I've worked with dozens of local restaurants on their Instagram presence. The same mistakes come up every single time.

1. You're posting food photos with bad lighting.

Natural light only. Shoot near a window between 11am-2pm. Your phone camera is fine — the lighting is what matters.

2. Your bio says nothing useful.

"Best food in town 🍕" tells nobody anything. Include: what you serve, where you're located, and a link to your menu or ordering page.

3. You post once a week (or less).

The algorithm buries accounts that post inconsistently. Minimum 3x/week. Stories every day. Reels twice a week.

4. You're not using local hashtags.

#food has 500 million posts. Nobody's finding you there. Use #[yourcity]eats, #[yourcity]foodie, #[neighborhood]restaurants instead.

5. You have no call to action.

Every post should tell people what to do next. "Link in bio to reserve a table" or "DM us for catering" — give them a next step.

Most restaurant owners are too busy running the kitchen to run an Instagram page. That's exactly why I started Zeocred — we handle the entire digital presence so you can focus on what you do best.

If your restaurant needs more customers walking through the door, let's talk.