How Instagram Is Changing The Restaurant Industry (Infographic)

 If you dined at New York’s ultra-hip Momofuko Ko just a few years ago, photography was completely forbidden. But times have changed — and some restaurateurs are already ahead of the curve.

 

Young diners, millennials and Gen-Z in particular, are seeking more from their meal than just a sated appetite. Yelp recently reported that they’ve seen an upward trend in restaurant searches containing the word “Instagram” in the past two years, as diners are actively seeking out culinary experiences that look as good as they taste.

 

“For things to sell these days, it has to be Instagrammable,” Rolan Pongpuntara, co-owner of LA’s Chomp Eatery, told Thrillist.

 

Restaurants are now actively incorporating ‘Instagram Bait’ into every area of their business, from investing in eye-catching decor to providing diners with their very own ‘Instagram kits’ to encourage social sharing. “[Instagram] is basically like free marketing,” one restaurant owner told MarketPlace, “if you’re not using this tool, then I’m sorry, you shouldn’t be doing business in this day and age.”

 

Even Momofuko Ko showed their infamous ‘no photography’ policy the door recently, as attested by the hundreds of photographs featuring key items from the menu on Yelp.

 

The following infographic, courtesy of Fundera, explores just how Instagram has changed the restaurant industry…along with actionable tips on how you can capitalize on the trend to bring in more customers.