Burnt Hands Perspective
This is a raw and unfiltered look into the state of the restaurant industry as a whole, powered by longtime friends Chef/Owner Antonio Caruana and former bartender turned News Anchor/TV Host Kristen Crowley.
Representing all aspects of the industry from the front to the back of the house we will dig into the juiciest stories and pull from decades of experience in one of the sexiest and most exciting industries in the world...the food and beverage industry.
From international chefs, sommeliers, industry pros, and so much more, this show will cover all of it without a filter. You turn up the volume; we'll turn up the heat.
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Burnt Hands Perspective
Influencers in Food: Growing Your Social Media Following While Keeping It Real with Stormy Blue
We welcome social media influencer Stormy Blue [ hey #StormChasers }and her to discuss her journey from accidental content creator to trusted food and event authority in Hampton Roads, VA, and how she balances authenticity with responsibility in her platform of over 150,000 followers.
This episode will touch on everything from growing your brand to how restaurant owners should utilize influencers to grow their local reach the RIGHT way.
Stormy answers all of our questions in this convo, including:
• How she started on TikTok during COVID, reviewing wines based on "how many glasses it took to get lit"
• Transitioning to food content when a casual brunch post went viral
• Building a platform over five years and what it takes to keep it going
• Choosing not to post negative reviews, and how she gives direct feedback to restaurant owners to help them improve
• How she vets businesses before promoting them by checking their social media and existing reviews
• Carefully balancing monetization with authenticity to maintain trust
• Selecting food trucks for the Cousins Festival in Norfolk, VA
• Revealing she is learning electric guitar, and her real name is actually Stormy
• Favorite cuisines and rapid-fire fun questions with Chef Tony and KC
This is a GREAT episode for the wanna be influencers out there who give the others a bad name in the food and beverage business. Tune in, turn up the volume, and we will bring the heat!
SMASH that subscribe and help us grow the show and continue to bring real conversations to light about ALL aspects of the industry and what makes it so amazing!
If you enjoyed this episode, please follow Stormy on Instagram at @_stormyblue and TikTok at @StormyBluee to keep up with the Hampton Roads food scene and more!
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*The views and opinions on this show are meant for entertainment purposes only. They do not reflect the views of our sponsors. We are not here to babysit your feelings, if you are a true industry pro, you will know that what we say is meant to make you laugh and have a great time. If you don't get that, this is not the podcast for you. You've been warned. Enjoy the ride!
All right, here we are with the local legend yet? We're working on it. Chickens, look, brought me out of the uh she's the one who wanted to have a drink today, which is wonderful.
SPEAKER_01:And there we go.
SPEAKER_02:You're good.
SPEAKER_01:All right, so should we start it out while you're taking a sip? And uh, hey storm chasers. Hey Storm Chasers, there we go.
SPEAKER_02:We all know it.
SPEAKER_01:If you don't know her, now you should. So we're excited to have you on.
SPEAKER_02:We are excited to have you on. So a lot of people hear me. I'm vocal on this uh podcast. We talk about the restaurant industry at all levels, back of the house, front of the house, all that good stuff. And um, we're opinionated and we have our we have our thoughts, like anybody should. So when it comes to influencers, um that's a that's a roller coaster ride for me and for us. Yeah. Uh, and I was and I was talking to Storm about it at the beginning here. We were talking about how, why, why it kind of was hard for me at the beginning to accept, you know, because at the beginning of this, we didn't have influencers. It wasn't there. It's almost like I uh I was bitter because it wasn't fair. How do you get to do this and that?
SPEAKER_01:And we didn't that quickly without you know the word. Yeah, there's there's a lot of different sides to it. And because we like to cover everything in the industry, and you cover really most of the new places that open, you get to see things before they happen. So it has become very influential on where people dine based on what you share with them. It's I mean, it's been an incredible journey. So seeing you start, how how long ago did you start when you started your this, what the account is now, I guess?
SPEAKER_00:Um, I would say four to five years ago. I want to say TikTok five years ago and then Instagram four years ago. Okay. And then I want to say that I started kind of taking it serious a bit and being consistent, maybe like three years ago. Wow.
