Impact of Social Media on the Food Service and Catering Sector

This report provides a detailed examination of the impact of social media platforms on the food service and catering sector. It explores how social media influences customer opinions on food delivery services and restaurants, analyzing the role of platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram in marketing and promotion. The report reviews literature on the subject, including studies on social media use in the restaurant industry and its application in food truck businesses. It highlights the importance of customer reviews, the use of videos, and the creation of brand images. The report also addresses adoption issues, such as the need for coherent social media strategies and skilled staff. It offers recommendations for restaurants to utilize social media effectively to improve services, expand their target audience, promote products, and enhance their reputation. This report is intended to assist students and professionals in the food service industry to understand the value and challenges of using social media.

Running Head: BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This paper explores in detail, the impact of various social media platforms in the Food
Service and Catering sector. The impact of social media has taken the industry by storm and
this paper explains how people are being influenced by various opinions and views on
different food delivery services and restaurants. The present report provided
recommendations for how the restaurants can utilize social media platforms in order to better
their services, increase the number of target audiences and promote their products as well as
improving their reputation.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................4
LITERATURE REVIEW...........................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS.....................................................................11
REFERENCES.........................................................................................................................14

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INTRODUCTION
People have been starting to take notice of the immense potential that social media is
having on the restaurant and food delivery industry. In the modern era, communication is
extremely easy and it is easy for people to air their opinions. Yeo et al. (2017) stated social
media helps people exchange their views and opinions about certain restaurants and dishes.
Moreover, nowadays, social media platforms are being used in order to rate different
restaurants and with time people are catching up to this trend. On top of this, different
restaurants are promoting their business in social media and this trend is increasing day after
another. Although, restaurant business came in a little late social media has been a marketing
tool for several years.
In a survey conducted by restaurant.org, it is proved that more than eight out of ten restaurant
operators talked about their intention to use the strategy of using social media as a marketing
tool for their restaurant (Pigatto et al. 2017). With the introduction of different food blogs, it
is easier for people to gather information about various restaurants and various dishes of
those restaurants. Apart from that, there are various social media platforms like Facebook,
Twitter and Instagram has been the major platforms for the promotion. With the
improvements in modern day technology, it is also easier to order food from various
restaurants if there aren't any options to go out and eat in the restaurant (Brunori et al. 2012).
Delivery services like Uber Eats, Zomato, Deliveroo, Just eat etc. has helped the cause.
Different websites that help people rate their experience on certain restaurants based
on the dishes they serve, their taste, plating, the ambience in the restaurant has helped others
make a judgment of the different restaurants. With the help of social media, people are being
able to enjoy multiple discounts on foods and beverages as well. Better rating for a particular
restaurant is bound to provide better revenues for that particular restaurant and it is very
helpful for the people in general as well. According to Davis et al. (2011), information on
social media helps people to understand what to order and what not to order judging by the
experiences of other people. Apart from rating a particular restaurant people also mention the
pros and cons of that said restaurant which also helps that particular restaurant to work on its
improvement.
Access to social media has brought about a sense of convenience to the area of food
delivery. The surge is very much like the improvements in the travel and hospitality sectors
due to the influence of social media. In that area to the emergence of social media has helped
people to choose the right places to travel, select the right packages for their travel and voice
their opinions about the service provided by the provider (Davis et al. 2018). Similarly, it has

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helped the service providers to understand and acknowledge the areas they need to improve
upon and work on the improvements as well as add to the list of their services that they
provide.
The surge of social media has also helped the pace of how information travel and this
has helped restaurants and delivery services to get to know their area of shortcomings. On the
other hand, this also means that a restaurant can build its reputation at a much faster pace
instead of gathering word of mouth information which takes much more time (Wang et al.
2016). On top of that, the promotion of a new dish or a new restaurant is easier with the help
of social media platforms. Multinational food chains are a living and profiting example of
that. There are multiple new products from food chains like KFC, Domino's Pizza, Burger
King, etc. who have profited from it.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Review of literature and practice
“Social Media Use in the Restaurant Industry: A Work in Progress” by Valerio et al.
(2019). The literature about the related topic is a survey consisting of 166 restaurant
managers who have revealed a mixed scenario in the use and impact of social media
platforms on their business. The method of data collection was mainly of interviewing the
managers. The findings of the study have found out that the restaurants can evaluate and
make proper use of their social media approaches, they can be ensured that the business is
strategically ensured and executed.
“The Utilization of Social Media as a Marketing Tool in Food Truck Business” by
Wang et al. (2016), is another study reference that can be related to the topic of the given
report. This research studies how the food truck businesses in Klang Valley, Malaysia is able
to stand up and out from its large number of competitors with the help of creative application
of social media as a marketing tool. The researchers tried to study the strategies used by truck
owners. It was seen in the results that the use of hashtags in the Instagram posts, live updates
in different platforms, wall maintenance in Facebook, scripted copywriting, paid
advertisement, mobile app and video production significantly helped in the growth and
success of the food truck business.
Role and use of social media
The industry of food services and catering is trying to maintain a healthier
relationship with social media platforms with every passing day. Companies providing food

