My opinion here comes from the perspective of a small bakery and cafe owner and the real impact a positive review from an influencer can have on a business like mine. We’ve been fortunate to have gone viral twice but none of this would be possible if the food we created wasn’t exceptional. As a small bakery/cafe we struggle to gain attention beyond the five mile radius. And unfortunately, a professional food critic is simply out of reach. In fact, I only came to know of Substack and The Hunger as I was researching Chicago food critics and Michael popped up. As a no name business that isn’t part of a famous chef owned hospitality group which all partner with PR firms and notable food critics, to create buzz and notoriety for a there new concepts; we don’t have that microphone nor that type of access. A paid influencer gives us that hope.
At our bakery we’ve taken a traditional pastry and have sought to elevate it and our local community has been immensely supportive. But we all know you must break through that invisible 3 mile radius to truly create a sustainable business. As a small business we don’t tend to lease the best locations due to budget constraints, so by default we become a destination location. We’re situated in the suburbs with no walkability, so things could be different in a densely populated spot in the city.
In another Substack on The Hunger there was an article written that expressed how the professional food critic and its profession is dwindling. Possibly due to influencers and of course traditional newspaper publications decreasing in distribution. As a small business owner who believes they’ve created something that is truly exceptional we have no access to a prestigious voice so we must settle on an influencer to help us carry our voice.
Paid or unpaid we do put ourselves at risk anytime we invite an influencer into our establishments. Therefore, it’s no different than inviting a new guest over to your house! You must seek to always impress and for us as owners we’re present everyday, our staff is trained on our etiquette and this has helped us differentiate our business.
Thank you for your professionalism and thank you for letting me have a voice!
I understand all of this. However, if you pay a creator, they work for you and the service is promoting the business. If you pay them and they say to you if I don't like it I may trash the business that seems to violate the spirit of them working for you. I get "independence" but if a creator wants independence then they should charge their subscribers and not the business. Then they can do what they want. One way to afford independence and still pay them is to have a clause that says if you don't like it, then you don't post, but we still pay you. Although I'm not sure why any business would do that. If I'm a creator and I didn't want to do work or want more money then I'd just say I didn't like spots when I was lazy. Now if a creator says to me but my subscribers won't give me dollars and only restaurants will, then I say I guess you don't bring a lot of value. I also want to say this in the context that as a critic I have a choice. I could go in to creation, but I chose to be an independent voice and pay for my own food and my readers pay me for that. And it's not easy, but after a couple years it's getting very sustainable. So I'm not telling creators to do something that's not possible. However if their choice is I want to be independent in my opinions and also get paid by the people I create content for, that's not possible in anyway without a conflict of interest.
Wow, I love to see this type of BS getting exposed. I really hope it doesn’t just blow over. This guy was one of my absolute least favorite instagram food influencer accounts (and I really don’t like any of them). I blocked him months ago so his posts wouldn’t show up because it was just such garbage reviews, everything was 8-9/10 even places I knew were mediocre at best. Thank you for exposing this!
Definitely a nuanced situation. The ethics of all of this are somewhat new to how, “influencing,” works, and everything from how the FTC guidelines are followed to how creators handle certain conflicts is an important discussion (I’m actually working on a Substack article exploring the mapping of journalistic integrity and independence to today’s landscape, so this is funny timing).
I do know I was blown away by his post. It’s not the first time an influencer has bashed a restaurant to an audience split by that bold decision - from those appreciative of the refreshing, “honesty,” vs those who don’t think it’s a mere influencer’s place to bash someone’s business when they were essentially paid to advertise for them. Big brands have evolved their contracts to try to prevent this (I did a paid campaign for Dunkin a few years ago that had pages of Don’ts, including not shooting the food, “in a trash can.”) but small businesses take risks every time they try to enter this new world unscathed - from blatant attacks like this, to influencers simply not bringing the return they promise (more common). But to be paid by a small business and not only haggle over it, but trash them in the end - more than likely out of petty or malicious intent than honesty - is appalling and damaging to the reputation of content creators. These are why social media marketing gets murky; it’s been tarnished heavily more than it’s been proven useful, and that’s not a risk many businesses can safely take (especially right now). Egregious all around.
The ethics of how we operate do have to keep evolving and journalism itself will always evolve with the realities of a digital age where anyone - for better or worse - can pick and choose what works or what doesn’t for the battle of good and greed in their practice of it, while anyone can attract an audience. Where those lines are seems to differ wildly between all of us, apparently.
I really appreciate your willingness to write something so honest and revealing. There is just something so sad about this story. I can accept that open influencer/resto collaborations can raise awareness and interest, which can be monetized. But I have been doubtful for years with the credibility and trust of influencers over traditional methods of promotion. The restaurant business is supersaturated, and I hope the herd-thinning hits the unethical (and lame) influencers first.
Agree, if they deliver value and you're getting what you paid for, go for it. The thing is I think people are often paying out of FOMO and not examining the value they're getting.
