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On The Table Read, the “Best Entertainment Celebrity Magazine in the UK“, food blogger Nelli Tokleh shares what inspired the Dallas Food Nerds blog, and the work that goes into it from the contributors around America.
Written by Nelli Tokleh
Dallas Food Nerd – a geeky project from Dallas foodies
How We Got Started
Like most good stories, Dallas Food Nerd started around a table of wonderful food.
On Valentine’s weekend in 2011, two social mediaites (Elysa and Rory) were invited to go on a food tour of five fabulous Dallas dining spots, hosted by a major car brand and local restaurants. The couple spent the day restaurant hopping with several other food bloggers, indulging in chocolates and souffles.
While Elysa and Rory already had other blogs and many social media credentials on their virtual resumes, they felt like a food blog was definitely in order. What better way to share their love of food and drinks with others on social media? In that sugar coma filled afternoon, they purchased the Dallas Food Nerd website domain, created a logo and began promoting the new brand among their friends and the local food blogger community.
Sharing Our Passion For Food With Others
While Elysa and Rory founded the blog back in 2011, they quickly grew the group by adding a few friends and acquaintances who also shared a passion of food-related storytelling. You might even know someone like this yourself… those people whose cameras “eat first”! Our group of writers is now about 20 people, mostly living in Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas. (We’ll share more on the expansion later.)
As a community of people who share a love for food and storytelling, we review new restaurants and menus, test out kitchen gadgets, write product reviews. We tell our stories by writing blog posts, Tweets, Facebook posts, Instagram posts/stories, and lately, Instagram Reels, too.
Since the Dallas metroplex is one of the biggest markets in the U.S., you can imagine how many restaurants, food festivals and other events happen on a monthly basis.
Our writers live all over the metroplex and share the latest updates on what’s going on in their neighborhoods, plus recommendations on what to eat at new restaurants and old favorites.
Content Ideas
We work closely with marketing teams for a large variety of restaurants to promote their offerings, such as new menu releases, new store openings, annual food/wine/music festivals, product reviews and much more. When we are invited in by a restaurant and our visit is hosted, we always provide our honest reviews.
Our writers also share what they’re eating and where they’re eating around town too, often on their own time and dime. We like to post a mix of content to showcase food, drinks, events, etc. from all across North Texas, and in our other cities. From ice cream to wine flights, different cuisines and even some home cooking, we strive to cover a variety of appetizing content that’s interesting to us and our readers. We also leave our DMs open, as followers (both local and out of towners) often ask for restaurant recommendations. We are more than happy to share our suggestions!
Sometimes we also share what we are eating when taking a trip out of town. For example, recently Elysa and Rory visited Hot Springs, Arkansas to celebrate their wedding anniversary. They captured highlights from what they loved eating and drinking during the trip and posted an Instagram Reel about it. Further, I visited Las Vegas earlier this year and was excited to share some of the over-the-top drinks and high-end meals with our readers. They make for good Instagram pics, too!
Finally, when given the opportunity from area restaurants, we like to give away gift cards to our readers so they can experience what we are writing and photographing about. This typically get our followers really pumped about the content, and we ask they tag their friends for multiple chances to win.
Expanding the Food Nerds Group
Several Dallas Food Nerd writers have since moved to other cities across the U.S. but wanted to continue their hobby of food writing.
So, Dallas Food Nerd, or the general Food Nerds group, has expanded into the following markets: Houston, Texas; Miami, Florida; and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. We are so excited to grow our brand into these popular cities!
What’s next for us?
As we expand into new markets for our brands, we’re looking to grow our following and continue posting about our favorite food nerd experiences in the cities we live in. Some events we are looking forward to include Taste Addison (the original food and musical festival in North Texas) and the Pittsburgh Wine & Spirits Festival.
Connect with the Food Nerds
If you’re also passionate about all things food, please check out our Instagram pages:
@dallasfoodnerd: https://www.instagram.com/dallasfoodnerd/
@houstonfoodnerd: https://www.instagram.com/houstonfoodnerd/
@miamifoodnerd: https://www.instagram.com/miamifoodnerd/
@pittsburghfoodnerd: https://instagram.com/pittsburghfoodnerd
For more on our blogs, visit:
Dallas Food Nerd – a geeky project from Dallas foodies
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