Ultimate Content Guide for Food Enthusiasts &Bakers-Small Business Owners

Do you enjoy watching cooking/baking videos? Those lip-smacking gourmet delights are enticing enough for you to feel hungry even after a wholesome lunch or dinner. But, if you are home-based baker or chef, don’t you want to create a Nigella Lawson feat?

This genre is really close to my heart like a Dunkin donut. So, I surely had to discuss it with you. As most of you reading this including my friends are amazing bakers, I know that cooking is a passion and is a deep therapeutic experience for you.

Honestly, some of you are creative food experts at that. 

Well, you tick almost all the boxes right from love for cooking, trying different recipes and sharing some delicious food with us. 

But, do you create content around your recipes? Does your food picture attract the right amount of people to ping you for your next order?

Let me guide you how you can take this love for baking/ cooking and make it a legitimate business in future? 

Business strategies you need keep in mind to be a Cooking Professional 

Treat your cooking as a business

You are used to cooking meals daily that it has become a part of your daily chore of life. Change that. Take a positive step and start treating your passion as a business. Keep a business mindset. Start home-based cooking venture, where you could share amazing recipes with friends and families in exchange for testimonials.

Spend a huge amount of time in research. Choose a good brand name. Know your competitors, latest trends and think about what you can offer. Create a master plan of owning a café, restaurant or food outlet. Write down what you wish to have and keep it as your Ikigai to work towards it.

Tip- Treating your passion for food as a business will help you grow as a professional baker/cook expert.

Cooking knowledge

Most of our initial cooking is inspired by our mom’s or granny’s recipes. We then add our element to the dish by cooking with ingredients we have with us. But you need to know the basics of cooking. Spare time to read magazines, food blogs to understand the nuances. How does it help? 

With basic cooking and scientific reasons in mind, you can quickly analyse whether a hand whisk is better than a mixer. Does it make your pastry dough fluffy or dry? Do you watch bakers giving inputs about switching from hand whisk to a standalone mixer? Not only it has been tried and tested by them, but you can enhance the experience of cooking faster, organically and enjoy the process too. Cooking is called science after all.

Target audience and niche

You enjoy baking and prepare chocolates, fudges, cakes, pastries every Christmas. Good job! 

But, you would want to scale it and sell these delicious desserts throughout the year. Ask yourself why should someone buy from you? What will be your pricing strategy and offers? For your small business to get familiar and known to ideal clients, promote yourself. Start building a portfolio. Make a good plan to share that you are food solopreneur. If you are opening a café, register yourself to confirm your authenticity.

We usually prefer to buy or order a meal from a place we trust and love. Keep Ambience, Customer Relations and Quality as your main focus to assure you get regular clients.

Tip- Use a cost-effective way by designing a good brochure and visiting card on Canva and share them with your friends and family.

Stationery and Equipment Investments

Your aim should be to attract food lovers, customers and also brand collabs in future. After spending your time and effort in finalizing your food niche and menu, it is important for a good investment strategy. Grocery shopping, basic equipments like pans, knives, bowls etc would be low budget needs. Stock in higher budget carefully for a good oven, microwave, standalone mixer, pantry storage. Note your probable expenses for bills and rent whether you are a small home-based business owner or have a separate place.

Invest in a good camera. Pictures and videos are the first impressions of your food business. Without saying, devote time to click them. Food Pics are virtual content shared to exciting and hungry tummies. Capture close up, behind the scenes shots while doing the prep for the menu till it is served.

Food pictures/ videos are social proof to kickstart your journey as Cooking Artists/ Bakers in future.

Grab people’s attention with a well lit background setup, serving plate/bowl and tempting dish. You wouldn’t want a blurred image to ruin the experience of a good dish.

Content Creation Strategies for Cooking Artists and Bakers (small business owners):

Make it a personal experience: 

Cooking is also called an art as a lot of bakers and food enthusiasts create and cook a beautiful recipe. Just as it is a personal joy for you, make it a memorable experience for your audience. But how can I assure you get the same experience of baking a cake as me Elvira? My answer is to weave a story! Baking/Cooking is your content. Draw a relatable story that can woo me or your ideal audience. Everytime I look at my Mom’s home-cooked Idlis, I recollect a fun story of her childhood where all the siblings used to wait to have them after school.