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services or catering stay significantly active on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, etc.
along with the restaurants providing the food, in order to lure the waters and promote their
drinks and food (Andreassen et al. 2016). Social media is more and more used by these
service providers and restaurants as a marketing tool. It also works indirectly when the
customer of food service, upload food photographs and tag the location of the company in
their social media posts, they promote the name of the services as well as the restaurant.
Social media play a very important role in marketing for food services and catering
Even while preparing the foods and packaging the appearance of the food is
considered to make it photogenic. This is due to the hype of the consumers to make use of
social media and upload food photographs. Restaurants and food catering apps like
Deliveroo, Ubereats run their campaigns widely and actively all over the internet with the
intention of grabbing the attention of the crowd (Reddick et al. 2017). This becomes more
prominent during weekends, party occasions, festivals, etc. and helps to achieve the perfect
online promotion for the business. Food and Catering services have also benefited from social
media marketing by being able to collect the necessary feedback from the customers.
Andreassen et al. (2016) opined, feedback is an important aspect in the food industry it not
only helps the food services and restaurants to improve their quality of serving but good
reviews also help in attracting other customers. It is also an essential step to determine future
strategies regarding marketing.
Social media has a variety of uses in the food industry. To begin with, it is through
social media a food service or catering can reach out to millions of consumers who can be
potential customers. It is the biggest marketing platform for them. Sponsored posts or
advertisement in social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram more than often viewed
by a large number of viewers. Through the accounts of the services or restaurants in social
media platforms, it is possible to upload tempting pictures and videos of the option of food
offered by a business which in turn increases their sale and popularity (Ramanathan et al.
2017). When the social media account is friendly in its posts and responses, they promote an
overall image of being customer friendly which attracts more customers. Social media also
helps the business to understand its target audience and their demands through feedbacks and
their competitors in the market and all those evaluations help them make future strategies so
that they are able to work better.

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Figure 1: Customer reviews on social media plays a crucial role
(Source: Ramanathan et al. 2017)
Applications in the sector
The use of social media for food services and catering starts with setting up an
attractive account of the service or the restaurant in different social media platforms like
Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Kang et al. (2016) mentioned that through social media,
there is a chance to represent their business uniquely and also through the correct strategies,
the business can increase its visibility across the internet. Viewers on the social media love to
watch videos, therefore, using the different social media platforms the restaurant or the food
catering services are capable of uploading interesting videos of the presentation of the food,
simply a combination of a various number of foods. Videos that illustrate various tasty
looking foods psychologically affect the consumers for viewers to be more compelled or
willing to order food (Williams et al. 2016). This, in turn, increases the sale in the business.
Social media can also be used to create a brand image of the food services or restaurants by
conveying the little different things that make them different from the others.
Communication and engagement of customers with the services and restaurants
through social media will encourage more involvement of the customers and the number of

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orders. Such programs help in creating 'loyal customers’ who keep on coming back for the
services since they like the food and feel connected with the services or the place (Kato and
McKinney, 2015). It is also possible to reach a successful critic who would be able to help
out with the future strategies of the restaurants or the service providers. Social media
platforms can also be applied to display an advertisement about the services as they have the
chance to reach out to the widest section of customers.
Adoption issues
Incorporating and implementation of social media as a marketing tool in the business
of food services and catering have a large number of benefits. However, like other new
implementations in business, this too comes with certain adoption issues or challenges for the
business. The most significant issues faced by the business while employing social media as a
marketing tool arises when there is no coherent strategy made about how to go about with the
social media accounts to improve marketing (Boateng and Okoe, 2015). Additionally, if the
staffs are not consistently and frequently uploading posts or advertisements on social media
platforms, they can lose their popularity and visibility. Incorporating social media in the
business requires adding more communication channels for handling the accounts in social
media platforms. It results in an increased demand on the staff to look after the social media
account and take the necessary measures to spread the business through the social media
platforms. With the introduction of the use of social media marketing, it is required for the
business to change its branding and messaging that will be depicted through social media.
The ability of that staff or staffs in being spontaneous and friendly in their approach and
responses in social media plays an important role in the marketing of the service or restaurant
(Mills and Plangger, 2015). A lack of proper skills will not only take away the chance of
popularizing the business but can also create a bad impression on the viewers. Nagavarapu
and Sekhri (2016) argued that changing and creating a proper brand image of the business
can be tricky and go wrong if not handled properly. Giving proper training and guidance
becomes necessary for the food services to their staff for effectively working with this new
marketing tool.
Business drivers
Business drives are used to define the key actives or inputs in a business that results in
the key financial and operational outcomes of that business. They are called so as they 'drive’