SPEAKER_02:So when you when you got into it, were you in were you working on social media branding or and or did you really just get into the food right away because you you found it exciting? How how did you get into the food and the and the critiquing like that?
SPEAKER_00:So actually, um, I started when I started on TikTok, it was just fun during COVID. I was actually doing like funny skits and like just dumb stuff, and then I actually was wine reviewing. So I would go like total wine, grab a bottle of wine, and basically rate how many glasses it took to get me pretty lit. Like, that is a great concept. This is amazing.
SPEAKER_02:You just lit up this whole room. I'm happy now.
SPEAKER_00:A lot of people don't know that, but yeah, I would just go grab a wine and then I'd do like here's me after one drink, and then three drinks and then.
SPEAKER_02:You are a legend. We have a legend here now. It's a dun.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:So you had a you had a show, you your reviews were on how you were reviewing it.
SPEAKER_00:Like, how's the woman like you? And I would say, like, okay, so this is like 15%, but it don't taste like that strong, which is good. So you can drink this with all kinds of things, and after about three glasses, you're feeling right, you know.
SPEAKER_02:So every bottle was good at the end, basically.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, basically took the end, they were good, you know, the higher the percentage. So that was fun. And then when I started getting into um food vlogging, it was actually by accident. I honestly just went out with some friends to brunch and I just posted my day, like, oh yeah, I'm in Norfolk and this and that. And it just went viral, and people were like, Oh my gosh, like someone's in this area doing this, because at the time there was a lot of people in like LA, New York doing stuff like that. So they were like, someone's doing it. Can you post more places?
SPEAKER_02:Well, you say there was a lot in comparison to then there was a lot, but in comparison to now, there was very little, right? Compared to what's going on now with this. Every time you turn on Instagram social media, somebody's uh saying something about somebody. Yeah, but and it's not fair to say that either because everyone has to get their start somewhere. Yeah. So so it's kind of like uh you gotta be careful what you say and what you do.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_02:You know what I mean? For me anyway, it has to be because I'm I'm a chef and I provide the service, and people come in here, and now I'm getting to the point where a year ago, when we started this journey, I even have different thoughts. And that's through talking directly to influencers who have a passion for it, and you have a skill set, and you also have a palette and you know what's good, and and you you look at a venue, you can tell what's good. So it took me meeting people like you and a couple other people like you to open up my eyes because I do try and keep an open mind, you know. So it's only it's close to open it up. So I'm always learning. So I really learned to accept now what's going on. As before, I was kind of closed-minded to it where I was almost in a defense mode from it, right? Well, now talking to you and seeing what's going on, it's almost essential. You know, if I'm putting out great food, or if anyone out there is putting out great food or great drinks or a great venue, and you're gonna take your time to go see it, that's the new food critic. That's the new um that's the new critiquing.
SPEAKER_01:Like the evolution of media, because I mean, like you said, old school food critics had paper and pen, and they came in and they dined and they took notes, and now, and I we've talked about it when we did, we did talk about influencers in the very beginning of the show, but I was talking about digital Darwinism, where it's the digital world is evolving faster than we really can keep up with. So everybody has to evolve at a pace that no one is used to. So it's kind of like the wild, wild west like, okay, who can get it out there faster and who can do it? So it's different now, dude.
SPEAKER_02:And the hardest part about it is there's so much changing around food culture, except for the process and the food itself.
SPEAKER_01:How to make it, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:How we have to make it, how we have to cook it, and how it gets put on the table is still the same as it started. So, with all this new stuff happening and all this new people coming out and everyone coming out because of it, sometimes it gets hard because we can't put the food out fast enough for these people who want. So if you put out a really good review of what you do, yeah, people come in and they swarm in. And it's hard because now we're trying to live up to what it is you said. We want to make sure your word stays straight. And we also, of course, want to make sure our words stay straight. So the people just need to understand a little bit the process of trying to keep up with cooking the food is still the same. So we can only make so many pans of food at so many times. There's only so many burners, right? So it's so it's an amazing thing. So when people come in and do a good review, it feels good.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:The thing I haven't noticed is nobody does a bad review. You think somebody would go viral if they actually went out to the city?
