Samantha Murphy, writing for the social media site Mashable, recently reported on an interesting new food trend.
Murphy notes when the owners of a new Latin-American restaurant Comodo, located in Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood, noticed guests were repeatedly snapping pictures of their entrees and uploading them to Instagram, Comodo decided to capitalize on the trend.
“The restaurant has embraced the hashtag #ComodoMenu and added it to the bottom of its real-life menu, encouraging guests to add, share and check out photos of food offered at the establishment.”
Comodo owner Felipe Donnelly told Mashable people love taking pictures of food when they go out. “We wanted to use what was organically happening on social media sites and turn it into a helpful and fun tool at the restaurant.
“We’ve been encouraging guests to post pictures on Instagram to spread the word, and the feedback has been great. Everyone keeps telling us how smart and creative it is”
Donnelly said customers can decide what to order simply by searching the hashtag to see what other patrons had posted — so in a sense, with the help of their own customers, Comodo has created their own Instagram Menu on the web.
Waiters also inform patrons of the concept and ask them to add their own pictures to the collection, along with reviews and feedback.
Kris Holt notes satirically that a cynic might suggest the restaurant isn’t willing to fork out for a pro photographer to capture images of the food, and that Comodo is getting patrons to do all its promotional legwork by getting them to share photos of meals with their Instagram followers.
Comodo uploaded a YouTube video promoting the Instagram campaign here.