Cooking is one of those arts that is timeless-mainly because hunger never goes out of style. Sure, we see a good amount of innovation in the kitchen from time to time but when it comes to serving and eating, everything’s pretty much the same as it always was. Right? Wrong, actually.
From the way they accept your reservations to the way they serve you the bill, restaurants are much different today than they were a few years ago and there’s one app that you have to thank (the most) for these changes: Yup, we’re talking about none other than your favorite photo-sharing app: Instagram.
Millennials spend the most amount of time AND money dining out every month than any previous generation. And when they go out, they can’t help but show off what they’re having because, let’s face it, every moment of life that brings you pleasure is a moment worth documenting, innit? And hence, millennials are helping restaurants in more ways than one: by their money (duh), by their free publicity AND by helping them analyze what works and what doesn’t simply by sharing pictures.
To put it precisely, here are some of the ways Instagram is changing the way you dine out of home:
1. By Helping Decor and Design Come to The Front:
Previously, when you visited restaurants, you MIGHT have noticed a pretty lamp whilst waiting for your food but you probably wouldn’t be compelled to go back home and bring back your camera with you just so you could document it. Consequence? You’d forget all about it during the appetizers and that would be the end of that. Now, people document every pretty thing they see. Good enough? Snapchat. Great? Straight to Instagram! People are talking about restaurants and especially aspects of restaurants that are related to more than just food and taste now and this is helping AND challenging restaurants to decorate their spaces better than ever before.
2. Food Presentation is Now More Important than Before:
It’s not just something you see in Masterchef. Food decor is now a whole separate game. Anything as simple as a glass of lemon-water is now meticulously decorated and presented in a way as to look aesthetically appealing so as to attract more customers. It’s also a fact that many millennials now head to the same places as their friends do simply due to the aesthetic appeal of a dish. Why? Because if it LOOKS good enough to eat, it probably just might be.
3. Restaurants are Spending More on Branding:
This phenomenon might still be relatively new in Pakistan (but hello, Magnum stores!) but these Instagrammable dishes are letting restaurants become brands unto themselves. Restaurants are now striving to add a bit of their own personalized, extra oomph to their dishes, especially their signature dishes so as to attract people to themselves. So the next time you see your friend in Dubai Instagram a piece of that Godiva cafe dessert with their personalized, stamped chocolate on top, thank Instagram!
image: Alamy
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