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the business or helps in its growth and development. Social media platforms are one of the
most significant business drivers in the contemporary market. While using social media as
business drivers in the business of food services and catering, it rapidly promotes the brand
image of the services. When a new service or a new restaurant or even a new dish is
introduced in the business, social media can act as a wonderful platform that creates
awareness about the new product or service. Pagoto et al. (2016) added it has the capacity to
reach out to a larger number of potential customers at the fastest speed as compared to other
platforms with investing a very low cost. The goal is one of the factors that influence
business drivers which in turn help with the development of the business. Social media
advertisements or sponsored posts are composed in such a way that they help the business to
fulfil their goals. Hence, it come significant and effective business drivers in the business of
food services and catering.
Benefits and obstacles
Social media marketing has become the key element that helps in the success and
realization in markets for different business including food services and catering. The
benefits of social media are discussed below
● Increased awareness of brand- Social media is a cost-effective and fast way to
increase the visibility of a business. As it gives the chance to engage with a broader
audience platform, it significantly increases the recognition and brand awareness of
the business.
● Reaching out to customers outside the loyal circle- Without social media marketing,
the inbound traffic is limited to the usual customers of the services and catering
(Hamilton et al. 2016). But social media consists of different types of potential
consumers and with every advertisement or sponsored posts; it becomes easier to
reach out to those consumers.
● Better satisfaction of the customers- Social media is a communicating and networking
platform and when a food service or catering business opens up a social media
account, it tries to 'humanize’ that business. Kim et al. (2016) opined the customers
appreciate it when they receive personal responses to their posts or comments on the
account or page. This depicts a very attentive and customer friendly nature on behalf
of the service or catering provider. This is also one of the biggest reasons for an
increase in brand loyalty that helps in the development of the business.

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● Cost effective and fast- Social media is one of the most cost-effective and the fastest
method for promoting the brand image or for fulfilling the marketing goals for these
businesses like Uber Eats, Deliveroo and others (Singh et al. 2018).
However, every tool no matter how easy to handle or effective is bound to have
certain drawbacks. The obstacles that are faced by such food services and catering companies
had discussed. Social media helps the services and restaurants to study their competitor’s
strategies. However, this is the same for those competitors who can study the strategies of
that particular food service provider or restaurant leaving vulnerability. Social media cannot
give out quick returns as it is a long term investment (Williams et al. 2016). Additionally,
there is always a risk of negative information that might tarnish the brand image of the food
service and catering provider. Advertising or marketing through social media can also be
time-consuming in order to keep the viewers and customers attracted to the account and its
posts for increased sale.
Marketing through social media platforms for the growth of food services and
catering required innovative methods that would be better than other competitors to keep one
ahead in the market. Innovation has various challenges the most significant is taking the risk
which might result in a brilliant idea or send the business a step back (Angelidou and
Psaltoglou, 2017). Since social media is a large platform, any such risk runs the possibility of
ruining the image of the business and must be looked after very carefully.
Impact Analysis
Particularly among the millennial generation, it has become a norm to snap pictures of
the food before eating it in order to upload those pictures on various social media platforms.
Because of this, restaurants and caterers are trying to up their game in order to provide food
that is tasty and to be honest "Instagram worthy", meaning it looks good while presenting.
Presentation and plating are much more important when it comes to fine dining which is
more ‘chef-driven'. According to Gaspar et al. (2016), how the food is framed, directly
affects the photogenic qualities of those dishes and for that reason, restaurants are providing
more emphasis on presentation as well as the plates that they serve the food in.
Since the rise of social media has impacted the area of communication the most it is
easier for people to interact with others and share their views, opinions and experiences with
other people. Studies show that 47 per cent of the millennials use social media while drinking

