NANAIMO – In the food service industry, social media can make or break a business.
“Things are different now than they were 10 years ago,” says Tim McGrath, owner and operator at ITS-Food.ca. “People don’t just show up at a restaurant anymore. They check on Facebook, Instagram, Yelp, TripAdvisor, or one of the many other social media outlets before they ever set foot in the establishment.
“People are making their decisions long before they get to the restaurant, and they usually do it through imagery.”
ITS-Food.ca specializes in food photography, taking pictures for cookbooks, food suppliers, restaurants, and other areas of the food world.
“One of the best ways to promote any business is through images, and the quality of the image makes a huge difference,” says McGrath.
“Given the choice, is a customer going to go to the place with really good looking food, or the place where the server took a picture with their iPhone? In this industry, the quality of photos can make or break a business.”
For the last ten years, McGrath has learned the ins and outs of the food industry. He works with clients to style dishes, choose the best angles, and use photos to create a narrative that appeals to their target audience.
“My job is to make you money,” he says. “I do it through pictures of your products, and through telling a story that reaches the people you want to connect with.
“For example, if I’m trying to sell beef to a restaurant, I’m going to show how clean the stalls are in the barn, how clean the farm is, and how well-equipped it is.
“The story I tell with the photos is going to differ if I’m working with, say, an organic farmer with 20 cows compared to a processing centre. If a story is presented correctly, people are willing to pay a premium for goodness.”
Though food industry professionals can display expert proficiency when combining flavours and creating unique, delicious dishes, many lack the skills to create appealing images dishes for social media or menus.
“People will tell you they sell the sizzle, not the steak, but in reality, the eyes communicate with the brain faster than the nose,” says McGrath. “Customers may remember the smell for a longer period of time, but if it doesn’t look good, they don’t care what it smells like.
“Most people aren’t very good at taking pictures,” he continues. “Go through the last 30 pictures on your phone. How many have something off putting in the background, or have poor lighting with a shadow in the wrong place? I know what to look for and what to portray.”
www.its-food.ca