Smart restaurateurs encourage diners to Instagram their food

At Empellón Cocina, a restaurant in New York City, diners see a not-so-gentle reminder at the top of the menu. "Empellón strongly discourages the use of cellphones, unless you're posting food porn on Instagram. #Empellon," it says in bold letters.

The aim is to get diners comfortable posting photos, says co-owner of the nouveau Mexican restaurant David Rodolitz, who came up with the tagline five months ago.

"It's almost like they are becoming a brand ambassador on behalf of the restaurant," says Mr Rodolitz. It also helps to bring followers to the restaurant's own Instagram feed, which informs users about specials or offers behind-the-scenes glimpses of the kitchen, he adds.

Establishments accustomed to viewing snap-happy smartphone users with annoyance are now realising the potential of social networks to boost business. Some are trying to encourage restaurant-goers to post pictures of the food by promoting their social-media presence and courting Instagram users with off-menu freebies. Some restaurants, even those that frown on cellphone use in the dining room, are publicizing their social-media hashtags - words or phrases used to identify topics - at the table and encouraging diners to snap a photo before they dig in.

For many diners, a great restaurant meal now includes the obligatory food photo to show their social-media following where they've been. Instagram has legions of users who post photos of food, says David Gerzof Richard, professor of social media and marketing at Emerson College in Boston. While diners tend to rant about bad meals online, the beautiful pictures often seen on Instagram tend to overshadow any criticisms users may post, says Gerzof Richard, who also runs a social-media marketing firm.

Many restaurants and their publicists monitor their mentions on Instagram, Twitter and the like by searching daily for the restaurant name or hashtag.

And some restaurants offer special perks to influencers with a certain number of people who follow their postings - often 500 or 1000 followers. Popular Pays, a startup in Chicago, has deals with a dozen local restaurants that reward Instagram users who have more than 500 followers with free food. (The company charges restaurants a fee to join.) Users can get freebies such as pastries, milkshakes or a gourmet burger, says Allan Holmes, who co-founded the company in May and will launch an app in July. "We bring [restaurants] the influencers," he says. "It's not a lot to ask them to give away coffee or a biscuit."

For instance, Trenchermen, a Chicago restaurant, offers the Klappertaart, a Dutch-influenced Indonesian pastry, at weekend brunches to restaurant-goers who can show they have more than 1000 followers.

A big following can make a difference. Jason Peterson, an avid Instagram user who focuses on design, says the food photos he posts can get hundreds of "likes" because he has 79,000 followers. Mr Peterson, 44, who is chief creative officer at Havas Worldwide, an advertising agency, recently posted a photo of his horchata-flavored milkshake from Antique Taco, which he says added about 10 followers to the Chicago restaurant's followers.

Restaurants often need to do damage control after an unflattering Instagram shot. When Saam Hagshenas, 33, posted of a photo of a delicious rabbit served over polenta at an Italian restaurant in Chicago, the restaurant's publicist asked him to take the photo down. He used a phone flash, which washed out colors. "Even my friend's mum said it looked like puke," said Mr Hagshenas, who has 345 followers. He obliged to the request. "In retrospect, it was very unflattering," he says.

An Italian restaurant on New York's Upper East Side called 83 1/2 has started offering a free affogato pop—a hazelnut-and-espresso ice pop that isn't on the menu—to Instagrammers who order a meal. In return, the restaurant asks the customer to post a photo from inside the restaurant on his feed. "If someone has their phone out, we mention it between courses," says general manager Andrew Seng.

PICTURE PERFECT
Tips from Boston photographer Brian Samuels, who teaches how to take mobile-phone food photos.

• Avoid overhead lights, which create a reflection on the plate. Stick to light that is off to the side or angle the camera.
• Pull back from the dish for a wide shot to show napkins, utensils, cocktails, or even a menu to create more action in the shot.
• Before Instagramming, use apps such as VSCO or Snapseed to edit the photo further.
• Avoid flash because it can create harsh lighting on one area of the shot.
• For stews or mushy dishes, add garnishes to bring out the food.
• When photographing sandwiches, wedge out some of the contents so it's not blocked by bread.
• Baked goods can make for a great shot because of their texture.

Source: The Australian, 27 June 2013