The Growing Demand for Food Photography...and MORE!

AI Image from Adobe Stock

by Skip Cohen

​While truly great food photographers have always been hard to find, the demand for their services ramped up dramatically during the pandemic. Dine-in restaurants took a huge hit and had to offer carryout service to survive, but very few of them had photographs of the dishes on their menu.

There was also a secondary challenge - carryout wasn't the only demand. Outdoor seating became a necessity. Thousands of restaurants set up makeshift outdoor dining areas never anticipated for hosting guests - alleys, parking lots, sidewalks, and driveways became "patio" dining rooms, often with all the mood of a truck stop garage. An opportunity for exterior decorating using large photographs started to grow.

We've all eaten in those pop-up outdoor cafes - they always need improvements in ambiance. Often, just a few large prints placed on easels would brighten up the "room." They don't need to be of food, and could be of areas in the community like parks, buildings, and various events, for example.

How many restaurants are there? Asking that question, Google took me to a great website loaded with statistical data starting with an estimated 750,000 restaurants in the United States.

Webstaurantstore.com was loaded with great information. I was able to dig a lot deeper into the potential demand for photography. For example, in the U.S. survey data showed that 77% of consumers check out a restaurant's website before ordering online, and 82% of American restaurants use social media marketing.

Need a little support to build your skills in food photography? I pulled links for two great books on food photography by two artists who I deeply respect, Andrew Scrivani and Joe Glyda. Plus, there are forty-three articles on the Playpod blog about food photography. One of them by my good pal Bob Coates. Just click any of the thumbnails below for more information.

Outdoor Displays at Restaurants: One more ingredient to build a relationship with more restaurants is the finished product you might offer. For all those outdoor popup cafes that desperately need to raise the bar on their ambiance, you need a product that will hold up outside. I'm a huge fan of BayPhoto's Performance EXT metal prints. We've had three of them outside for several years and only taken them in during hurricanes. They've survived the Florida sun and rain with no visible fading. 

Here's my point - everyone is looking for ways to grow their business. For most of you, restaurants represent a new target audience for food photography, as well as interior and exterior decorating. And think about other clients for outdoor displays of photographs. Just about every client has a back porch or patio - photographs displayed outdoors make an exciting statement. From our own experience, I know how the prints we have outside always become conversation pieces.

If you're weak in food photography, it's time to raise the bar and expand your skills - you'll find so much help online, and even better, check out the courses available at the next conference you attend. ​You need the right skill set for outdoor displays, online and in-restaurant photographs. Remember, growth only occurs outside your comfort zone.

"You will either step forward into growth or you will step back into safety."
Abraham Maslow

(I know not all of you are based in the US, but there's so much data available and this is just one blog post. There are an estimated 15 million restaurants in the world. Search Google with your own local-related questions and you'll hit a virtual goldmine of information.)