London Pop-up Restaurant, The Picture House, Winning at Social Media

In Marketing, Michigan Creative, Photography by Brian Town

How often do you go on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram and see your feed littered with mouthwatering pictures of your friend’s meals? Usually I end up getting so hungry, I close my laptop and run to the pantry. Every time I eat out nowadays, it isn’t hard to spot half the clientele snapping pictures as soon as their food arrives.  Some upscale restaurants have went as far as banning instagramming your food in their dining area, but the United Kingdom based, frozen food company, Bird’s Eye seems to have figured a way to take full advantage of this ‘make your friends jealous and hungry fad.’

 

In London’s Soho district, Bird’s Eye is setting up a pop-up restaurant where customers will be served dishes made with their frozen meals. Now I don’t know about you, but if I were trying to eat out, I wouldn’t want to be paying for a frozen meal I can microwave at home. That is what makes The Picture House unique; you don’t even have to pay for your meal! Simply, when the check arrives, show that you have posted a picture of your dish on Instagram, using the #BirdsEyeInspirations tag and your meal is on the house! They even have a food photographer on staff to help you set up the most ‘drool-inducing’ photos for your friends!

 

At first it may seem like the worst business model ever; hire chefs, food photographers, rent out a restaurant, give away food for free? How can Bird’s Eye make any money off The Picture House? It is really more genius than it seems at first glance. Each tag on Instagram can reach hundreds, even thousands of hungry, potential customers and just maybe, if the photograph looks appetizing enough, they may pull a Bird’s Eye frozen meal off the shelf next time they are in the supermarket. This little stunt is part of a larger campaign to help shift Londoner’s impressions of frozen food, by showing them that you can still make a great tasting, beautiful dish from the freezer aisle. I think it might just work!

 

Until next time!

Josh