Lightning Talks: Jonathan Hartig, JonsMoveableFeasts

Pivoting from Food Blog to Food Business: When I first started food blogging, I figured it would be a great place to test some recipes and share my thoughts on what I’ve eaten. Fast forward a few years later, and I’m running J2Food a growing, successful boutique catering company in NYC. In my session, you’ll hear all about how I used the skills I honed as a food blogger, to not only write about food, but sell my food too! We’ll talk about how to cross-utilize marketing techniques including photography, social media, as well as ways to branch out from the page to parties.

Transcript

2. Jon’s Moveable Feasts !" J2Food From Food Blogging to Food Business
3. Jon’s Moveable Feasts Food Blog (2015)
4. J2Food Food Blog (2015) Catering Company (2017)
5. PRACTICE
6. Customers are your new readers! Talk to them the same way and use the same voice, but you can also practice reading your recipe intros and describing your food as you would from your blog
7. CROSS UTILIZATION Use resources you already have from your blog for your business too!
8. Photography • Tantalizing dishes • Document successful events • Advertise yourself
9. Advertise Yourself! • You did all your social media before, not out your customers and guests to work • Use your photographs to flesh out your literature, website and pages (e.g. Yelp)
10. Followers • Your blog followers are instant customer leads! • Mailing list • Event guests • Reviews and testimonials
11. Recipes • Signature dishes and menu packages • You already know what your most popular dishes are • Cooking classes — you’re an expert!
12. INSIDER
13. Extended Network • You probably already have connections with certain restaurants, food professionals – use those connections!
14. Free Marketing and Advice • Early work can be done for food costs and marketing • Contact followers and places you've written about to get advice about your new food venture — often they’re happy to share with others too!
15. SLOW AND STEADY Don’t be afraid to transition slowly – you can take your time to grow your client base organically
16. 
 “CHINESE WALL”
 
 It might seem tempting to post all your content to both social media pages, both business website and blog etc. BUT it’s important to maintain some distance
 

17. YES • Intro post about your new exciting food venture • Use contacts and followers from your blog as your first customer base • Use blog content (recipes, food descriptions, photos) for food business literature and website • Keep separate social media and contact info
18. NO • Posting about your food business on your blog all the time – danger of isolating blog following - Might be a good idea to maintain a new blog on website for business events, classes etc
19. REINVENT
20. • Don’t be afraid to pivot your blog • Recycle recipes with added stories and tweaks from events • Or maintain a secondary blog on your business website that can utilize info from your blog as well
21. Contact and Social Media J2Food (www.jsquaredfood.com) • Instagram: @jsquaredfood • Twitter: @jsquaredfood • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jsquaredfood/ • Email: info@jsquaredfood.com Jon’s Moveable Feasts (www.jonsmoveablefeasts.com) • Instagram: @JonsMoveableFeasts • Twitter: @JonsFeasts • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jonsmoveablefeasts/ • Email: jonsmoveablefeasts@gmail.com