Are food influencers worth it for restaurants?

The short answer: sometimes, but far less often than your inbox suggests. A food influencer is worth it when their audience actually lives near you, they make content people watch to the end and you agree in writing on what they post and when. A free meal for someone with big numbers and no local following is usually just a free meal. For most independent venues, the better long-term play is building your own account so you're not renting someone else's audience.

Why every venue is getting these DMs

If you run a cafe, restaurant or pub, you know the message. "Hi! Love your space. I'd love to come in and create content in exchange for a complimentary experience for two." Sometimes it's from someone with a real following. Sometimes it's from an account that started last month.

It's tempting because it feels cheap. You're already cooking the food. A plate of pasta costs you a fraction of its menu price. But the real cost isn't the food. It's the table on a busy night, your staff's attention and the time you spend chasing a post that may never go up.

And it does go wrong. A Los Angeles Times report this year covered several restaurants that comped or paid influencers and got burned. One handed over about $800 of food and drink plus a $400 payment and waited roughly ten months for the post. Another fed a group of six for just under $500 in exchange for a reel, a TikTok and a story, and got temporary stories only. Owners in the story said they'd now want a signed agreement or no deal at all.

When a food influencer is actually worth it

I'm not anti influencer. The right creator at the right time can put a venue in front of exactly the people who'd love it. Here's what has to be true before I'd tell a client to say yes.

Their audience is local. For a venue, a follower in Brisbane is worth almost nothing if you're in Fitzroy. Ask for a screenshot of their audience location breakdown. If most of their followers aren't in Melbourne (or your city), the numbers don't matter.

Their videos get watched, not just followed. Follower counts are easy to inflate. Look at the views on their last ten reels compared with their follower count, and read the comments. Real comments from real locals asking "where is this?" are the signal. A wall of fire emojis from overseas accounts is not.

They make content you'd be proud to repost. Scroll their feed and ask whether you'd happily put their video on your own account. If the answer is no, it won't do much on theirs either.

You have a reason for people to come in now. A creator post works best when there's something to act on: a new menu, a Sunday roast launch, a function space before Christmas. "Nice cafe" content fades fast. "This roast is only on Sundays and you need to book" gives people a reason to move.

How to set it up so you don't get burned

Treat it like any other supplier deal. Before anyone sits down, agree by email or a simple written agreement on:

• exactly what they'll post (a reel, a TikTok, stories) and on which accounts
• when it goes live, ideally within a week or two of the visit
• what's included, such as a set menu or a dollar cap, so the bill doesn't blow out
• that you can reshare the content on your own account
• that the post will be clearly disclosed as a paid or gifted partnership

If they won't agree to any of that, that tells you what you need to know. Good creators are used to working this way.

The Australian rules: disclose, even for a free meal

This one catches venues out. In Australia, a gifted meal is still an incentive. When the ACCC reviewed 118 influencers in late 2023, it found 81 per cent were making posts that raised concerns, and the most common issue was not disclosing brand relationships. The ACCC was clear that disclosure applies when an influencer receives free products, tickets or other gifts, not just cash. You can read the ACCC's release here.

It also put the onus on businesses. The ACCC said businesses should make sure influencers know their obligations under the Australian Consumer Law, and should never script them to misrepresent their experience. The industry ad code (the AANA Code of Ethics) also requires advertising to be clearly distinguishable as advertising. So "sp" in tiny letters at the bottom of a caption isn't good enough. Ask for the platform's paid partnership label or a clear "ad" or "gifted" up front.

It's not legal advice, and if you're running bigger campaigns it's worth reading the ACCC's guidance properly. But the simple rule is: if they got something from you, it needs to say so.

Influencers vs building your own account

Here's the bit most venues miss. An influencer post is a spike. It might fill a few tables that week, then their audience moves on to the next venue. You've rented attention.

Your own account compounds. Every video you post keeps working for you, and the people who follow you are there for your venue, not for a creator. St Andrews Hotel Fitzroy went from under 5,000 views a month to over 312,000 in its first full month with us, and 7.77 million views in 14 months. All organic. That's attention the pub owns.

If you're weighing up where to put money, I'd look at it in this order. First, get your own content working, because without it nothing else sticks. I've written about what a cafe or restaurant should actually post if you're not sure where to start. Second, if you've got content that's already performing, put some money behind it, which I cover in should you boost posts or run ads. Third, use creators for specific launches where a local audience and a clear reason to visit line up.

So should you say yes to the next DM?

Run it through a quick check. Are most of their followers local? Do their videos get real views and real comments? Would you repost their content? Have they agreed in writing to what they'll post, when and how it's disclosed? Do you have something worth coming in for right now?

Five yeses and it's probably worth a meal. Anything less and politely pass. "Thanks, we're not doing collabs at the moment" is a complete sentence. And if you're trying to work out a sensible marketing budget overall, have a read of how much a restaurant should spend on social media.