Your One-Stop-Shot List For A Restaurant Photoshoot

Professional imagery is one of the most critical assets a restaurant can invest in to drive bookings. It acts as a storyteller helping to define your brand through visuals and showcase your offering across your marketing channels including your website, newsletters, and social media accounts. We’ve all double-tapped a post from our favourite restaurant, shared it with our friends, or even booked a table without leaving the app as a result of drool-worthy content. Living in a digital world makes imagery crucial and we’re here to tell you exactly what images convert to bookings with our one-stop shot list for a restaurant photoshoot.

Firstly, it’s crucial to assess the platform on which the content will be shared. Different marketing channels have varying preferences for the type of content that generates the most audience engagement. Therefore, it’s important to consider these trends when producing content for each platform. For instance, Instagram’s algorithm tends to favour unscripted, natural-looking content, whereas Facebook ads tend to have better conversion rates when presented in a more polished, editorial format.

We then classify the list of shots based on four dependable marketing principles that form part of the marketing mix, often known as the 7 P’s.

Product – The tangible or intangible goods or services that your venues offer to customers, e.g. food, beverages, functions
Place – The space in which your product or service is distributed
Promotion – The various activities communicated to your customers, e.g. one-off events & weekly specials
People – The individuals and groups involved in the delivery of your product or service including employees and customers

This approach enables the photographer to efficiently work through the list in a logical sequence, maximising the use of their time and your resources. Additionally, it ensures that you obtain a variety of images that can be utilised for marketing campaigns over several months.

Shot list 

Product

Food

• Individual dishes – Get creative and help your photographer capture as many different scenes as possible giving you an array of images per dish to work with, e.g. staff dropping dish down at table, gliding a spoon through the dessert, staff pouring wine in background

• Flat lays – Spread a bunch of dishes across a table with cutlery and drinks in the frame, as if it’s a true dining setting, and take still shots as well as people eating the food as they would IRL

• Chefs plating dishes, e.g. pouring sauce over a dish, firing creme brulee, piping cream onto a dessert

• Raw food shots – Get the chef to showcase some of the fresh produce they are using, e.g. holding up a fresh fish, popping raw meat on the grill

Beverages

• Individual shots of the beverages, e.g. group of wines, tequilas, or beers from a brand

• Individual cocktail shots

• Group cocktail shots – Ensure to use a few different backgrounds and switch up the placement of cocktails so the images don’t look the same

• Classic cheers shot – Again ensure to do this in a few different settings, e.g. outdoor area in the sun or over your food flat lay

• Bartenders making cocktails behind the bar

Place

• Images of the dining areas, e.g. dining room, bar, alfresco area

• Quirky details of your venue, e.g. artwork on walls, decor, furnishings, neon signs

Promotion

• Upcoming events – Think about what events are coming up and if there’s any imagery you can use to promote it across comms, e.g. special dishes on the menu for a wine dinner

• Ongoing specials, e.g. pictures of margaritas to promote happy hour

• Functions – Showcase that your venue is perfect for group bookings, e.g. table configuration for a special event

People

• Customers dining in your venue – Ensure the people used match your customer avatar so it’s relatable to your audience (In the words of Seth Godin, “People like us do things like this”)

• Staff photos – Individual and group shots, both serious and more lighthearted

Bonus tip: Don’t forget to always incorporate the human element when capturing your images! There is often better engagement across marketing channels when there is a human element present, as it can help to create a sense of authenticity and relatability with your audience.

All imagery above taken by David Li for Kid Kyoto, one of our incredible clients serving up Japanese izakaya-inspired cuisine down Sydney’s Bridge Lane, CBD.