Thread by @TheLadySolar, So as a few of you might know, I’ve been doing food [...]

So as a few of you might know, I’ve been doing food blogging in Leeds for the past three years. The majority are reviews for local indie eateries, sometimes takeaways and occasionally home cooking.
I’ve noticed a few things though that probably worth mentioning.

Bloggers are more or less of full control of their image. However, it’s so so easy to deceive followers both into buy something and similarly restaurants into invite you or gift you food.

So to breakdown blogger personalities:
B1: someone that plays on numbers. They go following anyone and everyone remotely interested in food from California to Tokyo, passing by Leeds. They get thousands of followers back, then they unfollow them to show that they’re so famous.

These often start getting freebies after a month or two from starting their journey. Eateries only care about no’s of likes and comments, but are these buying customers? No. Are they even in Leeds? No.

This breeds more people who fancy an idea of success and get delusional that they can get it without putting any effort in. But what’s more annoying is that they take away the hard work dedicated passionate people have put in their blogs.

B2: food bloggers who blog because they eat out a lot. I’m one of them. I’m not an expert on a lot of cuisines but I do know what is well cooked and tastes good and what does not. But some of these end up clogging up the timeline with beige food rating everything they eat.

The problem with these is that you fancy a fried chicken burger, you order from a place they rated. The food turns up oil and sickly and maybe that’s how they like it. Tastes differ but we can all tell the difference between a dirty fried chicken from a nicely fried one.

It takes a while to learn your “guide’s” taste and some tens or hundreds of pounds could be wasted in the process by each follower, separately. Devastating ha? But again, it is not fair for indies that try their best but have to lower their prices bc the game is dirty.

B3: Followers that love anything free. They never say no to anything. As a blogger, you have to have a set of standards and you need to only be associated with businesses that fit those standards. But nah, they’re cheaper than that.

I do believe everyone should be given a fair chance but you don’t have to be that person with everyone. I am one of the lucky ones who treat this as a hobby. I do not depend on it financially and I might be privileged to turn things down but I would never compromise my integrity.

Now the problem with these is that they worship competitions too. They’d get invited to have a free of charge meal for two and then enter a competition for a meal for two at the same place and win it. You idiot are competing with your own audience!!!

B4: those who always rate everywhere they go, especially if it was gifted. These are the worst because they would basically lie to get a free dinner. These are the worst and I needn’t say more about them. I feel bad for their audience.

B5: the entitled ones who go on contacting every business asking to come and try their food for free. Some businesses are smart about dealing with these while others are not and they fall into it. No one should ask for free shit. Ever.

B6: the ones with great content but haven’t figured out how to grow their profile. I feel bad for these bc I can see the effort they put in and the value of their content yet the majority of followers like flashy posts. Some of these give up after a while.

It’s sad bc they enrich the scene and they raise standards yet they get no recognition. Whereas a 2 month old account with deceiving numbers is getting invited everywhere. Oh and those ones capitalise on big cities like London to get more followers.

B7: ones that charge for anything that goes on their grid. They tend to be the ones with good photography skills. These should just say we are photographers not bloggers bc many of them never mention a single negative thing about what they advertise for.

B8: stupid ones that go on stealing others’ pictures to get followers. If you’re stupid enough to fall into that, you’re most welcome. And many surprisingly do.

B9: everyone now and then (probably 5% of bloggers) you’d see a nice balance with genuine content, honest opinions and helpful reviews regardless whether the food was gifted/paid for or not.

On the other side, eateries are similarly responsible for encouraging lies and fake outreach.
The ones that need bloggers help every now and then should put more time into researching them. Ask for insights. Let them show you that the majority are based in Leeds at least!

You should encourage honesty and genuine feedback to constantly improve. And please do not fill your ig with posts of hot women to attract customers, it never works and it’s so cheap.

And if you do invite someone or offer them something, be clear about what you’re offering in exchange of what. Many call it #gifted/ #ad/ #pr. I always label it as collaboration.
I put time, effort and lots of money into my blog so you better appreciate and recognise that.

I personally get invited a lot and get offered a lot of freebies. I turned down a lot if they don’t align with my image, standards or beliefs. And the few that I accept, I expect them to know that I am not after a free meal rather than am giving them outreach and support.

And I must say the majority of business are trying really hard especially nowadays to adapt and change their business models. I talk to many of them and we customers are so oblivious of their struggles. Support your locals.

I’d say in the food scene in Leeds I’m probably the most vocal about such BS. I try not to highlight it often but I cannot simply see environments nurturing fake outreach and impact and stay silent while others struggle to get even noticed.

If you’d like to get inspiration on where to eat in Leeds from a humble honest dramatic foodie, follow @LeedsIndulgence on instagram. Not so active on Twitter.

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