Take a moment to think of a restaurant that you love. Remember the restaurant where you get together with your family every year, or it could be a place that served food that made you go, “Oh, that’s definitely new!” ?
Do you see yourself walking up to the restaurant, getting ready to order your favorite chicken soup? Can you feel the taste of fresh bread, the curries, and the meat done just right, on your tongue?
What about wiping that plate clean, because it was just lip-smacking good?
Keep this feeling with you. Something happened when you thought of this restaurant. Maybe it made you smile. It definitely made you feel hungry. A good restaurant knows that its food is a ticket to a magic world, where happy memories should be accompanied by delicious food.
We don’t realize it, but most of us no longer walk up to a restaurant and just try it out. Our choices are largely influenced by social media and restaurant review platforms. We place trust in our fellow humans to tell us if a restaurant can wow us.
But here’s a tip to bring the first set of customers in – involve a food photographer. We say this because food is as much a visual experience as it is a treat for the palate. An intelligent restaurant owner understands this. And yes, studies have shown how visual imagery receives 70% more orders and 65% higher sales compared to restaurants that do not. Fast food chains have been doing this for a long time.
Come with us. We’ll walk you through why food photography is something you must consider for your restaurant. You could do without it, but you’ll be much better off with it.
People fall in love with your food, sure. But, people also fall in love with the visuals they see in a restaurant. A food photographer with their expertise can connect customers with your food and the brand. For example, a lip-smacking image of shawarma is enough to bring in the customer.
The images of food outside restaurants, on social media accounts, or in ads, tell a customer why they must place an order with you. A well-shot image of food builds trust and interest in your brand. Here’s our article about the Importance of Social Media presence for a restaurant, if you’re interested to build your brand’s presence online.
Recall a time when you saw a photo of delicious food online that made you want to order it. A good food picture tells the customer what to expect. It invites them to savor the dish inside your ambiance.
Fast Food restaurants like McDonald’s understand the important role visuals of food play in their restaurant sales. That is why their menu, in the restaurant or food app, gives importance to images. It can help create a visual experience that triggers their hunger, making them order the food items on the menu.
A picture is worth a thousand words, maybe even more for a hungry customer. As a restaurant owner, use these visual cues to your advantage while communicating with a customer.
You can tell stories about your brand, the thought that goes into making every dish at your restaurant, curating an experience for the customer, and more. You can even use your Social media account via posts, stories, and lives to connect with your customers.
There’s more than one reason a food photographer can elevate your restaurant’s brand image to attract more customers. In today’s age of the internet and social media, Google, and app reviews, use images to express stories words can’t convey.
Here’s a restaurant that’s using visuals well to elevate its brand image. A Case study on Wave Asian Bistro, located in Florida, USA.
Location: Florida, USA.
It is a sushi restaurant serving everything Sushi – burgers, pizzas, hotdogs, and more.
272k followers on Instagram is a good indication that Wave Asian Bistro is acing its Social Media presence. You can take a page or two out of their books on how to on keep your restaurant’s social media presence active and engaging. Their vivid use of visuals in the form of photos and videos connects the customer to their brand. Their Instagram page is active, from posting pictures to reels to adding highlights and stories to engage with their customers.
The restaurant use principles of food photography to showcase:
The restaurant collaborates with local content creators and videographers to infuse their food into our social media feeds.. This goes a long way in connecting the brand to its customers, eventually leading to more sales. This helped the brand stand out from the rest.
The engagement on their posts and reels shows how connected their customers are with their brand. It’s all due to using the power of visuals to tell their brand’s story.
You can take learnings from Wave Asian Bistro on how they use food photography to their advantage. As a restaurant owner, think about how you can utilize the power of visual media to make your brand stand out from the rest and increase your sales.
In addition to mouth-watering photos, you need to find a way to distribute this to the masses. Social media is a strong channel to tap into, which you already know. But the idea just clicked in your head after reading this, here are some of the reasons why you’re headed in the right direction.Once you’re ready to get started, here’s a blog article to help you ask the right questions for devising the right social media strategy.
Published By Vijay