It is absolutely herd mentality. And I think it hurts the low end/bootstrapped startups the worst - the ones that might make it honestly via the normal word of mouth.
Gelato, more like frozen non dairy dessert. But also I think both parties suck. That restaurant looks like it’s trash, and I do agree with his take.
I also question the halal certification, they serve alcohol—which might be permitted to still qualify for certification but it’s not halal. I also don’t see on the HMSUSA.org site their restaurant listed as being certified, nor any restaurant at that address.
My thoughts exactly. He's a clown, the restaurant looks awful, and anyone who follows or puts any stock into this guy's reviews is an idiot. I often look at reviews from similar "creators" and wonder who on earth gives this shit any credibility.
*Note: Judges also accepting "gelato? more like Halo Top."
I think the bigger story here is restaurants that make claims of certifications or sourcing but are flat out lying.
I’m up til 1am sometimes listening to my lamb farmer tell me how hard it is to get Halal certified, which he finally is. Probably would have been a lot easier for him to just photoshop it in to his label like this restaurant did to their menu.
Thank you for your feedback. As for disdain clouding writing judgment, I can't show you what's in my heart and mind, however the only reason I know about this whole thing is because I was following Sergelato out of amity for him being what I believed was an ethical influencer.
I don't hate influencers. Chicagofoodie and I talk amicably a lot and I do follow his work for example. I really appreciate Sarah Yi (Agirlaboutchicago).
I will however always report when I believe influencers act retributively or unethically. That is what I hoped to display here. Did I use some wordplay aka "melt" and "gelato"? Sure. I don't know what I would have had to deliver in terms of the definition of.a meltdown, but I would argue that lying about stuff on a reel and slamming a client who pays you is indeed unhinged.
He is one of the icky "come with me" video creators that we're all guilty of following. That entire video of Halal Town seemed like a little boy not getting what he wants. He was clearly intent on destroying them because they didn't follow his rules. Thank you for investigating.
In my mind, all of the "influencers" are bullshit artists. It's a nothing term and I view every single one of these people as con artists or delusional dip shits at best.
If the economy crashes, I for one am hoping this "career" goes the way of the Dodo.
Thank you for this! I am shocked that reel got almost a million views 😳
Great article, thanks for covering this sort of BS and caring about silly, outdated notions like integrity and principles.
My opinion here comes from the perspective of a small bakery and cafe owner and the real impact a positive review from an influencer can have on a business like mine. We’ve been fortunate to have gone viral twice but none of this would be possible if the food we created wasn’t exceptional. As a small bakery/cafe we struggle to gain attention beyond the five mile radius. And unfortunately, a professional food critic is simply out of reach. In fact, I only came to know of Substack and The Hunger as I was researching Chicago food critics and Michael popped up. As a no name business that isn’t part of a famous chef owned hospitality group which all partner with PR firms and notable food critics, to create buzz and notoriety for a there new concepts; we don’t have that microphone nor that type of access. A paid influencer gives us that hope.
At our bakery we’ve taken a traditional pastry and have sought to elevate it and our local community has been immensely supportive. But we all know you must break through that invisible 3 mile radius to truly create a sustainable business. As a small business we don’t tend to lease the best locations due to budget constraints, so by default we become a destination location. We’re situated in the suburbs with no walkability, so things could be different in a densely populated spot in the city.
In another Substack on The Hunger there was an article written that expressed how the professional food critic and its profession is dwindling. Possibly due to influencers and of course traditional newspaper publications decreasing in distribution. As a small business owner who believes they’ve created something that is truly exceptional we have no access to a prestigious voice so we must settle on an influencer to help us carry our voice.
Paid or unpaid we do put ourselves at risk anytime we invite an influencer into our establishments. Therefore, it’s no different than inviting a new guest over to your house! You must seek to always impress and for us as owners we’re present everyday, our staff is trained on our etiquette and this has helped us differentiate our business.
Thank you for your professionalism and thank you for letting me have a voice!
I understand all of this. However, if you pay a creator, they work for you and the service is promoting the business. If you pay them and they say to you if I don't like it I may trash the business that seems to violate the spirit of them working for you. I get "independence" but if a creator wants independence then they should charge their subscribers and not the business. Then they can do what they want. One way to afford independence and still pay them is to have a clause that says if you don't like it, then you don't post, but we still pay you. Although I'm not sure why any business would do that. If I'm a creator and I didn't want to do work or want more money then I'd just say I didn't like spots when I was lazy. Now if a creator says to me but my subscribers won't give me dollars and only restaurants will, then I say I guess you don't bring a lot of value. I also want to say this in the context that as a critic I have a choice. I could go in to creation, but I chose to be an independent voice and pay for my own food and my readers pay me for that. And it's not easy, but after a couple years it's getting very sustainable. So I'm not telling creators to do something that's not possible. However if their choice is I want to be independent in my opinions and also get paid by the people I create content for, that's not possible in anyway without a conflict of interest.
