Revealed: Chefs’ social media habits

In an annual report of 200 chefs, 98% of those asked said they saw the value of social media, 86% claimed they used it to generate positive reviews and a third said they look for new suppliers.

Chef proprietor of Rocksalt restaurant and bar in Folkestone, Kent, Mark Sargeant, said: "Social media has taught chefs the value of marketing and how it can benefit and support their business and their careers."

Easier marketing tool​

Sargeant, who has also taken on the Duke William pub in Kent, added: "It's a much easier marketing tool for them to use. It's simple, instantaneous and on most occasions, an easy win."

The majority of the almost 250,000 chefs in the UK check their social media accounts up to seven times a day.

Half of those asked said named Twitter and Facebook among their preferred social media platforms.

Anita Murray, joint CEO of William Murray Communications, said: "We commissioned this research to find out how and why chefs use social media.

"We've seen a major shift in the past couple of years, with 98% of chefs understanding the value of social media, we have a huge opportunity to provide valuable content that helps them increase sales, footfall and generate positive reviews."

Want for video content​

Other statistics from the research included 50% of chefs wanted to see video content, they pay attention to images, hashtags and trends and looked for recipes.

Those asked said they also wanted to see more recruitment (57%), photos (30%), trends (23%), recipes (15%) and new jobs (10%) on social media.

Chefs also used social media to increase sales (46%), increase footfall (52%) and to gain positive reviews (86%).