SPEAKER_01:They do, they just tend to go to Yelp and Google and do the right for their one star, which we've done on the show before.
SPEAKER_02:So, what do you feel about that? If you have a review that you wanted to go do and it's not high, I know you have to be careful what you say because you don't want to ruin somebody. Yeah, right. Um, are you worried about it in are you worried about your reputation as well if you say something wrong, or is it more about the the person you're reviewing? You just kind of want to leave them to be. How does that work?
SPEAKER_00:I guess I more so I want to leave them to be. And also, I mean, no one wants to be the bad guy, right? And I think like that is a part of me. Like, I it's all about what I can tolerate and how I can sleep at night. And I personally don't have no interest in going to somebody's business, trying it out. If it's gross or disgusting, our service wasn't whatever, um, I have no business on smearing that business to say, oh, this was bad, this sucks. Like, I don't have to post it. It's something that you don't have to do. Right. Um, and I think that it, you know, there are content creators that do do that, and that's you know, fine, but for me, it's just not something I'm interested in.
SPEAKER_02:Do you think there's a lot of creators out there who don't like something but are just saying they do to like it and giving a false report too?
SPEAKER_00:Oh yeah, for sure. I believe that.
SPEAKER_02:Because they want content no matter what and they don't want to waste their time or um, I mean, there's a lot of levels to it, right?
SPEAKER_00:So, yes, there could be content creators that are just lying, you know, whether they were paid for the review and the promotion or whatever the case may be. Or there's times where as a content creator, that is their true experience, right? Like if I'm a content creator and I'm invited to a business, odds are yes, the business probably did put their best and they're all into it. So as a content creator, that is my true experience. My food was good, my service was good, everything worked out. But it's unfortunate for the people that aren't content creators, and then they end up going to the spots and the places under deliver. And so that's a problem that I had very early on. That's a good point. That's a good way to put it.
SPEAKER_02:That's a good way to put it. So I didn't think about that side of it, is that you will get called to come in, they will put on the show, and now your words on the line because someone's gonna go tomorrow. Exactly. And they're not gonna live up to it.
SPEAKER_00:So I had to do start to like vet the businesses. Like I had to start as I grow more and I understand the power of my word and what I say, like, you know, each business I post actually is a representation of me, you know, and to my followers. So I had to start being careful with the businesses I go to, you know. Like I can't just go to every business. And so I had to start like any business that reaches out to me, I vet them. I go look at their socials, I go read their reviews, I go see how you are already treating people as a business without me. That's important. Because odds are if you're already having good reviews and a good standing, which you're already clientele, that means when I do promote you, if everything works out, then you're probably gonna keep that same consistency. Even though it might get busy, like you said, and you might get a little crazy, odds are you're going to keep that integrity.
SPEAKER_02:And reviews are really hard to go on because I know the level we do, I know the level we provide. I know some nights can get busy, and I know some nights are are perfect. So, but what what I don't know is the capacity or capability of who wrote that review on Yelp, the individual, in understanding what it is even we provide in the first place. Or are they even used to this type of setting? Do they realize that yes, it's going to take you an hour to eat here? I don't know why you're complaining because that is what we do. We sell that. So if people don't understand where it is they are or what they are eating, that that becomes difficult on the individual reviews on the Yelps. And I do feel like Yelp with the Yelper, elite Yelpers who have a thousand reviews and stuff, 900 of them are negative. You know, so are they out looking for a negative review? I'm not sure. But you on the other hand, you're out looking for the other stuff. So how did this build now? You said you did it for five years?
SPEAKER_00:Uh yes.
SPEAKER_02:Five years. And the last three is when it really kind of took off. So was that a was that an algorithm thing for you, or do you feel, or was it just constantly going after, going after, going after?