Wow, I love to see this type of BS getting exposed. I really hope it doesn’t just blow over. This guy was one of my absolute least favorite instagram food influencer accounts (and I really don’t like any of them). I blocked him months ago so his posts wouldn’t show up because it was just such garbage reviews, everything was 8-9/10 even places I knew were mediocre at best. Thank you for exposing this!
Definitely a nuanced situation. The ethics of all of this are somewhat new to how, “influencing,” works, and everything from how the FTC guidelines are followed to how creators handle certain conflicts is an important discussion (I’m actually working on a Substack article exploring the mapping of journalistic integrity and independence to today’s landscape, so this is funny timing).
I do know I was blown away by his post. It’s not the first time an influencer has bashed a restaurant to an audience split by that bold decision - from those appreciative of the refreshing, “honesty,” vs those who don’t think it’s a mere influencer’s place to bash someone’s business when they were essentially paid to advertise for them. Big brands have evolved their contracts to try to prevent this (I did a paid campaign for Dunkin a few years ago that had pages of Don’ts, including not shooting the food, “in a trash can.”) but small businesses take risks every time they try to enter this new world unscathed - from blatant attacks like this, to influencers simply not bringing the return they promise (more common). But to be paid by a small business and not only haggle over it, but trash them in the end - more than likely out of petty or malicious intent than honesty - is appalling and damaging to the reputation of content creators. These are why social media marketing gets murky; it’s been tarnished heavily more than it’s been proven useful, and that’s not a risk many businesses can safely take (especially right now). Egregious all around.
The ethics of how we operate do have to keep evolving and journalism itself will always evolve with the realities of a digital age where anyone - for better or worse - can pick and choose what works or what doesn’t for the battle of good and greed in their practice of it, while anyone can attract an audience. Where those lines are seems to differ wildly between all of us, apparently.
Thanks for covering this!
I really appreciate your willingness to write something so honest and revealing. There is just something so sad about this story. I can accept that open influencer/resto collaborations can raise awareness and interest, which can be monetized. But I have been doubtful for years with the credibility and trust of influencers over traditional methods of promotion. The restaurant business is supersaturated, and I hope the herd-thinning hits the unethical (and lame) influencers first.
Agree, if they deliver value and you're getting what you paid for, go for it. The thing is I think people are often paying out of FOMO and not examining the value they're getting.
It is absolutely herd mentality. And I think it hurts the low end/bootstrapped startups the worst - the ones that might make it honestly via the normal word of mouth.
That’s absolutely right. They’re not charging Alinea. They’re charging strip mall mom and pops.
Gelato, more like frozen non dairy dessert. But also I think both parties suck. That restaurant looks like it’s trash, and I do agree with his take.
I also question the halal certification, they serve alcohol—which might be permitted to still qualify for certification but it’s not halal. I also don’t see on the HMSUSA.org site their restaurant listed as being certified, nor any restaurant at that address.
My thoughts exactly. He's a clown, the restaurant looks awful, and anyone who follows or puts any stock into this guy's reviews is an idiot. I often look at reviews from similar "creators" and wonder who on earth gives this shit any credibility.
*Note: Judges also accepting "gelato? more like Halo Top."
I think the bigger story here is restaurants that make claims of certifications or sourcing but are flat out lying.
I’m up til 1am sometimes listening to my lamb farmer tell me how hard it is to get Halal certified, which he finally is. Probably would have been a lot easier for him to just photoshop it in to his label like this restaurant did to their menu.
60000 bots can't be wrong. :-)
I don't follow Serge and think most food influencers today are terrible, but you calling this a meltdown is clickbait.
It feels like you let your disdain of these influencers impact your writing too much.
Thank you for your feedback. As for disdain clouding writing judgment, I can't show you what's in my heart and mind, however the only reason I know about this whole thing is because I was following Sergelato out of amity for him being what I believed was an ethical influencer.
I don't hate influencers. Chicagofoodie and I talk amicably a lot and I do follow his work for example. I really appreciate Sarah Yi (Agirlaboutchicago).
I will however always report when I believe influencers act retributively or unethically. That is what I hoped to display here. Did I use some wordplay aka "melt" and "gelato"? Sure. I don't know what I would have had to deliver in terms of the definition of.a meltdown, but I would argue that lying about stuff on a reel and slamming a client who pays you is indeed unhinged.
Unrelated but she has a great Instagram page (sarah) and I’m glad you agree!
Really eye-opening. Thank you.
He is one of the icky "come with me" video creators that we're all guilty of following. That entire video of Halal Town seemed like a little boy not getting what he wants. He was clearly intent on destroying them because they didn't follow his rules. Thank you for investigating.
Thank you for doing this.
In my mind, all of the "influencers" are bullshit artists. It's a nothing term and I view every single one of these people as con artists or delusional dip shits at best.
If the economy crashes, I for one am hoping this "career" goes the way of the Dodo.