(Read more about My Personal Food Story segment below )

Bring nature to your cooking: 

I know, I know you would say that nature is already a part of your cooking. Fruits, veggies, pulses and so on. Bring the essence of nature inside your kitchen. To make your food videos unique, try including the sound of chopping fresh vegetables, birds chirping or the sweet sound of melting butter. Your audience will relate to the sound of ting of the oven, the sifting of flour while you bake a cake. Make them feel part of your cooking/ baking process. Check out: Married Friends

Share a Finger licking effect: 

You do want all your recipes to have a finger-licking experience, don’t you? Let say, we are baking a lasagna today. Yummy! It is one of the most popular dish tried out by so many of us. Think of how you can convey this experience and make it unique. Try simple tricks to make it presentable, give your own tips while shooting for a video. Give a backstory about your first experience making it. Get inspired by Laura In the Kitchen .

For videos, create slow motions to focus on ricotta cheese or meat plated on a baking tray. You could create a boomerang while you slice into the hot and drooling lasagna (Mouthwatering !) For photos, keep a background of a bottle of cinnamon, a bowl of salad you prepared and sprinkle some basil to create a tempting look.

Cooking content with what you have:

 Yes, it does sound silly but you will relate with it soon. I recollect once we planned to make Chicken Tikka Masala at home. We were really craving for it so we quickly started prepping for it. All of sudden we realized, we have no cream. So, we added yoghurt and milk and the dish still turned out to be very tasty. As we all are familiar, cooking is all about trials and errors.

As a baker or cooking artist, sometimes you may run out of ideas. To add your own unique touch to your food styles, test different recipes with the ingredients you have in your kitchen. You will be amazed by the fun and quick tasty meals you can create . The best part from this cooking adventure is you will be able to manage your budget.

Food USP

‘Entertaining with Beth’ is one of my favourite YouTuber in the cooking genre. You should definitely check her channel. Her content is about sharing cooking recipes that have porium of tales from childhood to travels, cooking hacks etc. She focuses on adding the element of fun, uniqueness with her distinct entertainment factor for each recipe. She shares customizable cooking tips you can recreate at home.

She has taken cooking beyond the recipe bit and popularly loved for sharing her selective crockery, napkins, plating styles of different food items. So, find what’s your unique about you as a professional baker/cooking expert that you can proudly promote. Is it your creative recipes like one-pot meals, 5 different lunch box meals, cooking with few ingredients? 

Tip- You need not stress yourself, your USP – Hero content in cooking could as simple as making your version of popular spices.

Cook, Teach and Share:

Cooking is a life skill we all need to know. Usually, many indulge in cooking to survive themselves. Bachelors/ spinsters, students staying in hostels/PG and generally working professionals look for quickly made food recipes options after a long day. Tap this audience by teaching them easy to follow recipes.

Cooking is a group effort about someone teaching you and you learn and share with others. Since you are already food lover, you can create content that caters exclusively to this segment too. Break down your recipe into food tutorials and baking tutorials. And voila, you will have a bunch of people who will be your loyal followers. Kabita’s Kitchen is a perfect example to help anyone to cook with her easy to follow recipes.

Wear your creative hat as a food coach. Incase you don’t have a ready meal to share with your audience, tweak your strategy and maybe introduce them to your cooking essentials, your late-night dinner recipes etc.

Be proud and vocal:

Sure, you know that food is your hero. And we are aware there are thousands of cooking experts like you. I have atleast 7-10 cafes and cake shops in my vicinity from where I can buy a Chocolate Truffle cake. 

I know of 5 which offer super decadent and moist cake for my tastebuds. Apart from these cake shops, I have an attractive list of Instagram cake stores as my options. Guess what, I ended up buying a brownie, a muffin and the cake because the chef herself was there to suggest her favourite baked desserts. So, you get the drift? Beyond the pricing and packaging, I will surely look for quality and customer experience to refer it to a friend. 

So, be vocal of your products. Don’t be shy but proudly speak about your food. 

Tip- Customers do love when the chef or baker himself/herself are brand managers and help them select a menu. Most fine restaurants use Chef suggested menu/meals as their USP.

Food and Mood connection

Most of us connect food with our emotions. We need to make it more relatable because I need not have a particular food item stored in my pantry to recreate your recipe. Share useful food hacks and options that are helpful for everyone. Keep your communication informal and casual.

People are instantly drawn to like food/ baking pictures or watch videos. Usually, they love food and but often many come to relive their stress or are hungry. Don’t hesitate to share your own favourite cuisines or restaurants. This element of curiosity of sharing your personal tastes always adds an emotional touch with your audience. Terrace Kitchen gives you a perfect feel of good food and good vibes

For a person like me, I love brunch recipes, easy peasy meals, one-pot meal for lazy days etc. Keep feedback from your audience as your main priority always. With their suggestion, you could have a winning “ Bestseller menu” on your list.

