Hey foodies and friends! This is long overdue, but I think it’s time for me to create a resource to address the food blogging/content creation questions that people often ask me. Before I dive into the Q&A, please know that these answers only reflect my process and don’t represent the opinions of other food bloggers. Everybody has their own way of doing things, for their own reasons. Cool, now that that’s settled, let’s get to the good stuff:
Q: How do you find all of these businesses and food spots?
A: There are a number of different ways that I find out about local food spots. First, I make it a point to follow other local food bloggers/foodies to scope out some of the places that I’ve never been to. This is the easiest way to discover new spots and it’s an added bonus that you get their review on what they enjoyed and their recommendations what to order at the restaurant. Even when I travel to new cities, I search for local foodies in that area on Instagram and TikTok and look through their pages for good recommendations
Another way that I hear about businesses is directly from the businesses themselves — they actually find me. I get contacted via email or DM by businesses looking to host me at their food spot in exchange for content.
Q: Do businesses pay you to feature them on your page?
A: While some food content creators charge for collaborations, I choose not to charge local, small businesses because I started this page with the goal of helping them gain exposure on social media. Many small, minority-owned businesses don’t have a budget for marketing help, so social posts from content creators can help new customers find their business for free.
I do, however, do paid partnership with national brands and established organizations that have the funds to afford the help of marketing/PR agencies or a set budget for influencer marketing. I still make it a point to be authentic and honest when I participate in paid partnerships — I don’t ever want to recommend a business or service that I didn’t have a great experience with.
Q: Why do you only post positive reviews? How can you like every place that you go?
A: I get this question a LOT — why don’t you post negative reviews and tell us what places we should avoid? — and the simple answer to this is because that’s not what I set out to do with my platform. I am a food blogger and digital content creator, not a food critic, and I started doing this with the goal of helping small and minority-owned businesses thrive. Tearing down a local business is not something that I want to be a part of unless it is a business that is mistreating their customers/employees or causing issues in the community.
Also, I don’t think that my taste buds speak for everybody. I never want to “yuck somebody’s yum” so I don’t think it’s fair to share my dislike for a restaurant’s food when it usually comes down to personal preference.
Q: What apps do you use to edit your content?
A: There are three main apps that I use to edit my pictures and videos with — Lightroom, CapCut, Splice and Canva. Lightroom helps me edit pictures quickly and keeps the quality of the photo in tact. Splice and CapCut are great for video editing and makes cutting clips and doing voiceovers much easier than Instagram or TikTok does. Lastly, I use Canva for all my flyers or any specific graphic that I want to post on my story — I also used Canva to create my brand kit that I send to brands that reach out for paid partnerships. With that being said, you will see #ad, #sponsored or the paid partnership tag added to any post that I have been compensated for.
Q: What are your favorite date night spots?
A: This is usually a long winded answer because it depends on what your interests are, what city you want to be in and what time of year it is. If we are talking strictly about restaurants, I can list a few of my favorites and work on putting together a separate blog post dedicated to a full list. Here are my favorite date night spots based on the city:
Cary: Colleta, Peck and Plume, Seol Grille (KBBQ), So Hot Cary (Hot Pot), Tribeca Tavern, A’Verde Cocina and Tequila Library
Durham: Juju Durham, Little Bull, Mezcalito, Rose’s Noodles and sweets, It’s a Southern Thing Kitchen and Bar, Zweli’s Ekhaya (Zimbabwean), M Sushi, Namu
Raleigh: Vidrio, Taverna Agora, Oro, Miso Ramen Bar (Raleigh location has a full bar), Jolie, East End Bistro, Flavor Hills, Whiskey Kitchen
Q: How do you eat all of the food in your videos?
A: I don’t! Well, actually I kind of do, but I only sample everything to get a taste of as many menu items as I can. I like to try out and showcase multiple menu items in my content so that my followers can have a quick list dishes that I would recommend when they go to try it for themselves. But obviously, there is no way that I can constantly eat all the appetizers, more than one entree, 2 drinks and a dessert every time I go out to eat without jeopardizing my health, so I typically either bring my family with me or pack the food to-go and share it with my friends, neighbors and family to eat.
I am not one of those girlies that don’t eat leftovers and leave the food uneaten at the restaurant — I will absolutely be leaving with boxes!
Well foodie friends, I hope this was helpful and I would love to know if you all want me to dive deeper into any of these topics.
Joy Eats World 