This article will take stock of the 5 restaurants with the highest number of followers on Instagram, namely Nurs Et Steakhouse Mykonos, a popular steakhouse all over the world; Luna Croissant, a bakery brand from Australia; Garage Project, a New Zealand craft brewery, and an American chain Salad shop, Sweetgreen; and Canadian food truck YYC Food Trucks. In the catering industry, how did they break through the siege and attract followers via social platforms? Who owes their success on social media?
1. Nusr_Et (Nusr Et Steakhouse Mykonos): 49.7 million followers
The most popular catering account worldwide is this steakhouse run by an internet celebrity, Salt Bae. In 2017, a reposted salt-sprinkling video made Nusret, a Turkish chef-owner, famous on the global Internet with the title of “Salt-spreading Brother”. In the video, Salt Bae uses his arms as a springboard to let every grain of salt jump from his hand to the steak. He said this is a way of “blessing this piece of beef”, and this unique way of sprinkling salt has become one of the hallmarks of Salt Bae in the future. one.
As the owner and chef of the steakhouse, Salt Bae works 18 hours a day and 24/7; therefore, many followers and enthusiasts flock to the restaurant just to take Salt Bae’s pinch of salt. The difference between Salt Bae and other instant hits is that in the face of overnight popularity, he can keenly catch the attention of audiences and followers by knowing the people’s expectations and continuing to share on social platforms. Through this, he has taken the opportunity to promote his steak business.
According to the description of the magazine editor who went to check in, Salt Bae is a person born for social media; no matter what, he wears that pair of sunglasses and maintains the appearance of Salt Bae on social media so that everyone’s first reaction when seeing him is to look for their phone. But whether it is a gourmet or a fan of Salt Bae who went to check in, they all agree that this is an “expensive and unpalatable” restaurant, and “will never go there again.” Even so, relying on personal enthusiasm, Salt Bae has successfully promoted his steak business to the global market. At its peak, there are currently 15 stores around the world; in Dubai, Salt Bae also launched gold steaks wrapped in golden leaf according to “local characteristics”. It sells for hundreds of dollars.
2. Lune Croissant: 265,000 followers
In Australia, the most popular catering account is Lune Croissant, which was nominated by The New York Times as one of the “best croissants in the world” and it is the only Australian brand on the list. The newly opened branch in Brisbane required long queues even during the closure of the city, which shows how much people love the food in this store. Behind its high popularity, the restaurant is closely related to Kate Reid, a master chef (Master Chef) with a scientific background.
Kate Reid’s last job was as an aerospace engineer, working for Formula 1, and the subjects that she dealt with every day were mathematics and technology; facing a boring working environment, even her dream job could not satisfy her. So she began to change the center of her life and began to develop and delve into her hobby—cooking. Kate, who was determined to start a baking career, did not choose to study in a baking school. Instead, she relied on her one-month working experience in a Paris bakery and the perspective and method of a technical nerd in the past to study every variable of the baking process with great concentration to create her ideal and reliable bakery. Ode. With such a scientific and rigorous attitude, Kate made admirable croissants with perfect ratios after three or four months of rigorous testing.
At the same time, Kate is keen to continue to try and innovate. In the same year since she founded the Lune brand, she created a “Cruffin”, which is a combination of a croissant and a muffin cake. The bakery owned by a woman with such a magical background has attracted not only a surge in the number of followers on social platforms but also reports from major media, as well as a visit to the Australian stage of the TV show MasterChef. In the show, four contestants came to Lune Croissant’s branch in Fitzroy to ask the baking chef Kate for baking secrets, but Kate only said, “be a lunatic like me who is willing to spend three days making a croissant”. As the “Queen of Croissants”, the Lune Croissant flavour established by Kate is unquestionable, and Lune Croissant will launch different “month-limited” flavours every month, and there are also “store-limited” flavours in different branches. Currently, Lune Croissant has only three branches in Australia, but its reputation has already spread worldwide.
3. Garage Project: 68,400 followers
As the most popular brewery in New Zealand, Garage Project deserves its popularity on Instagram. This independent brewery in New Zealand was established in a dilapidated garage in 2011. At that time, the founders spent 24 weeks researching 24 different flavours of beer. Today, ten years later, the brewery has produced more than 300 different kinds of beer which has expanded from the original dilapidated garage to multiple wine cellars.
