The Complete Guide to Food Influencer Marketing Strategies for 2024 (8 Steps to Success!)

Food influencer marketing, a term we’ve been hearing a lot, has become an integral strategy for food and beverage brands looking to connect with their audience in a more authentic way.

Simply put, it’s about partnering with individuals who have a strong online presence and can influence their followers’ purchasing decisions. And honestly, the impact is real. In fact, 69% percent of consumers trust the recommendations of influencers. This is actually solid proof of how a good influencer marketing strategy can boost brand awareness and drive sales.

Key Takeaways

• What is Food Influencer Marketing, Why it Matters and Who Needs It? 

You’ll learn what food influencer marketing is, why it’s important, and which brands can benefit the most from it.

• 8 Steps to Build a Successful Food Influencer Marketing Strategy

You’ll discover the essential steps to create a successful food influencer marketing strategy, from leveraging UGC to partnering with local influencers.

• Top Food Influencer Campaigns to Learn From

You’ll see real examples of successful food influencer campaigns and learn how these brands achieved their goals through strategic partnerships.

A Comprehensive Guide to Food Influencer Marketing: What It Is, Why It Matters, and Who Needs It?

Traditional ads often feel impersonal, but food influencers add a human touch. They engage followers with relatable content, making food or product recommendations feel like advice from a friend. While boosting brand awareness, which most brands seek, this strategy also convinces audiences as followers are more likely to trust and act on recommendations from someone they admire. 

• Food influencers range from celebrity chefs to food micro influencers with dedicated followers. 
• They create content that attracts and impacts not just people in their region but many all over the world. Food content brings people together and introduces them to diverse cultures.
• Naturally, this is a great advantage for many brands, as brand awareness can spread across the world.
• With the help of food influencers and food and beverage marketing agencies, fast food chains, cookware brands or restaurants showcase new launches in a more engaging and intriguing way.

Why does it matter, though? Because we live in a world where we’re constantly bombarded with advertisements and the authenticity that food influencer marketing offers makes a real difference. They build trust and this trust translates into higher engagement rates and stronger brand connections.

Who needs food influencer marketing? Each and every food brand out there! It’s not just for big brands with massive budgets. Every food brand, regardless of size, can benefit. It can be particularly beneficial for smaller, niche markets where targeted messaging is key.

Especially the following businesses can benefit from this strategy:

• Restaurants: Use influencers to attract local crowds when launching a new menu or opening a new location.
• Food Brands:From large corporations to small, artisanal producers, food brands are able to display their products in a more appealing way.
• Beverage Companies: Highlight new drinks or seasonal flavors with the help of food and beverage influencers.
• Specialty Food Shops: Reach niche audiences and boost visibility for unique products.
• Cookware Brands: Collaborate with food content creators to promote products, offering viewers quick insights on quality and ease of use, often with discount codes.

8 Steps to Building a Winning Food Influencer Marketing Strategy

You need more than just choosing the right influencers for effective food influencer marketing. Thus, we’ve listed unique steps you can take:

• Encourage UGC: UGC drives authentic brand engagement.
• Partner with Local Influencers: Local influencers connect your brand with the community.
• Create Taste-Testing Content: Taste-testing turns curiosity into sales.
• Limited-Edition Product Launches: Exclusivity fuels demand and urgency.
• Create Secret Menu Items: Mystery menus spark curiosity and brand intrigue.
• Host Influencer-Led-Cooking Classes: Culinary experiences create deeper brand connections.
• Collaborate on Recipe Development: Helps you showcase your product’s versatility.

Step 1: Encouraging User-Generated Content (UGC)

One of the most powerful aspects of food influencer marketing is the ability to inspire your audience to create their own content featuring your products. When customers see influencers using and endorsing your products, they’re more likely to join in and share their own experiences. 79% of people say UGC highly impacts their purchase decisions. Leveraging UGC means encouraging influencers and customers alike to create and share content that features your products in an organic, creative way – such as through their own recipes, meal prep ideas, or unique serving suggestions.

