The people deciding where to eat tonight are scrolling, not searching. Almost 40% of 18 to 24-year-olds now look for a place for lunch on TikTok or Instagram before they open Google or Maps, according to Google’s own research. And 58% of TikTok users say they’ve visited or ordered from a restaurant after seeing it on the app, up from 38% two years earlier, per MGH’s 2024 restaurant survey. So the question isn’t whether your food belongs on video. It’s who films it. Here’s what to look for when you hire a UGC creator for your restaurant.
A quick reminder of what a UGC creator actually is, because it trips a lot of restaurant owners up. I’m not an influencer you’re paying to post to their followers. I’m someone who films content in your space that you own and post yourself, on your grid, in your ads, wherever you need it. The whole point is that it looks like a real customer’s clip, because that’s the content people trust. In the MGH survey, the top reasons diners acted were simple: 53% said the food looked appetising, 45% said the place looked fun to go with friends, and 33% said they trusted the person who posted it. Good UGC hits all three. Here’s how to spot a creator who can pull it off.
Look for a feed that already makes you hungry.
Filming food is a specific skill. Steam off a plate, the pull on melted cheese, a cocktail catching the light, the first cut into something. If a creator’s work doesn’t make you want to eat the screen, it won’t do it for your customers either. Ask to see food and drink they’ve actually filmed, not a general lifestyle grid with one flat lunch photo in it. Appetising is the whole job. That was the single biggest driver of restaurant visits in the research, and it’s the easiest thing to get wrong.
Check they film for the platform, not for a showreel.
Content that works on TikTok and Reels is shot vertical, hooks you in the first two seconds, uses sound the platform is already pushing, and carries clean captions for everyone watching on mute. A creator who hands you a polished, landscape, brand-advert-style video has missed the point. You want something that feels native to the feed, because that’s what the algorithm serves and what viewers don’t scroll past. When you look at their samples, ask yourself honestly: would this stop me mid-scroll, or does it feel like an ad?
Ask how they’d tell your story, not just any restaurant’s.
Nearly half of the diners in that survey were pulled in by a place that looked fun to visit with friends, and 38% just wanted to see what the buzz was about. Your room, your regulars, the thing you do that nobody else does, that’s the buzz. A creator worth hiring will ask about it before they quote you. They’ll want to know your busiest table, your signature dish, the moment you’re proud of. If someone’s ready to film without a single question about what makes you you, you’ll get generic content that could belong to any café on the street.
Sort usage rights before anyone hits record.
This is the bit that catches brands out after the fact. Agree up front where you can use the content, for how long, and whether that includes paid ads or just organic posts. A one-off video you can post to your grid is different from footage you want to run as a TikTok or Meta ad for six months. Neither is wrong, but they cost differently, and you want it in writing before the shoot, not discovered when you go to boost a post. A good creator will make this clear without you having to chase it.
For a restaurant, local usually beats remote.
You can hire UGC creators from marketplaces anywhere in the world, and for a product you post out, that works fine. A restaurant is different. Your content lives or dies on the room, the plating, the service, the actual food coming out of your actual kitchen. A local creator can come in person, film it properly, catch a busy Friday night, and come back when the menu changes. There’s also a trust layer: 33% of diners said they acted because they trusted the person who posted, and a local face reads as a real regular, not a hired gun three cities over. If you’re in hospitality, someone who can walk through your door is worth a lot.
The red flags worth walking away from.
A few things that tell you to keep looking: they won’t show you relevant examples, they lead with their follower count instead of their content (you’re buying the footage, not their audience), they can’t film vertical or add captions, or they want full payment with no brief and no questions about your restaurant. None of those are dealbreakers on their own, but two or three together usually means you’ll be disappointed with what lands in your inbox.
Get the right person and it’s the cheapest, most natural marketing a restaurant can do. Real footage of real food, filmed for the feed, that you own and post as often as you like. If you want to see how I do it for food and drink brands, have a look at my UGC for food and drink brands work, or the earlier guide on how restaurant UGC fills tables. When you’re ready, the pricing is here and you can reach me at [email protected]. I film, edit and deliver it all myself, ready to post.
