The Diners Next to You Might Be Instagram Influencers. Can You Trust Their Clout?
Influencers and the publicists who wrangle them dish on the bartering that goes on behind the scenes.
NEVIN MARTELL AUG 29, 2019 6 AM
The pictures pop off the screen, intended to excite the primal part of your brain that causes your mouth to water and stomach to rumble even if you just finished a meal. ... A two-story burger, the patties jutting over the edge of the bun, heaped with too many toppings to count. A rainbow-sprinkles-spangled ice cream cone stacked high, the bottom scoops melting onto a manicured hand. A spoonful of mac and cheese connected to the dish by gooey strands stretching across the frame like a web.
This is food porn. But it’s not just eye candy. Some enterprising eaters are dining out for free at the hottest restaurants in the District by posting pictures on Instagram. These so-called influencers can even earn a comfortable living doing so. ... The biggest local player is 24-year-old Justin Schuble, who runs @dcfoodporn, an account with 504,000 followers. He has a love-hate relationship with the title “influencer.” “It’s a good description of someone like myself who is influencing peoples’ choices, be that where they eat or where they travel or where they work out,” Schuble says, before adding, “It does sound a little pretentious.”
He started @dcfoodporn in 2014 while attending Georgetown University. It began as a hobby. “When companies started to reach out and restaurants started to invite me in for free meals, I realized people put value on what I was doing,” he says. “That’s when the lightbulb went off that I could do this, grow this, and potentially do it full time.” ... Once he reached somewhere between 40,000 and 50,000 followers, Schuble started getting paid for posts. Now he claims to rake in six-figure earnings over the course of a year.
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Whether they’re looking for cash or just a hot meal, influencers generally follow the same rules of engagement. If a restaurant employs a publicist, it’s usually their job to handle the onslaught of requests from influencers. Some local food-focused publicists say they are approached daily, and sometimes multiple times in one day. ... The more professionally minded influencers have a well honed pitch: who they are, how many followers they have, their engagement rates, what they’re offering, and what they’re expecting in return. Some even have rate cards outlining their services. In researching this story, City Paper saw D.C.-based influencers asking for as little as $45 and as much as $500 for a single static Instagram photo (as opposed to a story or video).
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