The beauty of UGC lies in its authenticity—content created by everyday people feels more genuine and trustworthy than traditional ads. Plus, when influencers lead the charge, their followers are more likely to participate, knowing they’re part of a community.

Authenticity & Trust: UGC is trusted more because it comes from real users, making it more reliable than traditional ads.

Cost-Effective Content Creation: It is a budget-friendly way to generate a steady stream of content.

Community Engagement: Sharing UGC creates a sense of belonging, boosting brand visibility through ongoing engagement.

Diverse Perspectives: UGC showcases your product’s versatility, offering new, creative uses from different viewpoints.

UGC strategy is also effective because of the rise of micro and nano influencers. These creators typically have smaller but highly engaged followings, perfect for UGC strategies. These influencers often have a closer relationship with their audience, making their UGC more impactful and relatable.

Viral TikTok Presence: Crumbl Cookies has gained massive popularity on TikTok, where hashtags like #CrumblCookies and #CrumblReview has millions of views.

@nicoleaxelrod crumbl review, week of august 26th 🍪✨ #crumblcookies #crumblreview #cookiereview #cookies #cookietok #review #tastetest #crumbl #dessert #dessertreview #foodreview #foodie #food #sweettreats #fyp @Crumbl Cookies ♬ How`s Your Day – aAp Vision

Weekly Flavor Drops Fuel UGC: Crumbl’s weekly introduction of new flavors is a key part of their strategy, encouraging UGC.

Step 2: Partnering Local Restaurants with Local Influencers

The value of local connections can sometimes be overlooked. However, collaborating with local influencers help food brands to reach the local audience, thus driving customers directly to the brand. Locals discover new places to try via influencers.

• Local Discovery: Local influencers help people in the area discover new dining spots they might not know about. Their recommendations feel like tips from a friend, making them more likely to visit.
• Community Connection: These influencers know what the local community cares about and can make your restaurant a local favorite by connecting it with community values and trends.
• Word-of-Mouth Amplification: An influencer’s endorsement can quickly spread the word about your restaurant, leading to more visits and bookings from their followers who trust their advice.
• Cost-Effective Marketing: Collaborating with local influencers is budget-friendly and can deliver great results without the high costs of traditional ads.
• Relatable Content: Content created by local influencers resonates more with locals because it’s relevant and authentic, making it more impactful and shareable.

KarissaEats is one of the top food influencers online, especially having a strong following base on TikTok with over 6 million followers. Her content typically has a solid style where she tries different foods from all over the world. As shared by her, she recently moved to NYC with her boyfriend and continues to share content from every corner of the city. With her helpful content, travelers and locals are able to discover local delicacies, ranging from Indian cuisine to food trucks.

@karissaeats #ad Discover Bank, Member FDIC. #discoverpartner Earn rewards with @DiscoverOfficial and go treat yourself! #cashback #finance #fyp ♬ original sound – karissaeats

Step 3: Creating Taste-Testing Content

Inviting influencers to sample and review your products brings authenticity and excitement. These taste-testing campaigns, whether done live, virtually, or through social media, give audiences a real, sensory experience that sticks with them.

• Genuine Reactions: Influencers sharing their honest thoughts on your product gives potential customers a real sense of what to expect, making it easier for them to decide to try it.
• Interactive and Fun: This content invites viewers to engage, whether they’re watching a live stream or commenting on a video, making your brand more engaging.
• Broadened Audience: An influencer’s review can introduce your product to their followers, who trust their recommendations and are more likely to give your product a try.
• Cost-Effective Exposure: Taste-testing content is budget-friendly and can provide solid exposure without the need for expensive campaigns.
• Sensory Experience: Taste-testing campaigns let consumers experience a product vicariously through the influencer’s reactions. Food is inherently sensory, and by watching an influencer taste and describe a product, audiences can almost “taste” it themselves. This sensory appeal is powerful in driving consumer curiosity and desire to try the product.

