The topic of whether restaurants should prevent their diners from photographing food arises regularly. Now Michelin star restaurant chef Heston Blumenthal has attracted attention with the new photograph policy in his restaurants.
While most diners would think that any and all photographs taken of a restaurant’s dishes would be to the benefit of the establishment, a wonderful form of free marketing, it appears that restaurant chefs are nervous about the photographs, and whether they present their dishes in the correct light! Other diners are irritated when a flash is used for the photographs.
The downside of course is the dreadful quality of photographs one sees on Social Media platforms, in a yukky yellow/green when photographed at night, in poor light, such as those taken by TwEATCritique. Few restaurants cater for Bloggers, Tweeters and Facebookers in providing a well-lit area for photography, and the resultant photographs do the restaurants a disservice. In our experience restaurants will make a plan to find a well-lit spot if one asks them, understanding the value of the coverage they receive from their paying patrons’ Tweets, Blogposts, and Facebook posts. Tokara Restaurant is particularly amenable in bringing dishes to a well-lit counter of the dining area.
Blumenthal has banned flash photography in his The Fat Duck and other restaurants, and requests his patrons to not get up and shift the plates around to get the perfect shot. He has been preceded by Chef Alexandre Gauthier of La Grenouillere in France, who has banned photography completely, on the grounds that the patrons use the photographs to brag about their Michelin-star meals, rather than appreciating what they are eating!
Mexican restaurant El Burro in Cape Town has gone the opposite route, with its #dinnercam, ‘a small, portable photo studio’, which offers lighting options for the perfect Instagram photographs.
Restaurants should be grateful for the free publicity they receive in Blogposts, Tweets, and Facebook posts, and should make it as easy as possible for their patrons to photograph their beautifully plated dishes!
Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com Tel (021) 433-2100, Twitter:@WhaleCottage Facebook: click here
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I think it may have something to do with the stealing/borrowing of ideas as well.
Valid point Ryan, which I did not think of while writing this post.
In the era of Social Media, dishes will never be
‘secret’ anymore!