SPEAKER_00:Um, I think a little bit of the algorithm, but also I think how intentional I was with it. So again, like for two years, I was kind of just posting here and there, just kind of doing it as more so like a hobby in a sense, of just like, you know, okay, I'm just gonna post when I post and it's fun, it's something to do. And then once I was doing it for a couple years, then at that third year mark, um I was like, you know what, let me like start to just like I see something's here, I see my following's growing, I see the people are actually wanting what I'm putting out. So let me just go ahead and just try to kick it up a notch, right? So then I started posting more, and then it from there just was growing, growing, growing, you know. So I I kind of just let um the storm chasers and I kind of just let my platform guide me to what it is that I need to be doing, versus like just solely focusing on followers. Like, I actually don't think there was a moment where I was like super focused on my following. It was more so about the quality I'm putting out and how my followers react to me, um, which kept me going and naturally growing my platform.
SPEAKER_02:So, and it's hard. I mean, you do get caught up in that path of looking at the followers.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:And when they don't, and when you go through those plateaus of where they just don't grow, you get I do it. And you get you just almost want to say, you know what, let me just get back to for me, let me just get back to.
SPEAKER_01:Why am I doing this? Exactly.
SPEAKER_02:My followers come through my door, my pet restaurants pack, luckily every night. Um, both of them. So I guess that's where my followers are coming. So I get frustrated and I step off, and then I get I go back to it. Yeah, but it's not easy growing that platform. You have to put a lot of work into it, and you have to not only do that, you have to really learn this the platforms you're dealing with. That's a whole nother education in itself. Trending, what's trending, what they're doing to put out, how they're expecting you to grow and playing that game. That that must be intense as well.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:It is a lot. I mean, I try sometimes. I take breaks, like sometimes I might post more, and then all of a sudden I might go MIA for like a week. It's really just about uh my mental capacity and what I want to do. When I started, when I started growing, growing to where I was like at 30,000, 40,000, um, I had a lot of anxiety that was there because all of a sudden you go from the bigger you get, the more critiques you get yourself. You know, all of a sudden it goes to, oh, this is cool that you're doing this X, Y, and Z. And then it just goes to like hate at times or like critiques on how I'm doing things or what I'm saying. And so I started getting a lot of anxiety about that, and then losing followers or gaining followers or figuring out like all this stuff. So I had to take a step back a little bit and focus on myself. And then after a while, once I continue to grow, I said, you know what, I'm just doing this for the storm chasers. I'm doing this because I like to do it, I'm helping businesses, and whatever people say, it is what it is. So there is when it comes to content creation, especially for full-time content creators, it's a job and it's a hard job because your employers become thousands of people versus one employer. And I don't think people look at influencing as entrepreneurship. And honestly, that's what it is. And it's entrepreneurship because if you lack in content and lose followers or you're not getting the engagement, you possibly could lose out on brand deals, sponsorship, money, right? Like content creators are especially full-time, they're trying to make money. So now you're at the I don't know, you're just relying on your following base to basically I don't know, they just control everything and support you, you know, and people don't look at that. So then that's why you start to see certain content creators that when they're full time and stuff, now they're doing anything, they're posting anything and they're doing all this stuff, and that's because they have to upkeep, they have to upkeep their platform because the moment you don't upkeep it, the moment you lose out on opportunity. So it is like a hard mental thing to struggle with and deal with.
SPEAKER_02:There's been times where I got tired of it a lot of times, and I and I backed out and focused more on cooking because the more I was focused on that, I was losing focus in cooking. Because it takes the same amount of it takes the same amount of energy. Yes, creativity is creativity, right? So a lot of times I'll create in the kitchen and then I'll post it without having any thoughts, and then I'll get a crazy amount of likes on something I didn't even intend or followers or something. You know, I'll get 20,000 views on something I didn't even expect to be interesting. I just put it out there for what you're saying just to keep the thing moving. And all of a sudden that's what it is. So I try and change, I try and do that again, and I'll get up 500 views on it. It's just crazy to me. So sometimes it takes a lot of patience.
SPEAKER_03:It does.
