Are you looking to up your restaurant or brewery’s social media content? We’ve put together a list of 15 mouth-watering video ideas to get more customers in the door.

Image via Mgg Vitchakorn

If you’re reading this, then you work for some type of eatery, cafe, or brewery — you lucky dog, you! You’ve been blessed by the content gods. You have boundless social media content to work with, from cheese pulls to latte art. There’s nothing we love more on our timelines than something delicious. Food has power. It’s emotional. And quality video content makes us crave those goods you’re serving up.

I bet you can easily bring to mind images of national pizzerias, fast food restaurants, or even local eateries you follow on social media – that’s because of the force behind their content marketing. Textures and smells can be portrayed through a screen if done correctly. Honestly, I’m getting hungry just thinking about it.

To inspire our local Denver food joints and breweries, we’ve put together this blog of video concepts to get your customers’ mouths watering. Videos are super influential in your industry. They create an experience for your followers versus photos that just share a still scene. Don’t get me wrong, photography has a lot of emotional and persuasive power. But when we watch videos, our attention and interest are tugged on in a way that places us into the action of your business place.

Videos of all kinds, including Instagram reels, stories, Tik Toks, and YouTube shorts, are a great way to build your company’s brand on social media and get more customers in the door. Not many eateries or breweries are creating videos for their socials, but it is the most preferred content online. Read: videos will set you apart from your competitors!

One of my latest favorite accounts that we follow on our business Instagram as of late is Mango Coffee. What makes them stand out is their quality content; it gives you that cozy feeling you get when you’re sitting in a local coffee shop. Click the image below to check out a quick IG reel they created of their pour-over coffee — mmm!

Take note of the impression it makes when you take the time to edit, add music, and even use a tripod for video content. Ultimately, your three prime focuses when creating videos to promote your business should be the video quality, creativity, and the value it adds. It speaks to the quality and trustability of your products, which is massively important in the food and beverage industry.

Especially as we get into the type of videos below, where you’re letting your customers peek behind the scenes, the video quality will elevate how your food and drinks are seen. In short, it’s worth the effort for the outcome! Now, let’s get into these video ideas.

15 Video Content Ideas for Restaurants, Cafes, and Breweries

1. Opening the Store

2. Whipping Up a Signature Dish

3. Making/Mixing/Pouring a Drink

4. Sourcing Your Ingredients

5. Finishing Touches

6. Opening a New Store

7. Creating Sidewalk Chalkboards or Menus

8. Customer Enjoyment

9. Food Prep / Process

10. Daily Specials / New Items

11. Team Member Spotlight

12. Catered Events

13. Local Weekend Markets

14. Special Visitors and Events

15. What Makes You Stand Out

1. Opening the store

Make an edit of you and your team opening shop. Flipping the lights on, setting up the dining space, or preparing display cases. It’s a great way to pop into your followers’ heads for the day and welcome them to come on in.

2. Whipping Up a Signature Dish

Do you have dishes that your customers constantly gush over? Create clips of you whipping it up. Maybe it’s fried cauliflower wings that you drop into your signature batter and fry to perfection. Or, maybe you’re a wizard at preparing those thin, crispy scallion pancakes – for real, how do you get them so flaky?

3. Making/Mixing/Pouring a Drink

We can all appreciate a delicious beverage, whether it’s a coffee, an ice-cold brewski, or a sexy mixed drink. Take us along for the making of them. How do you prepare, garnish, or pour it? Below you can see a bartender spraying on whiskey before they serve up this special drink — say what?

Image via Artem Pochepetsky

4. Sourcing Your Ingredients

This is an interesting one. Take us along for the ride of sourcing your ingredients. Do you scavenge through the woods for your own mushrooms? Or maybe you buy local ingredients. Let’s journey to the farm and meet who’s growing the food. Where do you source your coffee beans, chocolate, etc.? Not only is this unique and interesting content, but it can be a great way to set your business apart from others.

5. Finishing Touches

This is a cool way to promote dishes and drinks. How do you finesse those delicious works of art before they reach our table? Show your followers finishing touches by capturing a clip of how you garnish. Is it a squeeze of lime, sprinkle of sesame seeds, or a dash of spices? Do you use a culinary torch to caramelize or blacken? Let us see how those crazy skewers of lemon, shrimp, okra, and olives, come to life before they’re dipped into our bloody marys.

