Restaurant Journalism

Like, Bite & Share

Nell Casey is the Food Editor for Gothamist, a New York City-centric news outlet featuring the top stories about all things NYC. She joins the Like, Bite & Share Podcast to share her knowledge and best practices for getting into food journalism, helpful tips on communicating with food editors to get stories featured and an explanation of frankenfoods, pea guacamole & listicles.

ABOUT THE SHOW

Like Bite & Share is a podcast about marketing in the food business. Each episode includes an insightful interview with food marketing professionals.

Show Notes

Articles mentioned in this episode:

• Bros Brave Blizzard for Polar Brrrger Club this Afternoon
• The Polar Brrrger Club
• Green Pea Guacamole
• NY Times Ruines Guacamole with Green Peas
• ‘Food News’ Podcast: Veggie Burgers at Burger King, and the Peas-In-Guacamole Controversy
• Gothamist – Still Got it
• 100 Ramen Burgers Coming to Smorgasburg this Saturday
• Can You Handle the Truth About Your Beloved McRib?
• Customers Sue Whole Foods for Overcharging Them
• The 11 Best Nachos in NYC
• The 12 Best Burgers in NYC

Key Takeaways:

• Choose what food you write about if it’s something you want to eat or something you would never eat. Strong reactions to food are clues to it being newsworthy.
• There’s no formula for what content will get a lot of tractions. Sometimes if the news of the day is pea guacamole, so you need to talk about pea guacamole.
• If you’re a restaurant and you want to get noticed, don’t be afraid to reach out to food editors about new things going on at your establishment. You don’t have to be a new restaurant to get press. If nobody knows about you and you have a story to tell, get the word out.
• If you’re a publicist writing a lot of emails to journalists, make sure you’re addressing the emails to the right person, and mentioning the right publication. Gothamist isn’t Eater, and vice versa. Gothamist covers New York, so don’t pitch irrelevant things outside of the area. Even if you’re under pressure, don’t send spam.
• If you’re a publicist, you don’t need to manufacture the story yourself. Present the facts to a journalist and if they think there’s a story, they will write it. A sexy picture will probably go a long way to get a food editor’s attention. Timing is also important.
• Pitch a story with at least a week’s worth of warning. The more time in advance notice you can give, the better.
• Click-bait is the junk food of internet media. It’s bad for you, but you love it. Click-bait articles are fan service, and there’s nothing wrong with giving people content like that. It also garners a lot of positive and negative feedback, which is great for getting your content shared.
• The best way to get into food writing is to do it on your own, or to take an internship with a food publication. Journalism school probably isn’t necessary. If the internship route isn’t for you, just pitch freelance stories. Don’t give up if you aren’t getting responses.

Learn more about Nell Casey

• Website
• Twitter
• Instagram