SPEAKER_02:You know, it's part of the game, and and to put full force into what you're doing is why you get into where you're going. But also you're learning, and I can tell as I've watched you and grow as a chef anyway. Um, I know you said you uh you like to talk to me because I'm a chef, so you get to see my point of it. So from my point of view to seeing you is you growing as a more palatable food person, right? Like I had you tasting my sauces before, because I know you go out and you taste things now. So you're tasting so many things now, you're gonna eventually know what's right, what's not good, what's good, what's not good, what could hold up in the market, what can't. You you're you're putting yourself out there after five years and all these followings and all these reviews to be able to be a voice, you know. And and though you may not be a chef, I I'm not trying to cook that sauce for chefs. I'm trying to cook it for people who want to eat it.
SPEAKER_03:Yes.
SPEAKER_02:So you don't have to be a chef to know how to eat.
SPEAKER_03:Yes, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:And if if you want to eat, that's my point. I'm a chef for you. You like to eat, I'm gonna cook for you. So you're you like to eat, you like to test, you like to taste. That's why I asked you to do it. So I'm getting that confidence, or I have that confidence in you to ask you what you feel about my sauces, you know. Whereas other people I wouldn't really ask because I I don't, I'm I'm not sure they have what it is I'm looking for right now. Yes, you can taste it, it tastes good. I'm looking for more. I'm looking for education in that in that.
SPEAKER_00:That's a blessing and a curse, you know, because I've been to so many businesses in the area. A lot aren't even still standing, you know. It's been years, right? So I've been to so many places that it's kind of hard to I almost lose interest at times because I go to a place and it could be good, but it's hard because I've had so many lamb chops in the area, you know, like you're the 30th lamb chop that I've had, you know, and so my mind is just like, uh, it's it's not it's good, but it's not beating X, Y, and Z, you know? Oh, it's not five. It's like hard, yeah, it's like hard to kind of gauge when you go to so many places. So, you know, and then at times, I don't know, and then at times, like for example, like I recently went to a business and everyone wonders, like, you always say everything's good, you don't ever post bad things, and that's because I went to a business, right? I had their food, I didn't think it was the best representation. And I had an honest conversation with that owner, told them my problems that I feel like I had with the dish, and I said, I cannot post this, you know, because it's it's lacking X, Y, Z, and just my opinion, you know. But I understand that you're a new business. I understand that uh, as you know, being in the industry, there's cook rotations because he was already explaining to me different things about that. So I just, you know, will say, hey, like it's okay. Maybe this is off time, maybe this is off day, you know, maybe in a couple weeks or a couple months, I'll see you again. You know, I don't have to go out and post that review to try to smear them. Instead, let's have a productive conversation. And because I've gone to so many places, I can tell you things that I've seen and witnessed, and maybe it helps.
SPEAKER_02:So what's your what's your um when you get this hate, you're talking about the hate kind of what is the biggest critique on the hate end of it? What are most people complaining about when they're sending you this hate stuff?
SPEAKER_00:Is it more personal? The places I post are trash, um, the food is nasty. Um, I don't know food, I don't my palate. I disagree.
SPEAKER_02:I've never seen you post stuff that wasn't that didn't look that didn't look good. And I didn't I've never seen you post something that was like uh you're just trying to get by.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:You know what I mean? I think that everything you post is right along the same lines. I will say I have seen you sound a lot more enthused about some than others, but it doesn't mean the ones you're not as enthused about are bad.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it uh you know, I love that you bring that up. And actually, I appreciate you for being so um observing of that, you know. And these are things that I hope that is coming across in my platform, right? That I do, I am consistent. Any place I post, I believe in the place. There's the food looks good. I think it's something worth posting. But when it comes to the enthusiasm, over the last months and I would say last year or two, I've had to kind of be careful with how enthusiasm I sound in something. Because if I was to sit here, right, I I know my platform and my followers. If I was sitting here and say everything is fire, oh my gosh, you guys gotta go here, this and that, it it's a whole different level than before when I was at like 10K, 15K followers. So if I was to hype up every place and be so enthusiastic and extreme, then people are just gonna like go crazy, right? And it's a good place.