Image via Misunderstood Whiskey

6. Opening a New Store

A great way to promote the opening of a new store or location is to give your customers a look-see into the buildout. You could spotlight your team members who are helping to set up or showcase what type of equipment is being built and installed, like a wood-fired brick oven or brewery system.

7. Creating Sidewalk Chalkboards or Menus

A little time-lapse or fun edit is a unique way to promote your daily specials and spotlight the artist(s) behind your sidewalk chalkboards or menus. Seriously, I always wonder who are these people, and why are they so good?

8. Customer Enjoyment

Image via Alex Haney

As long as you get proper permission to grab clips of customers enjoying the heck out of your food, then what are you waiting for? Keep an eye out for customers’ own videos of them enjoying your food and drink, as well. This is a cost-free authentic “commercial” for your goods. You can get creative with it to promote something specific on the menu, like stitching together clips of multiple customers enjoying the same dish or beverage.

9. Food Prep / Process

I know it’s no easy thing to prep ingredients for service. Cooking for two at home can be tough, so I know commercial kitchens are doing some serious hard work behind the scenes. This type of content not only educates your viewers on the labor (and love) that goes into your dishes, but it’s also interesting to see behind the scenes.

We love Denver Vegan Van, and I can recall a clip they posted of them mixing what I could only call a vat of their (insanely delicious) house-made ranch. That was more than a year ago, but the video still sticks in my head.

10. Daily Specials / New Items

Clips of your specials and newly added items are primarily important for promotion. Use any one of the above types of videos to create an appealing clip to get customers in the door trying your specials or newest items.

11. Team Member Spotlight

Image via Benyamin Bohlouli

Spotlight members of your team with short videos. “Meet the team” content is often done with photos but show us your valuable team members in action. Are they serving up drinks or prepping our favorite appetizers? Ask them a few questions. It’s fun to see people’s mannerisms, hear their voices, and check out their style. Videos feel more personable, and those who already know your team members will love this, too!

12. Catered Events

Promote your catering services by taking videos of what an event catered by you looks like. What kind of setup, deals, etc., can someone expect if they hire you for their gatherings, parties, or meetings?

13. Local Markets

Does your business ever set up shop at a local market? Share videos with your customers of you setting up or customers perusing and enjoying the goods. You may even promote the market itself, featuring other vendors and local boutiques, to get more people to come out and enjoy the fun.

14. Special Visitors or Events

Image via Arturo Rey

Does your brewery or coffee shop ever feature food trucks or doggy food trucks (yes, those exist) out front? Give your followers a heads up with videos showing them what’s being served up. Or maybe you’ve partnered up with a nonprofit, food drive, or pop-up shop that’ll be sat out front.

Besides visitors, maybe you put on events annually, monthly, or weekly. Like Friday night karaoke, game night, or live shows. Videos are always the best way to bring these events and visitors to life for your online followers and welcome them to come and support.

15. What Makes You Stand Out

Finally, is there anything that makes your business stand out? Whether it’s big or small, you should consistently highlight what makes your company different. Do you donate a certain amount of proceeds to a charity or nonprofit organization — what does that look like? Perhaps you allow dogs in your business place (which is an attractive feature in a city like Denver). Maybe you have a hiring program for neurodivergent individuals or a Saturday morning yoga class for seniors.

Creating videos to promote what makes your business special is how you rise above others in your industry. It builds your brand and markets to your ideal customers with something that is authentically you. These types of things are how you build not just a customer base but a community of long-term supporters.

Final Notes:

The videos we featured in today’s blog are great ideas for social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, or Tik Tok. These could, however, be fleshed out into longer-form videos set for YouTube or a landing page on your website. But if you’re looking to create videos that focus more on professional branding and industry positioning, like brand videos, educational content, or interviews, we suggest hiring a video production company. Professional video quality is essential for promotional videos that you feature on your website or in an ad campaign.

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to our team. We’re here to help!

Do you need to create high-quality video content to promote your business on your website or socials? We’d love to hear about your needs and give you a project estimate! Click the button below to get started.

NOBLE BISON PRODUCTIONS

A DENVER VIDEO PRODUCTION COMPANY

BROADCAST COMMERCIALS - MUSIC VIDEOS - BRAND VIDEOS - FILMS - ANIMATION & MOTION GRAPHICS - DRONE FOOTAGE - BRAND VIDEOS - WEBSITE BANNERS - SOCIAL MEDIA VIDEOS - CORPORATE VIDEOS- DEMOS - EXPLAINERS

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