Social media has become a great tool for restaurants to connect with customers, whether it be posting drool-worthy photos, to sharing daily specials and menus.
I often follow many restaurants on Facebook to learn more about a specific cuisine and for new restaurant suggestions.
In keeping in touch with such pages, I’ve also discovered a ton of local home-based groups and pages that sell all sorts of meals and specialties for pick-up and delivery.
The most popular place to find these is the “Miscellaneous” section of Facebook Marketplace.
Through these, I occasionally order specialties and learn more about what the public orders regularly.
From soul food restaurants based out of Perth Amboy:
To the bizarre, a lady in Lakewood who specializes solely in chicken feet:
A lady who makes delicious looking mole and pambazo sandwiches:
One of my favorites, was a Brazilian healthy meal plan (marmitex) business that previously worked from home, but through many orders, they’ve successfully opened up a storefront location in Newark at 182 Wilson Ave.
Many of these are found on the “Miscellaneous” section of Facebook Marketplace.
Uber Eats as I understand it is used for established restaurants, offering a means of delivery from them to you, with Uber taking a cut from the sale, of course. I’ve personally never used it.
The businesses I’m talking about are more 100% independent, and wouldn’t even qualify for Uber Eats, since they are not businesses, solely working from a home kitchen, sold via word of mouth and online communities.
For example, this lady selling enchiladas or the other empanada saleswoman. There is no possibility of uber eats, there is just texting, facebook messaging, or calling as the only option to order.
Got it…thanks! This is cool-almost an online equivalent of a food truck, but obviously not regulated. Great way for people to try out their food and for the owner to build a business (or not)!
Yep. Of course the lack of regulation would turn people off to it as well (see below). But I love it as a tool to learn about new dishes, and ones that I know for a fact are being sold and prepared for local communities and palettes.
I’ve actually been following (and have ordered from) @bettys_bakers on Instagram. They are near me and I purchased an excellent peanut butter cake and crack bars from them. You have to send them a direct message through Instagram and pay with Venmo.
Do any of you follow Jamie Oliver or Gordon Ramsay? Also, I really love Pete and Manu of “My kitchen rules”. By the way, I think food pages are the most popular on social media. But I know of one case where a very beautiful food page couldn’t get new followers. Probably, Instagram made their posts invisible to others. Their rules are: if you want your posts to become visible, then you should get a lot of likes. It’s like a vicious circle. But I found a way out of this situation and found out how to buy Instagram followers. I suggested this method to the page owner and he got new followers who became his clients. So, I’m glad I was able to be useful. The great chefs I mentioned above don’t need it, because they have received worldwide recognition for their talent and hard work.