SPEAKER_02:And they'll start to doubt you in time.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, like if I say everything is just crazy and I'm so excited, oh my gosh, oh my gosh. So I do, for example, think I think this place is a good place to go to. Like you guys should check it out. The food was good. And then there's some places where I'm like, yo, this is incredible, you know, and I think that holds more weight than trying to say every place is incredible. Because then when I do have that, then people are like, okay, I gotta go.
SPEAKER_02:And you're not a sure, you're not a chef saying that you're a common person, a common eater, a diner saying it. So that that gives hope to people because they don't feel intimidated by the chef palette, you know, because it's easy if I'm a chef and I go so to any of my friends, so where do you go to eat? I don't really tell them because first of all, I don't really have specific places. Um but I don't like to tell them anyway because you may not you may be surprised on what I like and don't like.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, you always taste this different, like you guys have that different palette where something I try is gonna be way different.
SPEAKER_02:And everything that I'm going out and eating and enjoying may not be as elaborate and as friggin' mystique as you think it is. I'll tell you where a good burger is, too. I want to eat breakfast for lunch. I mean, I'll go get a crappy sandwich and I want to eat an oyster po' boy. So, you know, I'll I like if I want to go get a five guy sandwich, I will. I mean, it everything that I say is good doesn't mean it's good because I'm a chef.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:If if you ask me where the best steak is around, I'll tell you where I think a good steak is. But that's a good steak. Now, are you talking about the presentation, the swirling, the plating, the micros, all that stuff? Uh, what type of food are you talking about? If you're asking me where to go get a good steak, I'm just gonna tell you where to go get a good steak. And you might go there and be like, What? He's supposed to be some big chef and he sends us hair? Yeah, because I want a good steak, and it just to me, this is a good steak.
SPEAKER_03:Exactly.
SPEAKER_02:You didn't ask me where the most elaborate steak was, or where can I go get the most expensive, refined piece of meat? You didn't ask me that. You asked me, well, where's the best place a chef goes for steak? Right there.
SPEAKER_00:And people forget, like, every, like, all it is, is it's an opinion. That's it. Like when I give my review, it's an opinion. It's my palette, it's what I like. And I also always order things that I like. And you know, sometimes I had like I order, I don't, I'm not the biggest fan of tomatoes. Like, I'll eat them, but it's not my go-to. I don't like mayo, so I don't like a lot of mayo sauces. This is just my palette and something that I've always been. So I have people when I order stuff my way, people will be like, Well, why'd you even order it if you're gonna alter it and you're gonna change it? And I say, Because I'm ordering it to my liking on how I like it, in order to your liking and how you like it. And I ordered it and it was good. It was very good to me. You know, so I think that again, it's just my opinion. And I my goal is just to show people places in the area, and my goal is to uplift the 757. That's it. And off of my going here, I thought the service was good. I think it looks nice, has a nice aesthetic. You know, I'm all about the vibe of the place as well. Because people look to my page for date nights, birthday celebrations, anniversaries, you know, they go to my page for more than just good food. They go there because they know I'm posting them places that you get to see everything and get a good feel of it.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Well, and I think we want to talk about because I mean it's kind of driven more towards restaurants. So because you have to deal with this now on a much more upscale basis, because you monetized this influencership, you've turned it into a business. For anyone who is a restaurant owner or has an establishment, what do you look for in collaborations and how should they approach influencers in the right way? Because I think a lot of them are still confused of what to ask for, what to expect, you know, what to pay. Like I think there's a lot of confusion because there is no set standard. Right. So, how do you approach, like when you're, you know, if someone's gonna come to you, what would you give them advice as a restaurant owner that wants to start implementing influencer relationships?
