Food influencers earning $2000 for a single post

Eating out for free in exchange for a social media post has now changed, with foodie influencers commanding upwards of $100,000 a year.

Neuroscientist and food blogger Michilla Du Plessis at Outside in Cafe in Windsor. Picture: Lachie Millard

Food influencers are now commanding up to $2000 for a single social media post, as hospitality venues try new ways to attract customers.

While many influencers previously posted for restaurants, cafes and coffee shops purely in exchange for a free feed, that has now changed.

“Within the last year I would say we’ve gone from about 5 per cent asking to be paid to about 95 per cent,” said Amelia Taylor from Brisbane marketing firm Liquidity, which represents a number of local hospitality businesses.

“It’s to the point now where we have to put it in our budget.”

Depending on the influencer, their engagement and their followers, payments could vary from $150 to $2000, plus food and drinks, with some earning enough to make it a full-time career.

“If they’re really good, they could be making upwards of $100,000 a year,” Ms Taylor said.

Michilla Du Plessis. Picture Lachie Millard

But being “good” didn’t necessarily mean having lots of followers, with insiders revealing that some influencers with the most followers actually achieved the worst results for eateries, while those with less led to more bums on seats.

Ford PR publicist Natalina Ford, who represents a number of restaurants around Brisbane, said influencers were simply looking to be paid for their time and effort nowadays in more than just food.

“It does take a lot of time to actually create content and visit the venues, pay for parking, that kind of thing,” she said.

And businesses are reportedly happy to pay, with many eateries viewing it as a relatively affordable way to promote their venue compared to traditional media advertising costs.

Ford and Taylor also claim it can help book out some restaurants for weeks or months in advance for special deals.

“If it’s done properly, it (influencing) is a really good way to get your business’s name out there with the smallest amount of spend possible,” Ms Taylor said.

Michilla Du Plessis is a food influencer using the handle Brisbane Food Adventure and earns money from collaborating with eateries.

Neuroscientist and Food Blogger Michilla Du Plessis at Outside in Cafe in Windsor. Picture: Lachie Millard

While she wouldn’t declare how much she made, she said it wasn’t enough to leave her full-time job as a neurophysiology scientist.

“It’s definitely a good little side hustle for me,” she said.

“But at the same point, it takes so much time to make all these things.”

She said she usually visited about three to four venues a week and then spent up to three hours making each post, on top of the time taken to film the content.

“It’s definitely become a lot more with reels and having different platforms,” she said.

However, with more and more food influencers asking for payment, some questioned their longevity and anticipated a move to more content creators who made posts based on the client’s strict guidelines, rather than being left to their own devices.

Ms Taylor also predicted the rise of ambassadors over influencers – a way of returning to old-school word of mouth and creating content that felt more genuine.

“Ambassadors won’t necessarily just be people who have social media, so for instance people like hairdressers or real estate agents who talk to everybody and see everybody and know the local land,” she said.

“If it’s a real estate agent and we’re looking after a cafe, we’ll want them to do all their client meetings at the cafe.”

Originally published as Food influencers earning $2000 for a single post