Your restaurant website has a blog. What should be on it?

You have a website for your restaurant, either made by you or by our services, and one of the pages is a blog. Most of your competition will fail to utilize this amazing resource and you should take this opportunity to blow them away.

            So the day is over, the grill is clean, all the workers have left, and you’ve just gotten home. You pull up a word document to start writing and… nothing. What are you going to write about; what should you write about? Well, our writers at MunchEm are here to help you. If you follow this guide, you will not only provide content to increase your visibility on the Internet, but you will also provide information to new and old customers alike.

You have that one employee, why not write a post about them?

Menu Item Descriptions

            Do you have a camera phone and followed our guide on how to take awesome food photos? You can take some awesome photos of your food, and make a write up on them. Describe them: the ingredients, how you cook it, where you got the idea to make the dish. Make the customer salivate, make them want to come in to your place. For each post, I would include 2-3 items; just don’t do your entire menu in one post. Split it up and spread them out.

Answer Questions about your Restaurant

            If you write about your restaurant, where you came from, the trials you have faced: you will get a personable connection with your customers. This will make your place seem more than brick and mortar. While this is not a question, it does make you personable. Also, post a FAQ (frequently asked questions) list. Maybe you have vegan options, why would you include them? Just answer some common questions people have about your place.

Businesses you Work With

            Do you love your produce supplier? Is there a restaurant next door that has some awesome drink specials? Then give them a shout out on your blog. Write about them, your experience with them.

“Employee of the Month” Stories

            You have that stellar employee that is always going above and beyond, why not write a feature article on them? They’ve worked really hard, interview them, and show them appreciation. This will also make your business extremely personable.

Tune in to your Community

            You are a local restaurant and are probably involved with your community. Why not write about that? Theme items on your menu to correspond with things going on in the community. This immediately links you to your surroundings. Maybe there is a 5k and you are a sponsor, make a blog post about that.

The important thing to remember when writing a blog is to keep it consistent. Always write in the same voice and keep it lax, your customers are the audience reading this. If you like this blog post, make sure to keep reading our other posts.

Taking good food photography!

So you own your own restaurant and want to give your customers a good reason to come in to your restaurant. You’ve set up your social media accounts and you have practiced good social media techniques, and now you think you’re ready to take it to the next level. Chances are, you can and should!

The first thing is to set up an Instagram account. This allows for an easily shareable medium that can be searched by millions of potential customers. Also, create a gallery on your Facebook page and website in order to showcase these photos. I’ll explain how to shoot great food photography, for cheap, for a camera first, then how to translate it in to your smartphone.

 

Great food photography:

            You need a camera to take photos of your food. If you have a DSLR, great! If you don’t it is fine, you can get by with a point-and-shoot. One rule of food photography is to make it interesting. You either want the photo to be full of food (top), or to take more of a minimalist approach, and have more blank space so your food pops and stands out. (bottom)

Maximalism in Food Photography

Minimalism in food photography

            Another tenant of photography is to follow the rule of thirds. Basically, this means breaking down the frame in to nine equal squares, and capturing the subject of your photo on the first or second vertical line. (see photo)

You want to line up your subject in the red pluses

This draws the attention to the thing caught up in the lines.

Another tip is to use natural light and have the color white balance set. This will make your photos look better, and allows for colors to appear more realistic. Also, if you are out of available light, use the flash on your camera, and the LED light on your phone for secondary lighting. This will take the harshness out of the camera flash and create some dramatic shadows.

The last tip of great food photography is angles. Don’t try to capture your food from head-on in every single photo. Take some photos from above, tilt the camera a bit, take some close up. Try to vary the angles, it will increase people’s interest because it will not be the same photo with different food.

 

For camera phones:

            Camera phones have become progressively better for picture taking, and can lead to some awesome images. Here are a couple tips for your food photography is your are using your camera phone:

Turn the flash off, completely, and utilize natural light. Follow the rule of thirds. If you can, take a photo in the regular photo format, and the square, or 1×1 format. This will allow you to have the same photo, one ready for Internet publishing, and the other ready for Instagram posting. If you follow these simple instructions, you should be producing quality food pictures that will increase your Internet presence and drive buzz around your restaurant.

 

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What Makes a Better Burger?

          It is hard to say definitively what makes a better burger: could it be the taste, the smell, the amount of juices, the way the bun cradles it softly in to your mouth? All of this is subjective, but we here at MunchEm have some tips to make a better burger.

 

1. Grind your own beef, buy grass-fed, or buy as fresh as possible.
2. Weigh your patties to ensure that they are uniform, and you don’t want to end up with that one fat patty.
3. Season your meat, pepper, garlic powder, or anything you want to add. JUST MAKE SURE TO NOT SALT YOUR BURGERS UNTIL THEY ARE ABOUT TO GO ON THE GRILL.
4. Don’t season your burgers with salt until they are about to go on the grill.*
5. Get a thermometer and use it! A temperature to doneness guide can be found here.
6. Don’t squish the patties in to the grill. You are releasing all of the delicious juices, fat, and flavor.
7. Get the right bun for the job. If it is a small burger, use a sturdy bun. For juicy burgers, make sure to toast the bun so the juices won’t destroy the base.
8. Make your burgers how you like them. Don’t let anybody else tell the grill master how to do his or her job.

* Yes we posted it twice because it can really dry out your meat and lead to a weak burger.

If you follow these simple suggestions, you will be grilling up better burgers in one to two attempts. Just remember that grilling is serious business. If you are tired of grilling and need some quick, local food in the Orlando Area, reach out to us. We even have apps for all of your devices!