The Art of Dining... or Should I Say, Dining for the Art?

Food and beverage spaces have evolved — today, it’s about food styling and photo ops not just eating and drinking! I’ve been fascinated to hear from clients about customers who come in less to taste and more to capture the perfect shot. It’s like a modern “small game hunting,” with every meal or croissant (photo) serving as a prized moment for social media.

Nothing illustrates this more than an Italian spot in Wan Chai, famous on the “Little Red Book” for a dish that’s become a viral sensation. Guests eagerly point and shoot but sometimes, they end up then sending it back — because it’s gone cold during their photo sessions!

We’re in an era where taste alone doesn’t cut it; if your social media presence isn’t compelling — if your brand isn’t visually circulating like Bakehouse has been so successful in doing — then you’re missing out.

We’ve shifted from savoring a dish and reporting the tastes to seeing it as a static visual object, waiting to be caught and circulated to the world.

After all, while the photos may not nourish us, for restaurant operators, this digital versioning of food has become the heartbeat of F&B. In our endless appetite for visual stimulation, to paraphrase Oscar Wilde:

“It’s better to be photographed a lot than not be photographed at all.”


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