Let’s face it. When it comes to visual treats, Instagram and Zomato have grown to become one of the most effective marketing tools for almost every product there is. But food takes the cake (pun intended, of course). From ice cream cones to the humble dosa, every dish is up there on Zomato and Instagram. People have been Instagramming food pictures to the extent that many restaurants’ staff have to wait till the dishes are snapped before laying out the next dish. Foodies have taken their presence on these platforms very seriously. With the kind of following they have on social media, they’re bound to build their feed with the prettiest looking food pictures. From the right angle to the right filter, they have managed to make food look incredibly beautiful to their followers.

To go with the current trend, many restaurants and nightlife establishments are slowly making sure their food is photogenic. Why? Because the better it looks on a plate, the more likely customers are going to snap a picture and put it up on platforms like Zomato and Instagram. And that’s not it, they will caption it with the name of the dish and the restaurant. That in turn is read by hundreds or thousands of their followers. If this isn’t a great opportunity for you to get some free marketing, nothing else would be. All you need to do is make your food look more appealing without altering its taste and quality. And that’s the easiest thing to do!

Accessories

You see how Social Offline across cities has gained a large following on Instagram? Look at their pictures and pictures that their diners post. Their fun and quirky accessories like plates, mugs, glasses and the likes have become very popular on social media. Adding some quirk on your customers’ tables gives your restaurant a chance to be unique and stand out. Many pubs caught up soon enough and today have coasters with funny one liners that get snapped by patrons (and sometimes taken home as a souvenir). Paper napkins, beer glasses, coffee mugs, serving plates and so many more things that you can make photo friendly. If it’s just your brand’s name on these things, it won’t be enough for anyone to share it online. Something quirky to go with and you have a winner.

Food

Of course, the most important bit is the food. It is said that Indian food is not very photogenic. Turn that around with a few simple tricks. A dish like baingan bharta will pop on a blue ceramic dish and with a garnish of coriander. Something like a pasta alfredo will look a lot more appealing in a dark coloured pasta bowl. Burger on a wooden plank, French fries in a cone shaped container and a stand to hold it are very cool ideas that more and more pubs are considering. There are so many fun ideas on the internet that can help you with plating and other cool quirks. You can add them to your food styling and make the food look better and by extension having more pictures of it taken.

Lighting

Everything looks great – food, accessories and styling. But what’s the point of them all if there’s no good light to capture it. Even if yours is a pub, get some light on the tables. There are some fantastic grunge style light fixtures to table lamps that you can get for your place. It not only adds to the overall ambiance but will also be functional providing ample light for food pictures. If your windows are covered up, open them up. Let natural light fill your restaurant during the day. The restaurant looks good. The food served at the tables look good. Pictures look good.

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Obviously, all of this is works if your restaurant has room for it. If yours is a fully air conditioned place you can’t open up all the windows, if yours is a QSR style one you can’t walk in the next day and change everything just to make it on Zomato’s and Instagram’s photo feed and if your pub’s lighting is designed to be dim, you don’t want to change that. Introduce little changes that won’t affect your restaurant’s theme or set up largely and hopefully, your restaurant’s pictures make it to all social media platforms.