contest where entrants had to follow the brand and tag two friends. The result? Brand followers increased from 320 to 960 over a two-week period.

Beckingham suggests established restaurants could offer a series of tastings for influencers. “You may want to do a burst when you have a new menu launch where you have five influencers come in at the beginning, and every month have another influencer come in.”

Specific calls to action like a secret menu item or limited time offer promoted only in a specific campaign allow you to directly measure its sales results, as do trackable gift cards.

Mutually rewarding relationships

Building trusted relationships between influencers and restaurants is a mutually rewarding outcome of successful influencer marketing.

Hinkson says he’s worked with some restaurants repeatedly over the years and they’ve developed synergy. “They’ve been happy with what I’ve done and I’m a fan of what they do.” He knows of other influencers who also experience this. “And if it’s yielding good results, then I say go with it.”

These relationships matter more than ever during the pandemic. “Really and truly,” Beckingham says, “if your restaurant is established, you should go back and look at the folks you’ve worked with in the past that have been good to you […] because you’re both in it together.”

What comes after X and Y? If you said, “Zed” or “Zee,” you would be partly correct. When it comes to demographics, the group order is Boomers, GenX, GenY, and then GenZ. That chronology of labels for the demographic age cohorts makes alphabetical sense, but it misses the bigger picture.

In an extensive profile of GenZ by Global News, GenZs describe themselves in a diverse number of ways. GenZ is a generation unlike any other, and they challenge the notion that they can be understood as a mere extension of GenY (Millennials).

In their own words…

• “We have a unique mindset”
• “Have our own way of thinking”
• “We know what we want”
• “We are creators, innovators, entrepreneurs, and Activists”
• “Technologically impacted”
• “We’re pragmatic, sensible, and seek value for money”
• “We want control”
• “Optimistic about what the future holds — and truly believe we can change it. But we have an emergency fund just in case”

Who’Z the boss?

GenZ may be young, but they’re already smart enough to know that their time is nigh. Consider that by 2026, in the US, GenZ is estimated to represent 23% of the population and become the single largest US consumer segment.

Depending on how you define the cohort, Generation Z makes up approximately 20 per cent of Canada’s population, based on 2017 data from Statistics Canada. In terms of purchasing power, GenZ in Canada directly spends about $50B annually. However, their influence over food decisions extends beyond this.

“We’re pragmatic, sensible, and seek value for money.”

Generation Z

NPD Canada’s analysis of consumer foodservice purchases in 2019, showed that GenZ was responsible for:

• Driving foodservice traffic growth
• Having the highest relative redemption rate of foodservice purchases on deals
• The highest percentage of digital foodservice transactions

Getting to know GenZ

Kevin Stewart, founder of AgVision Media, an agricultural insights and consulting company, has developed a number of insights about GenZ and their impacts on the food industry:

• Their food choices are based on health, animal welfare and environmental sustainability
• They are driving the growth of the popularity of plant-based patties in foodservice and retail
• They “spend more money on food than they do on clothes”
• “They’re looking more towards what they call ‘eating with a conscience'”
• More inclined to order food online than eat at a restaurant – “They want their food on the couch or on the go” — mobility is key

CauZes & effects

He suggests that the coming of age of GenZ will be a significant disruption for the food industry. With GenZ becoming your leading customer demographic, you may do well to question whether you’re in the restaurant business, or if you’re committed to leveraging technology and delivery solutions to meet the food and beverage needs of your clients. Clearly, this trend got turbo-charged as a result of COVID-19.

Foodservice and consumer insights provider Technomic recently published findings of their 2020 Canadian Generational Consumer Trend Report. The report benchmarks the current attitudes and tendencies of GenZ, and documents strategies that large chain operators are already implementing in response.

1. Environmentally consciousness is a core value for GenZers
2. Among GenZers, plastic reduction is evolving from preference to expectation
3. GenZ over-indexes with operators that deliver convenience/mobility and value-for-money

Away from homeZ

It’s clear you’ll want to tap this generation.

My work/life balance does not permit me to prepare and/or eat my meals at home (by Age Group):

Compared to last year, I generally eat outside my home more often than I used to (by Age Group):

Source: Dalhousie University Study: Disintegration of food habits, 2018

The future is now

If it feels like you were just being told about Millennials and the importance of that segment to your foodservice business, you wouldn’t be wrong. One of the unanticipated consequences of the adversity brought by COVID-19 has been to confirm that change is the only constant in foodservice.

Foodservice has shown a remarkable ability to quickly adapt operations in a myriad of ways. However, in a post-COVID world, the GenZ tsunami will rise fast. By all accounts, GenZ will lean heavily into disruption, with a generational understanding of their power to demand the reinvention of foodservice to meet their unique needs.