Wingstop is another food brand that has taken over TikTok and YouTube with its mouth-watering fried chicken strips and wings. What sets them apart is their wide range of flavors, especially their Cajun fries and ranch sauce, which have people around the world buzzing. The comments are filled with people outside the U.S. craving these flavors, begging the brand to open locations in their countries. This global excitement keeps engagement high. While they might not be able to sell to everyone, Wingstop has definitely created brand awareness that’s hard to beat, so salute to those influencer agencies across the US that bring the right influencers with the brand!

@shhhhimeating Wingstop (new week new stop, its so hot) #wingstop #wingstopranch #wingstopmukbang #wings #eating #foodie #asmr #mukbang #fyp ♬ original sound – ShhhhImEating

And how do you think that not-so newly established brand achieved this huge success? Of course with the help of content creators and food influencers.

Step 4: Limited-Edition Product Launch Collaborations with Influencers

Limited-edition anything generates a lot of excitement. And limited-edition or seasonal food products are no exception, especially when promoted by influencers. Their endorsement adds exclusivity and urgency, driving higher sales during the launch period. These products also tap into the Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) effect, prompting consumers to act quickly. Most people hurry to buy these products, worried they might not get another opportunity.

Let’s take a look at the following example. Oreo has collaborated with Carrie Berk to introduce their limited edition S’mores oreos. This type of content generates hype and wonder, leading consumers to immediately go to the closest store to buy and try the product.

@carrieberkk limited-edition SMORES OREOS!! 🍫 @theoreoofficial #foodie #foodtiktok #oreo ♬ original sound – Carrie Berk

Step 5: Create a Secret Menu Item

Most fast food restaurants have secret menu items in their menus and occasionally these items go viral. Thus, you may also consider adding a special quality like this to your brand and find the right influencers to highlight what you have to offer to their audiences. Brands like Starbucks use this strategy for their beverage marketing strategies, and we must say they become successful by it. These items are intriguing and make people want to try asap.

@thecaroandtina FOLLOW FOR MORE #starbucks #starbucksdrinks #dragonfruit #whattoorder #secretmenustarbucks #secretmenu #frappuccino #fyp #viralvideo #viral ♬ A-O-K – Tai Verdes

Step 6: Host Influencer-Led Cooking Classes

Many food-focused influencers may not have professional training. However, this does not prevent them from creating amazing content by cooking delicious meals. In such cases, cooking classes organized in collaboration with brands featuring these food influencers become quite attractive. Because it is not always possible to taste the dishes made by these creators, who share their home-cooked meals with millions. When such events are organized, both brand visibility increases and it becomes possible to meet these influencers and taste delicious food.

These sessions do more than just highlight a product – they position the influencer as a trusted expert who can guide their audience through the cooking process. When followers see their favorite influencer cooking with your product, it adds a layer of credibility and makes them more likely to try it themselves.

Step 7: Collaborate on Recipe Development

Recipe development by influencers is a direct way to integrate your product into their content in a meaningful and practical manner. When influencers create and share recipes featuring your product, it provides their followers with tangible, actionable ways to use it. This type of content is highly valuable because it goes beyond promotion and offers real value to the audience.

Barilla has partnered with Chef Gaz Oakley for a creative vegan pasta recipe. This appetizing recipe appeals to both a niche audience due to its vegan nature and to people seeking diverse recipes, while also inspiring viewers to use Barilla pasta.

Bu gönderiyi Instagram'da gör

Barilla (@barilla)'in paylaştığı bir gönderi

Nutella is another great example of this strategy in action. The brand frequently partners with food influencers to create and share Nutella-based recipes. Most of this content goes viral because they both delight Nutella fans and also intrigues new consumers to try the recipe with the product in creative ways. Cooking recipes is considered to be the most popular form of content on social media, so if you’re interested in it, make sure to give it a try and start posting your recipes as well. 

