Food and drink are appealing to the eye and are the reason why food menus and other restaurant marketing material pay allegiance to the phrase that a picture is worth a thousand words. Pictures that speak volumes are not achieved by accident but rather a deliberate effort by professional photographers who utilize their skills and experience to capture the very essence that will speak volumes, appeal to the emotions of restaurant clientele, and drive the desire to taste the food. Investing in food photography is a worthwhile investment nevertheless it is important to prepare well in advance and source the services of a professional photographer to get value for money.
Photos create a great first impression, therefore, making it important to get it right the first time. Whether you seek to use the photos for menus, banners, social media pages, or a restaurant website, be sure to make the photos speak more by getting them taken professionally. By so doing, they are bound to captivate the customers creating in them the urge to experience for themselves the goodness of what the restaurant has to offer.
Professional food and drink photography is bound to boost the sales of a restaurant. Use a comparison of two grilled turkeys, one with professional-looking photography and the other looking amateur. Any customer is bound to inquire about the photo with the turkey that looks mouthwatering. On the contrary, the amateur photo will get fewer inquiries and sales.
Professionally taken photos of food and drinks are known to increase the credibility and trust of a restaurant, therefore, making it equally important for a restaurant not to exaggerate but rather capture captivating photos whilst making the actual food even more phenomenal. There has to be an accurate alignment between the photos and the actual food served.
Professionally taken food and drink photos can be used to facilitate several branding and marketing efforts such as on the restaurant website, menus, banners as well as in adverts online, on the restaurants’ social media pages, in food apps like Uber eats and Trip Advisor, offline as well as in print media.
Professionally taken photos help the restaurant owner build their brand whilst telling their story in the manner which they would like the world to appreciate it thus giving them more control over the direction the story takes and in the process creating a strong identity reflective of what their restaurant is as well as what it stands for.
Emotional appeal is something that professional photography can win for you. A single look at the photos of the food and drinks a restaurant is offering should be enough to ignite the desire to eat or drink. The purchase decision, be it online or by looking at the physical menu is driven by professionally taken photos that capture the essence of a menu item.
Professional photography is known to increase conversion rates. Take a scenario of full photo menus versus purely text menus. Take it a step further and make the photos in the full photo menu professional and see the difference between a sale and no sale because the eyes meet gratification before the mouth.
Images are a universal language and don’t need a lot of explaining to express the true intention because one look will be enough for an explanation even though somebody may not understand the meaning of the accompanying text. True to professionalism, a tasty meal can be identified as such before actually tasting it.
Professionally taken photography makes it easier for clientele to choose between similar dishes on the menu. Customers may be spoilt for choice but rather that than nothing to consider for a choice.
Summary:
Professional food and drink photography cannot be taken lightly because of the important role it plays in influencing clientele’s purchase decisions. The decision to buy may be attributed to emotional appeal driving the desire to taste a meal that registers as delicious to the human eye based on the first impression. Restaurants, therefore, need to embrace it to boost their branding and marketing efforts.
