Are you guilty of Instagram influencing your food preferences in your local area?
Sydney Manoush (Instagram)
Instagram has become one of the world’s most popular social media platforms, and is increasingly more popular within the food industry. The power of Instagram has taken local restaurant owners by storm, forcing chefs to present their meals ready for the ‘perfect post’.
Millions of social media influencers and food bloggers take advantage of this staggering power and use this platform to document Insta-ready meals, generating the popular trending hashtag, #foodporn.
Local customer, Meissa Roumieh, doesn’t think a restaurant is successful based on their number of followers, or whether they have Instagram.
“I appreciate reviews but I’d rather hear them from actual people, not random strangers on Instagram,” Roumieh says.
Instagram Food blogger, Sarah Elnajjar, shares her love and passion for food on her Instagram account. Living in the heart of Bankstown, she enjoys exploring several out-of-area restaurants, photographing aesthetic dishes, and reviews them on her blog.
“I would visit these restaurants; however, it’ll be difficult for me to know about these cafes that exist,” says Elnajjar.
Instagram account of food blogger, Sarah Elnajjar (Instagram)
“I usually visit restaurants that I’ve discovered on Instagram through recommendations made by food bloggers I follow,” she continues.
Local restaurant owner, Jehad Abdel-Malek openly states that he heavily relies on Instagram for his business.
“You’ll see a lot of them, like a family of 5 or 6 more together, and they’ve all got us on social media, so it’s a good thing,” Abdel-Malek says.
Instagram influencers eating at Sydney Manoush, Chipping Norton (Instagram)
Abdel Malek recently opened up Sydney Manoush, attracting over 6,000 followers on their Instagram account. According to the Daily telegraph, the “traditional manoush eateries” do not limit their audience, nor the local food options.
“We’ve had people from Melbourne flying in and wanting to try this place in the backstreets of Chipping Norton,” says Abdel-Malek
Abdel-Malek suggests that customers are influenced by Instagram to determine your food options, but not in your local area.
“Not to say they’re here every day, but we do see our customers on a regular basis”.
I’m a final year Bachelor of Communications (journalism) student that aspires to explore the stories of people from different walks of life. As a second-generation Australian with Lebanese heritage, I have always been captivated by how people can have such similar yet completely different experiences and have incredible stories to share. Being a part of the W’SUP team has allowed me to publish the diversity of people’s lives through my new column, Humans of WSU! More importantly, it has given me the opportunity to give our WSU student’s a voice through W’SUP. If you’re interested in sharing an inspiring life experience (I’m always fascinated!), or have a story to pitch, feel free to contact me!
