Delivery services, across all essential needs, have become such a necessity in our lives today, especially with COVID-19 disrupting our lives and plans thus far. I, for one, admit that I’ve been heavily reliant on GrabFood for a majority of my meals since working from home—and if that’s your reality too, there is no shame.
But more than just picking up and delivering food straight to your doorstep, GrabFood is now looking to give back to the F&B industry. Today, it’s more than just a delivery service; GrabFood is constantly seeking ways to add value to both their merchants as well as customers. And they are now appealing to you, a part of this very community, to join them in supporting these F&B merchants with the newly-launched GrabFood Photo Bank.
So, what is GrabFood Photo Bank? Well, the reality of many merchants is that they lack capital, time, and expertise to hire professional photographers to highlight the best of their menu. With that said, this campaign hopes to rectify this issue by reaching out to the local community of foodies, and help merchants fill their menus with user-submitted images for free. By adding the #GrabFoodPhotoBank tag to their Instagram posts, users will be providing permission for merchants to use these photos for their GrabFood menus.
These “donated” images are aimed at boosting conversion for these smaller businesses, as well as their presence in the market. In a way, it bridges the gap between consumer and merchant via ‘digital interaction’. The mechanics of this campaign couldn’t be easier; all you need to do is:
- Simply order food from a GrabFood merchant
- Take a photo of the dish/dishes, tag the merchant, and leave the hashtag #GrabFoodPhoto Bank when posting it on social media
- Merchants will be able to download or screenshot your image(s) to use for their GrabFood menu
It’s that easy!
To show and justify just how important visuals are to F&B businesses, we’ve rounded up three of SethLui.com’s top-performing Instagram images (i.e. more than 2,000 likes) and will elaborate on why they garnered so much traction and attention online, and more importantly, how these interactions can lead to increased visibility and potential sales for these establishments.
AJ Delights (2,372 likes)
https://www.instagram.com/p/CBFFg4TlJZA/
Hawker gem, AJ Delights, has stolen the hearts of our followers, and the business is run by a husband-and-wife team. They sell humble muffins, and as this shot was taken during the ‘Circuit Breaker’ period, it resonated a sense of comfort.
We received enthusiastic comments such as ‘Best muffins I had’ and ‘Yup this is super good!’ from our followers, which sparks curiosity from others who come across this post. We even had one person ask, ‘Yummm, do you have the link to their website please?’.
Through images such as this, shared via social media, it brings attention to smaller or lesser-known F&B businesses and it also initiates a conversation about hidden gems, along with the opportunity for people to speak fondly of and share their favourite places.
A food image that relates to feelings and memories do very well, and these intangible markers play a key role in garnering interest in these muffins, pointing towards potential sales for the store.
Wild Wood Cafe (2,198 likes)
https://www.instagram.com/p/By_3VeMl7aN/
When you’re hungry and perusing social media, the most colourful plate of food is bound to catch your attention. Wild Wood Cafe is well-known for its hefty Wild Chief Breakfast Set, piled with their signature enormous fried chicken, sauteed mushrooms, smoked salmon, your choice of eggs, toast, and baked beans.
Our followers responded slightly differently to this post, by encouraging people to visit the place by tagging friends (which is the most common method) as well as hinting that a particular dish might sell out fast, increasing the likelihood of a purchase.
That’s honestly the best way to spread adoration for your favourite F&B businesses; entice people to try out your favourite food by appealing to them visually. The food shot might not have to include a nostalgic item to win over hearts; it might just need to be bold, colourful and livin’ large enough to entice future customers to try, even without having had a taste yet.
Kotobuki Yakitori (2,014 likes)
https://www.instagram.com/p/Byg9u9zFepy/
I’m sure you’re familiar with just how obsessed many of us Singaporeans are with Japanese cuisine. We, at SethLui.com, are self-professed fanatics, and we share the same excitement as our readers when they really lapped up this food shot of Kotobuki Yakitori’s Deluxe Bakumori Don.
Another type of reception and interaction one can get from sharing food images is by reeling in interest with details of the dish, as you can see in the post above. Through visuals and even followers sharing their personal experiences, others will be privy to what is included in the dish. For example, you could very well be an avid fan of uni or raw fish, and by letting others know of the abundance of these ingredients in this particular dish, they might’ve just appealed to self-confessed don enthusiasts.
This image really tapped into our insatiable adoration for all things Japanese, and when we spot a food image depicting a towering bowl of raw yellowtail and tuna cubes, minced raw tuna, as well as tamago cubes, along with uni and ikura, how could we not want to try it?
As you see, images do more than whet one’s appetite; they spark conversations about food and the businesses that offer them. It’s a visual method of story-telling that piques interest in the dishes, helping F&B businesses to increase their chances of sales on delivery platforms such as GrabFood, while also helping you, the consumer, expand your food experiences by trying new places.
So, the next meal you order from GrabFood, why not help a business out? Or, make it a challenge amongst your family members—who can capture the best food shot? Remember to tag the merchant, leave the hashtag ‘#GrabFoodPhotoBank’ to allow the merchant to use your image in their digital menu, and before you know it, scrolling through the GrabFood menu will be like viewing (and ordering from) a digital food art gallery! For more information, head to GrabFood Photo Bank’s site.
*This post is brought to you in partnership with GrabFood.
