Pizza Today - September 2016 - 18

with SCOTT WIENER

man on the street

Photo Finish

Why use stock photos when there are better options?

A 

baby told me about your
new pizza. Actually, it was
a baby and her threeyear-old brother. Samantha and Matt
have over 113,000 followers, thanks to
an Instagram account started by their
food-blogger father, Mike Chau. After
years of writing online reviews, Chau
started posting photos of his adorable kids posing with mouth-watering
meals - and both restaurants and their
customers eat it up. The reaction one
photo can drum up is incredible, with
some customers simply flashing their
phone screens at their servers while
ordering without so much as glancing
at a menu. I might not go that crazy,
but visual formats are definitely my
most trusted resources in finding out
about new restaurants and pizzerias.
When my girlfriend and I are debating where to eat, photos help tip the
scale. We usually consult a review site
like Yelp but skip past all the ratings
and go directly to the photo section.
Ten words on a menu page will only
tell me what's in a dish; a picture can
instantly make me hungry. I'm the
kind of guy who takes a lap around
the restaurant to see what everybody's
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eating before I place my order. Seeing
a dish is so big for me, I might even try
something out of the ordinary based on
how it looks on the table.
You have the power to control my
perception of your food on your Web
site and social media. You can hire a
professional photographer, but I prefer
amateur pictures because they're honest.
I don't understand why anyone would
post stock photos on their Web site or
social media, but I see it all the time.
You or one of your employees probably has a great camera built into your
phone. Pull the pizza over to a table
near the window so you can get some
natural light, then take a few shots at
different distances. Don't be afraid to
get close -- people love seeing details.
Show your photos to a customer and
ask which looks the tastiest. Done.
You've got new tested content.
Sometimes it's not just about the
food. When I look at your pizzeria's
photos, I notice things beyond the crust
and topping ratio. Does it look fresh?
Are the portions too small? Is the dish
plated in a fancy way or is this a casual
joint with paper plates? Sometimes
I'll even notice the tiny details like the

restaurant's lighting or table setup.
Remember that customers don't just
come to your pizzeria for the food; they
come for the entire experience. Sell us
on the whole package with your photographic identity and we'll go to you
instead of the place down the street.
As important as photos may be
right now, we're already seeing digital
interaction switch to video. Snapchat
is hugely popular for short video clips;
Instagram extended its clip limit to
60 seconds; and Facebook recently
launched a function that lets users
broadcast live video from their pages.
If you thought photos were effective,
buckle up. Nicola Mendelsohn, a VP
at Facebook, recently claimed that the
platform could be all video within five
years. Keep that in mind as you amp up
your visual game and show your best
side to all the people who have been
waiting for the right excuse to pay you
a visit. And when in doubt, put a baby
in the photo. ■
SCOTT WIENER is

the founder of Scott's
Pizza Tours in New York City and
SliceOutHunger.org.
By JOSH KEOWN
http://www.SliceOutHunger.org http://www.PIZZATODAY.COM
Pizza Today - September 2016

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