Build your Food Community

One of the best takeaways I can share with you is to focus on building a community. You must be wondering how does it become a part of your food creation business. Hear me out, community building is a core for every business. Since food is linked not only to our appetite but influences our emotions too. Your focus is to grow organically together not be lonesome where you have few people to rave about your cookies or biryani.

You must start networking with people in the same niche as you are. This helps you to know what recipes are popular, have collaborations, exchange of customers and also getter a wider reach. Make a simple but appealing social media profile about your baking/ food adventures. Write a good copy for every post you share to attract your customers. (Drop me a message if you want me to write for you!)

Time for a Personal Story:

Sharing my personal experience, one of my favourite Baker is Cafe Miranda. (I am already craving to visit the cafe while I pen this down). If you have to learn a lesson or two about setting up your own cafe, managing orders and also coming with delicious recipes including desserts and meals regularly, then Naomi Miranda, owner of Cafe Miranda is a role model for you aspiring bakers.

She along with her father runs this beautiful Goan restaurant that blends Flavours, Aesthetics and Cheerful vibes. Nestled in the beauty of greens, Cafe Miranda radiates a wholesome experience of “Paradise on Earth“. Right from having a lavish Bagel to the exquisite box of Christmas goodies to the Appetizing Churros, soft and decadent cupcakes, each of them have a personal touch.

Talking about her content strategy, her food pictures looks as appetizing just like the dish itself. She regularly bonds over food/ baking stories with food lovers by giving a sneak peek into her new creations. Her creative acumen is reflected well in her choice of Breakfast menus, desserts and design of beautiful moist Cakes.

Naomi follows a smart approach to stay genuine and cater to every customer request while being a #Bossbabe as a Entrepreneur is really commendable. Professionalism alongwith being patient enough to help your customers choose an order is what many including me have become “A repeat customer”.

I hope to interact more about with the content aspect with her in future. While I stay in my creative bubble:) you can visit or order directly from Cafe Miranda to share a similar experience.

Some Fun Food Content Tips by me you can follow :

1. Schedule “Cook with Me” segments with your audience by choosing a date and time at a place or online. Involving your audience always works and has treasured memories.

2. Do share your favourite food joints adding the element of curiosity for your audience.

3. Have a fun interactive session for kids with easy recipes like a bowl of salad with colourful veggies, whipping a fluffy cream, decorating donuts, making fruit juices etc.

4. Create content about your must-have grocery list, favourite grocery outlets.

5. Share common names of food ingredients and meal options. Many people struggle to know the names of food that have similar look and have more than one name.

6. As food is consumed globally, you may have a bilingual audience who consume your content.

7. Experiment by trying out different cuisines once a while.

Create memories with everything you plate on your table

elvira lobo pinto

8. During festive seasons, you can keep a dedicated monologue in your mother tongue or languages to attract customers who may like and join your community.

9. As a food blogger /vlogger, you can do fun polls about naming a food dish, side dish options, ‘what would you love to have during a break’ , “cheat day” menus etc.

10. Many health-conscious people look for informed choices like low carbs, vegan food, diet plans, to remain fit. If you are certified dietician or baker, you can also earn passive income with meals plans.

Conclusion:

While many of you are professional bakers and cooking enthusiasts, take your love for food to the next level by creating unique food content that shows you as a trusted authority. Be creative with your message that you deliver to your customers along with serving them delicious food.

To catch your audience’s attention who may live remotely, capture good videos or food pictures to attract their interest. Keep your best food forward to grab your customer’s interest with these food content tips and business strategies. Happy Cooking and Baking.

Love to have a bite of your tasty food and scrumptious desserts. Cheers !

I hope you find this Content Creation Guide on Food useful . Do let me know your feedback and what genre you would love me to write content on ?

For Content and Copywriting services, you can ping me . I would love to write for you 🙂

P.S: All the Food Bloggers mentioned here are my personal favourites to inspire Foodies, Aspiring bakers and food enthusiasts like you. This is not a sponsored post.

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Copyright©2020-10th Nov by Elvira Lobo Pinto (All rights reserved; unauthorized use prohibited) Disclaimer: The image(s) in the post are taken from Pexels. Bagel picture is owned by me. I don’t claim any of its rights.