5 Essential Instagram Post Topics for Every Restaurant
Struggling to come up with original Instagram post ideas for your restaurant? If you build a solid set of content pillars—a fancy way of saying topics—you’ll always have a set of ideas to turn to for inspiration.
Below I’m sharing the top 5 Instagram content pillars that every restaurant needs to include in their feed. I’ve included some quick thought starters for each topic to help you get the inspiration rolling. You can get even more inspiration in our free Instagram Playbook for Restaurants—a Canva planning template that walks you through the steps to streamline your whole content creation process.
Restaurant Instagram Post Idea 1:
Your Food
This is the obvious one—Instagram is all about that food photography. Beautiful hero shots of your food and beverages are guaranteed to get you the most views and likes—this is the foundation of every great restaurant social media feed. You need to photograph your dishes at the most flattering angle with consistent backgrounds and environments. But try pairing your visuals with more compelling stories about each dish. Consider these thought starters when you write about your menu:
Did the recipe come from a family tradition?
Is it connected to a specific location or country?
Is there any special ingredient, technique or preparation in this dish?
Who would enjoy eating this dish? What is the customer type that it is designed for? Someone who is an adventurous eater? Someone who is vegetarian?
Restaurant Instagram Post Idea 2:
The Environment
You want to give your Instagram audience a sense of what it would be like to step inside and dine with you. You should share photos of the restaurant’s interior and exterior, especially any special details that are custom to your space. Include wide-angle shots that show a full house and lively, bustling atmosphere. Consider these thought starters when you write about your environment:
A special piece of art
Unique ceramics, textiles or tablewares
Special custom made furniture and talk about its maker
Talk about the architect or interior designer you worked with
Detail shots of kitchen tools
Restaurant Instagram Post Idea 3:
Your Staff
It’s important that you share the stories of the people behind the restaurant. Include portrait shots paired with a story about their experience or specialty. Bring your guests into the action with posts about:
The owner/chef behind the restaurant. Share their personal story, current favorites or any other personal tidbits to help customers connect
Pour-shot of a bartender in action
Servers carrying plates or interacting with customers
Kitchen action shots
A staff member’s favorite item on the menu
Our Instagram templates are designed especially for restaurants to help you tell better stories.
Restaurant Instagram Post Idea 4:
Your Guests
Not only are your guests your biggest fans, they want to connect with you online as well. A great way to build engagement is to share their testimonials or repost their photos—with permission of course. Other ways to spotlight your guests include:
Show guests celebrating a special occasion at your restaurant—birthday, anniversary, etc.
Customer portrait with description in their words of their favorite dish
Post a poll asking what customers would like to see on your menu for a certain season or holiday
Restaurant Instagram Post Idea 5:
Your Community
Every restaurant is an ecosystem of vendors, farmers, specialists, neighbors and beyond. Share stories about the community you are a part of as well as any community organizations you support. Think about posts that include:
Farmer, producer and vendor stories
Photos of a farm or location where an ingredient is grown or made
Stories of other businesses in your neighborhood
Share donation drives or events for special causes
Promote environmental and sustainable solutions you are using in your kitchen
Our templates help you design beautiful graphics that match your style and enhance your restaurant’s Instagram feed.
Bonus Restaurant Instagram Post Ideas:
Holiday
Plan out all your holiday special menu and events post for the year. It is important to have these posts ready to roll out well ahead of time. Think about Valentine’s, Mother’s Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas and have a rough game plan of what you will do for each at least 2 months in advance so you can start promoting them early and often.
Special menu and event graphics
Keep graphic designs simple and engaging. Busy graphics with too much text don’t perform well on Instagram. Make sure your visual style is consistent across them all.
Share images of new menu or special menu items with simple text to let people know it is something new!
I hope these tips inspired some new ideas for your restaurant’s Instagram posts. If you are looking for more inspiration, check out these free resources:
