How Johnny Rosen Gained 13,000 Followers Reviewing Local Neighbourhood Eateries

Most young people wish they could do what Johnny Rosen is doing.?

Thanks to his popular Instagram food discovery page @Beaut.Food, the enterprising masters student travels across London, regularly dining at our capital’s best family-owned eateries. Today I sit down with Johnny to find out exactly how he’s done it, and what life’s like being one of the small food scenes most well connected entrepreneurs.

Now, if you’ve ever tried to build your LinkedIn following, you’ll know how hard it is. But for Johnny, growing a follower base is just another day at the office. I ask him, how did he end up building a popular page in such a saturated space?

“Well firstly, it started with a lot of failure. I knew I wanted to pursue my passion for food and business, so I started a wearable merchandise brand, called Curtis, that helped local eateries create apparel for their most passionate customers. A trend that’s emerged from the US and subsequently grown in popularity in the UK. I’ve seen people rocking restaurant merch tees from Strakers, Its Bagels in Primrose Hill and merch from Creme in Notting Hill. I reached out to restauranteurs, general managers and hospitality agents who I knew represented the businesses I wanted to work with.”

However, despite initially being met with enthusiasm, he found getting small eateries to engage with the process difficult.

“I think they liked my idea but just didn’t necessarily see it playing out in reality. Which I totally understand, as even though I knew I was on to something, they ultimately saw it as a risk. I knew I needed to build my credibility before they’d work with me.”

Johnny thought about how he could pivot and leveraging the considerable network he’d built up in the food scene along with his own social media know how decided to launch a restaurant discovery page. Having spoken to most of the top lowkey venues in London, he’d draw on this to break into the food review scene and build credibility.

“I’m a London native myself, having grown up in Little Venice, and I know every neighbourhood has it’s own unique personality. But, people tend to view London as this one entity or just unevenly divide it into North, East, South, West, and don’t have the time to properly explore each enclave. I knew if I could highlight London’s most happening food scenes, on a granular neighbourhood-by-neighbourhood level, I could bring a special insider insight to the social media space which I wasn’t seeing anywhere else.”

Quickly the page began to build up a loyal following. It’s steadily growing - now at 13,000. I ask Johnny, what is the secret to Beaut’s social media success?

“Growing my page has come down to a few key principles; Firstly, my core offering is genuinely useful, I help people explore the food culture of different neighbourhoods, while really getting into get into the mindset of chefs & restauranteurs, of what motivates them and what make food beautiful to them.?

I walk the streets of London and chat with locals to find out which are the best restaurants, what different cuisines are popular in this an area and what restaurants are due to open soon. People love to be in the know and my page allows them to do that.?

Secondly, @Beaut.food has a specific aesthetic that is clean, high quality and food focused. We’re borderline obsessive over this, having deleted tonnes of posts that didn’t fit. This look is unique to the page and it really helps us stand out in people’s feed”.

Thanks to this boots-on-the-ground approach, his professional network now includes many of London’s best culinary professionals. And it’s no small contribution to his engagement when this cohort of influential people engages with his content. This spikes the algorithm, boosting Beaut’s content even further.

I press Johnny on what he thinks are the core principles behind the growth of the page.

“At the end of the day, there’s no secret sauce; Beaut has a core offering that is useful and unique, I’ve posted consistently, done a lot of trial and error and focused on producing high-quality content with a strong aesthetic style.”

But after teasing out more in-depth strategies, Johnny reveals a few of his more bespoke methods of growing Beaut.

“I always ensure there’s a lot of promotion of our content from the restaurants we’re featuring. It makes sense their followers would want to become ours. I also spend a lot of time engaging on community pages, as people love to see their favourite local businesses posted about. What I really don’t do is become obsessive over engagement, I simply post what I love.”

The more I chat with Johnny, the more I realise that his devotion and love for food is the core driving force behind Beaut’s success. As our conversation begins to wrap up, Johnny tells me what’s in store for the future.

“We’re going to begin producing high-quality video content and potentially start doing some giveaways too. I think by diversifying our content offering we can attract a broader audience while retaining our core mission of championing the neighbourhood food scene. Other than that, I think building our relationship with our community is pretty high on the agenda.”

But despite all the grand plans, which of course all entrepreneurs have, Johnny assures me he does this because it’s his true passion in life.

“Obviously, it’s great building a following and making new relationships, but I genuinely do this because I love the London restaurant scene. I get to have some beaut meals, meet amazing people and just follow my passion.”

And I believe him. As with most businesses, I think this is the secret sauce to @Beaut.Food’s success. Johnny’s passion means he works hard, and produces content that blows people away. He is his own target audience, and that is where the magic happens.