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or eating out and the numbers are increasing day after another. The rise of social media has
meant that, more often than not, while eating out or ordering out we use our eyes to eat as
opposed to other senses. Numerous times when a consumer decides to order or eat out after
being influenced by posts and opinions on social media they tend to communicate their views
and experience through the same technology (Agostino and Arnaboldi, 2016). This is another
reason for the restaurants to provide quality service in the least amount of time and improve
their own reputation.
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
This study elaborated the substantial use of various social media platforms as
marketing tools by the restaurants. A considerable amount of interest can be found also on
that small food service and delivery service business who are yet to use the social media
platforms as a tool for promoting their business. The findings from this study support claim
that the components of social media platforms as a marketing plan or marketing tool is
growing in its importance. It is safe to say that not just for food delivery services or
restaurants but social media platforms can be considered as significant stage for every
business to enjoy a rise in the competitive environment as social media platforms provides an
important tool to seek out potential consumers along with the new ones for any business let
alone restaurants and food delivery services.
Although social media platforms provide cheap and easy platforms for a small
business such as restaurants and food delivery, there is a need to advance and pursue their
businesses within a competitive environment. Since Facebook is the most widely used social
media platform and apparently being cheap; it is easier for these restaurants and food delivery
services to promote their services and business through Facebook marketing. Rather than
traditional marketing, restaurants are emphasizing on the aspects of social media marketing
while sharing premises and food, offers and discounts to attract newer and an increased
number of customers. Evidently, the surge of social media platforms has increased customer
satisfaction with the introduction of the benefits of interacts with the consumers and
evaluating their responses and views regarding their experiences.
 Hiring dedicated personnel for social media marketing
Moreover, marketing, advertising and promotion on social media, along with being
comparatively cheap, is also less time-consuming. This is the reason why most of the
restaurants don't have dedicated personnel to take care of their presence on various social
media platforms. Zhang et al. (2017) argued that it is also true that hiring dedicated personnel

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to take care of their presence on various social media platforms will help these restaurants to
be more convenient and because of their convenience the number of potential customers will
grow. This will also help resolve any questions or queries of the general public that relates to
the services or the products offered by these restaurants and food delivery services. Nay, this
will improve the overall perspective and opinions of the people about the services provided
by the business. This will also help these restaurants to work hard in order to solve the
queries and issues of the general public and provide an improved quality of service.
Contextually, along with the improvements in the number of consumers and sales,
social media has a number of shortcomings as well. Various negative reviews on social media
platforms can often lead to multiple difficulties faced by restaurants. Customer service which
is not up to the mark, delayed service, missing food ingredients can all lead to negative
reviews (Hagberg et al. 2016). Offering apology or gift card may soothe the blow for a little
while but can cause a major blow to the reputation of the restaurant. Moreover, multiple
negative reviews may cause a decreased number of sales and consumers resulting in the
restaurant being out of business. However, there is no denying in the fact that social media
platforms have impacted the restaurant business quite positively with an increased number of
sales and consumers albeit with the help of sociable inexpensive platforms.
 Make a social media marketing plan
Every good business strategy starts with definite plans which are good. Social media
marketing for a small business such as restaurants and food delivery services is no different.
Without a definite plan, there is no way of knowing what the restaurant is trying to achieve
with their posts on various social media platforms. Hagberg et al. (2016) mentioned that
taking time to organize and prepare a particular plan for social media marketing from the
beginning will help reach specific business goals. For instance, having a specific objective to
increase the number of sales and consumers for the restaurants is more relevant than just an
increased number of likes on social media posts. Restaurants need to evaluate their
competitors, get to know who they are and what they need to do to be better than the
competitors. Although, copying the competitors may not be the most ideal thing to do but it is
always good to be aware of what they have done to achieve success and improve on those
strategies. Agostino and Arnaboldi (2016) added that a calendar for social media platforms is
also helpful in order to post the right content in the right social media platform to generate a
higher number of responses. Information on social media helps people to understand what to
order and what not to order judging by the experiences of other people. A restaurant can build
its reputation at a much faster pace instead of gathering word of mouth information which

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takes much more time It is also helpful to get inspiration from other areas of the business as
well; not just the restaurants but taking inspiration from other sectors can provide various
new ideas which may generate more responses.
 Know the target audience
It is also necessary to know which platforms are right for the restaurants to post their
contents on. Gaspar et al. (2016) discussed that different social media platforms can be used
to post different contents in order to reach different target audiences through which food
delivery services can reach different business goals. Knowing the target audiences is
important in order to figure out how to reach those target audiences. Through the help of the
detailed analysis of the current customers and the responses generated on various social
media platforms, it can be easier to understand and acknowledge the target audience of the
restaurant. It helps build a solid picture of who's buying, who's interacting on these platforms
and who may become potential customers (Gaspar et al. 2016). Then, revisiting the
aforementioned social media plans can help mould those target audiences into potential
consumers.
With the impact of the social media, it is easier for these restaurants to build a
relationship with their target audiences as the unique benefit of the social media marketing is
that one can directly interact with their target audiences through social media platforms. This
will definitely increase the number of target audiences which may later turn into potential
customers. However, it is also important for these restaurants to put more emphasis on quality
rather than quantity.

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