@fitwaffle 3-ingredient Nutella thumbprint cookies #nutella #cookies #chocolate #foodtok #food ♬ Iko Iko (My Bestie) (feat. Small Jam) – Justin Wellington

Top 4 Food Influencer Campaigns to Learn From

Blue Apron’s Partnership with Food Bloggers

Blue Apron, a meal kit delivery service, successfully partnered with food micro influencers and food bloggers to showcase the convenience and quality of their products. These influencers created content that featured step-by-step meal preparation using Blue Apron kits, highlighting how easy it was to cook gourmet meals at home.

@kat_shultis Have genuinely loved using @blueapron throughout my pregnancy & now postpartum too to save me so much time & energy in such a new & busy season! right now you can get 30% off the first 5 weeks of a new subscription at the link in my bio, terms apply. #letsblueapron #ad ♬ Back on 74 – Stan 🙂

• The campaign resulted in increased brand visibility and a surge in new subscribers, as consumers were able to see the value of the service through the eyes of trusted influencers.
• The paid collaboration below, for example, was viewed 1.8 million times, offering 65% discount for those who would use the link in the influencer’s bio to make a purchase.

@kat_shultis Click the link in my bio to get 65% off plus free shipping on your first box until January 14th, Happy New Year bestiiiiies &lt3 terms apply @blueapron #ad #letsblueapron ♬ Fire for You (Sped Up) – Cannons

Dunkin’s Collaboration with Charli D’Amelio

Dunkin’ made waves by collaborating with TikTok star Charli D’Amelio. The partnership featured a limited-edition drink named after the influencer, which quickly became a fan favorite. Charli’s influence, particularly among Gen Z, drove significant traffic to Dunkin’ locations and boosted social media engagement.

@dunkin So official, we put it in writing @charlidamelio. Order ‘The Charli’ on the Dunkin’ app!🙌 #CharliRunsOnDunkin #TheCharli #Dunkin ♬ original sound – Dunkin'

• The collaboration led to a notable increase in sales, with the drink selling out in many locations shortly after its launch.

@charlidamelio the best part of any day @Dunkin' #dunkinpartner ♬ original sound – charli d’amelio

• Partnering with influencers who have a strong connection with your target demographic can amplify the success of a product launch.

Chipotle’s TikTok Challenges

Chipotle has been a frontrunner in using TikTok to engage with younger audiences through food campaign ideas that are fun, interactive, and highly shareable. Their #GuacDance challenge, which encouraged users to create videos of themselves dancing to celebrate National Avocado Day, was a huge success.

@daviddobrik #ChipotleLidFlip @chipotle #ad ♬ Flip – Future

The campaign generated millions of views and led to Chipotle’s most successful guacamole day ever, with the highest number of guac add-ons sold in a single day.

@brentrivera When guacamole is free @chipotle when you order online/in-app on July 31st😍 #GuacDance #ad ♬ The Guacamole Song – Dr. Jean

Isabelle Heiken x Le Creuset

Le Creuset is one of the most renowned cookware brands with its high quality dutch ovens. Their products are also very pleasing to the eye, making it a dream for most households. The brand collaborated with TikTok food influencer Isabelle Heiken, who has recently reached 1 million followers with its aesthetically pleasing food content.

@isabelleheikens

The COLOUR I may cry

♬ If You Don't Want My Love – Jalen Ngonda

The collaboration will consist of a series of posts but even the first PR package opening video of the creator has received a lot of attention with approximately 20K likes and over 150K viewing. 

Conclusion

These successful campaigns highlight the diverse ways in which food brands that work with influencers can create impactful marketing strategies. Whether it’s through personalized experiences, relatable content, or interactive challenges, the key is to align your brand with the right influencers who resonate with your target audience. As the examples show, food influencer marketing isn’t just about reach; it’s about creating connections that drive real results.

As you consider how to apply these strategies to your own brand, remember that the most effective campaigns are those that feel authentic and provide value to the audience. 

Once you apply the steps we’ve listed and learn from the successful examples, you can elevate your food influencer marketing efforts and achieve lasting success for your brand.

The sooner you take action, the sooner you’ll see the results. Begin now and transform your marketing approach with the power of food influencers.