Garage Project has won numerous awards in both world and national competitions. They won the silver medal in the 2014 World Beer Cup selection and won the 2014-2017 Beer Advocates Association Best Brewery Award. In the 2017 New Zealand Brewers Association Awards, they managed to beat 111 other breweries and were selected as “New Zealand Brewery of the Year” and garnered 26 medals, including Best Flavored Beer and Best Aged Beer. Garage Project had 19 spots in the 2018 GABS Top 100 New Zealand Year-Old Beer Poll and in early 2020, Garage Project made history and ranked 59th in the 2019 Best Beer Awards in the World announced by RateBeer, a well-known American review website.
As the champion of world-class competitions, Garage Project is naturally one of the focuses of major media reports. With this championship aura, the focus of major media reports in other competitions is also inseparable from Garage Project. At the same time, relying on its good reputation and popularity in the industry, Garage Project has cooperated with many parties to expand distribution channels. Even in Norway, Sweden, Singapore or Hong Kong, you can enjoy the products from this brewery, and its products are also available on Singapore Airlines to and from New Zealand. available on flights.
4. Sweetgreen: 333,000 followers
In the United States, the hottest catering account is a salad shop called Sweetgreen. Founded in 2007, this salad shop has expanded from a small store in Washington, DC, to 122 stores in 12 states in the United States and has reached 280,000 Instagram followers in just 14 years. With the change in consumer awareness and the demand for healthy eating, salad shops focusing on light food and healthy eating are emerging in the United States, and there are many items in the form of salad bowls. But why is Sweetgreen known as “the Starbucks of the salad industry?”
Compared with other salad shops, Sweetgreen’s target audience is not limited to customers who dine in the restaurant but also pay more attention to giving back to society. Sweetgreen’s Sweetgreen in Schools program, launched in 2010, aims to educate and disseminate nutrition knowledge which is in line with the restaurant’s theme. Meanwhile, during the COVID outbreak, Sweetgreen proactively partnered with World Central Kitchen to provide free meals to frontline hospital workers. Sweetgreen’s series of social behaviors can not only consolidate the loyalty of the original customers but also earn enough impression points in the minds of potential customers. At the same time, since the establishment of the first store, Sweetgreen has insisted on using ingredients from local farmers, adhering to the business philosophy of “from farm to table”, and committed to “building a healthier community through the connection between people and real food”. This persistence is very important in the chain operation model. Looking back at the history of successful chain stores such as McDonald’s, it is not difficult to find that what supports their success is consistent purity, and this concept is integrated into business activities.
5. YYC Food Trucks: 75,000 followers
In Canada, YYC Food Trucks, established at the end of 2010, is mainly responsible for planning and operating Food Trucks activities in Calgary; at the beginning of its establishment, a couple, James and Brittany, used a food truck to bring Food Truck culture into Canada. In this city, the aim is to bring high-level, locally-made street food culture into the community, and attract surrounding residents with delicious food, so as to add vitality to the streets.
Currently, YYC owns more than 85 Food Trucks and cooperates with nearly 50 street food brands, covering street food, pizza, hamburger hot dogs, Asian cuisine, other international cuisines, etc.. During a festival celebration, YYC was seen at the festival and customers could be seen looking forward to both the festival and the food. For the City of Calgary, Food Trucks are a part of the city’s growing entrepreneurial landscape. In 2011, the city’s mayor, Naheed, brokered a pilot program that initially consisted of just 11 Food Trucks lingering near office buildings during lunch hours. Since then, the Food Trucks culture has taken root in Calgary, and for a while, Food Trucks have become the most popular way of dining.
Due to the mobile operation of Food Trucks, followers of YYC will follow the company’s social platform to learn about the latest details of related activities, including business hours and participating Food Truck brands. Aside from that, the followers can also learn about the newly joined camp Food Truck Brands and their specialty foods. YYC often invites other popular and delicious local restaurants to join the community “Pop-up” activities and releases “announcements” on social platforms to surprise the people. After a long period of operation and accumulation, YYC has not only gained tens of thousands of followers on social media but has also formed a good mutual assistance relationship with the local catering industry.
Conclusion
It’s not hard to find these online celebrity restaurants that have captured a large number of followers on Instagram. They are either unique and have their own distinctive personal style, or they are persistent in innovation and push product quality to the extreme. An important mission is to create a positive corporate image or dedicate it to spreading happiness and making a positive brand image deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Most of these merchants have their own bright spots and spread their influence through Instagram.