8 Ways Food Bloggers Can Support Local Businesses

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As the UK hospitality industry struggles to recover from the lockdown period, here are 8 wonderful ways for food bloggers to support local businesses.

With the UK hospitality industry on the verge of collapse following the three month lockdown period, the future of many small local restaurants, cafes, pubs, bars and food and drink producers is seriously at stake, while others simply haven’t been able to afford to re-open at all. Even those who’ve fared well during the pandemic will have had to invest in improving restaurant food delivery systems, incurring significant expenses at a time when income has taken a hit.

While the lockdown is now easing and we can dine out once again (with social distancing and hygiene guidelines in place), many of us are still cautious about dining out or visiting pubs and bars just yet, while others simply can’t afford to eat out at the moment, even with the Government’s new Eat Out To Help Out discount scheme in place. While these concerns are perfectly valid, there’s no ignoring the uncertainty it casts over the future of the UK hospitality industry.

Given the circumstances, I thought it might be useful to share a few of the ways in which food bloggers can support local businesses, from restaurants, cafes, pubs and bars and to small independent food and drink producers. In fact, many of these ideas could extend to all of us; let me know if you discover any new ways to support local by commenting below after you’ve read this post.

8 Ways for Food Bloggers to Support Local Businesses

1. Buy from local businesses

Buying from local businesses and eating in independent restaurants is one of the best ways for food bloggers to support local. If we’re extremely fond of the food a particular restaurant is known for or if we know of a small independent producer that’s had a particularly difficult time recently, we should support them, while treating ourselves in the process.

In Wales, over 300 independent food and drink businesses have come together to form the Welsh Independent Restaurant Collective (WIRC), encouraging us to use the Government’s Eat Out to Help Out discount to ‘Eat Independent, Support Local.’ Besides asking us to consider dining out only in independent restaurants, the WIRC wants us to share our experiences of dining out in independent Welsh restaurants on social media using #EatIndieWales. In doing so, not only will we be helping Welsh restaurants and hospitality businesses to continue thriving, but we’ll also be supporting our local economy, as many independent restaurants source ingredients from local producers and employ staff locally.

Of course, not everyone feels comfortable dining out just yet and I totally appreciate the reasons for this. I also know we can’t all afford to eat out at the moment, even with discount available and many of us – whether we choose to admit it or not – have got a soft spot for a particular chain, especially when it comes to eating out with kids. I don’t think any of us should feel as though we can’t dine out in our favourite chain now and then, but it’s incredibly important – now more than ever – that we lend our support to independent restaurants too.

Oh, and on a side note – not being able to afford to eat out right now still doesn’t justify bloggers or influencers demanding freebies from small business owners. If this is you, you might want to try connecting with bigger brands through an influencer marketing platform in the food niche instead.

2. Support local businesses on social media

Engaging with small local businesses on social media is a great way to show your support for them and help them to drive sales. Follow their accounts, like and comment on their posts and share their content.

If you can spare the time, you could even offer them a few insights into how to grow their following and increase their engagement rates. Every little helps.

3. Post about them on social media and/or your blog

Whether you’ve been paid to do it or not, posting about a small local business on your own social media channels is a wonderful way to let your followers know how much you love them and to help to raise awareness of them within your local community. For many, this is one of the most rewarding aspects of being a food blogger.

Take photos of their food or drink and post them on social media, feature a small business on your blog or create a round-up of the local food and drink producers that’ve kept you going during lockdown.

4. Buy gift vouchers for friends and family

When it comes to buying gifts for your loved ones, wouldn’t you rather they thought you’d put some serious consideration into their present, rather than simply snapping up the first thing you come across on their Amazon wishlist?

Treating friends and family to gift vouchers to spend with their favourite local restaurants and food producers makes for a truly thoughtful gift, while also supporting a small local business.

5. Encourage your followers to cancel any unwanted restaurant bookings

Unfortunately, restaurant no-shows are no new issue for the hospitality industry, but they’re going to hit your favourite local businesses harder than ever right now.

Cancelling a restaurant booking you no longer need is the polite thing to do and it should go without saying, but it seems many of us either forget to cancel our bookings, or perhaps just don’t realise the damage we’re doing by simply not turning up. Encourage your audience to cancel any restaurant bookings they no longer require and ask them to tell their friends and family to do the same.

6. Don’t forget to leave a tip

It’s a tough time for everyone working in the hospitality industry at the moment, so if you’ve had really good service or you’ve just eaten an outstanding meal, show your appreciation by leaving a tip if you can afford to do so.

7. Order a fruit & veg box from a local farm shop

It’s not just local food outlets who are struggling at the moment; independent farmers are really feeling the strain too.

Ordering a fruit and veg box from your local farm shop is an amazing way to support local farmers. No doubt the produce will be of a much better quality compared to the stuff you find in supermarkets, too.

8. When ordering food for take-out, order direct wherever possible

While takeaway delivery services like Deliveroo, Uber Eats and Just Eat can make for a great way to access a variety of restaurants to suit different budgets, many restaurants complain about the excessive service charges they have to pay.

By ordering direct from a restaurant or takeaway, you’re cutting out the middle man and enabling the restaurant to save money, while also saving yourself a few pounds on the delivery charge. Win-win!

If you’re Cardiff-based, consider downloading the Indie Eats app, set up by local independent restaurateurs in a response to the hefty charges imposed by mainstream restaurant delivery apps.

Can you think of any other ways for food bloggers to support local businesses? Let me know by commenting below.

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