SPEAKER_00:Um, I would say if you're somebody who again, it all depends on the influencer. It depends on their following, um, how big they are, X, Y, and Z, that stuff all does mat, it always matters. But I would say if you're a business owner reaching out to an influencer, you know, DM or uh email, you should, you know, always, you know, state your business, state, hey, you know, I'd love for you to come check it out. We offer, you know, XY and Z. I think it would be great, whatever your pitch is. And then depending on the content creator, offer, you know, hey, like I'd love to, you know, it would be complimentary and ask them if they have any rates. You know, do you have um any rates for this uh that you charge or anything like that? You know, again, um it's okay to reach out to influencers and say, hey, you know, um, I'd love to offer you a complimentary meal for your review. Um but if the influencer responds back to you and is like, hey, well, this is my rate for you know how I pro do promotion or whatever the case may be, um, obviously that's up to the business if you want to, you know, pay for it or not. You know, but I do think that um again, depending on the content creator, like someone like myself that has a hundred and you know, fifty thousand followers or whatever the case may be, you know, you should be open or to the rates.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. So don't expect, I mean, it's and I do think a lot of people, because I've you know, we I manage brands for other people as well. And we always get people who reach out to us and say, hey, we're just gonna send you, send you this box so you can promote it for us.
SPEAKER_03:Yes, okay, something like that.
SPEAKER_01:Well, your box is worth what,$150? And I don't think people understand maybe you can break it down a little bit better. What really goes into a post? One post, how long does that take you from you know, yeah, adding in all your time and doing that?
SPEAKER_00:I mean, it's hours, right? So you have to drive to the restaurant or the business, you're there for hours maybe, um, depending on the type of content that you do. Then you have to edit the content. So, you know, you're going to these places, you're there for hours, you're spending hours, let's say five hours all together, five to eight hours, depending on what you're doing, um, total, to do this content, to post them, and the business gets something in return, right? The business gets exposure, they get uh, you know, people coming in the doors, they get business. So you're putting in a lot of hours and effort and work to promote a business. Now, that's not saying, for example, I don't a lot of the businesses on my page are I don't charge them, you know. I don't charge every single business that I work with, which I also think is a misconception. People think all influencers just charge everybody all the time, and some may, but that's personally not me, right? However, you know, sorry, I lost my train of thought because I was looking at something outside. Yeah, so I don't charge every single business that I work with, but if I do charge a business, that's my prerogative, right? Because it's my time.
SPEAKER_01:Exactly.
SPEAKER_00:It's depending on the business, what I want to go to and what I want to do. So I feel like if businesses, you know, want content creators, especially depending on how high they are, then yes, just be, you know, open to the rate. And or maybe let me say expect. Expect influencers, especially again, I did uh well, I didn't say it on the podcast, but I do with social media marketing and marketing and stuff, especially in today's world with influencers. There's influencers that have 13,000 followers that are charging, you know, amounts. And that's okay if they decide they want to charge that. But before when I first started, influencers weren't charging until they got like, you know, very big up there.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it was like the the old industry standard is like$100 per 10,000 followers or whatever. Like there were certain industry standards that started when this all began of like, okay, you have 10,000 people, you could charge$100 for a post. Um, you know, you have like there kind of was, but then it got into again micro influencers, macro, like all the all the things and what your engagement rates are, and do they, you know, do they actually produce an ROI? So you could pay somebody$10,000 to come and promote your business, but if there's no return on it, yeah, and that's crazy.
SPEAKER_00:$10,000, yeah, that's crazy.
SPEAKER_01:But sorry, that there were just three. I do have a friend who gets paid at least$10,000 per post. Yeah. Um, but they have, you know, closer to 750,000 followers, and you know, they've been doing it a long time. But the funny part is is sometimes there's no return.
SPEAKER_00:I mean, I want to say that like there's no black and white rule to it. So I guess like when I'm trying to answer your question as far as like what businesses should say when they're reaching out, it's kind of like a like I'm I'm not having trouble answering it, but it's one of those things to where there's no black and white method. You know, there's no like, well, you know, this content creator should charge this much because XYZ are this content creator, this are this there, it's there's nothing. The only thing that I think a business owner should expect if they're reaching out to an influencer, is if they decide to charge. Yeah. I guess that's the only thing I can say. Now, as far as the number, I can't tell you that. I can't tell you what someone with 13,000, which followers you should be uh paying them. Why? Because just because they have 13,000 followers doesn't mean they don't get the engagement, doesn't mean they don't sell out businesses, don't mean it doesn't mean that you're not gonna get anything in return. Because there's content creators that have 13,000 followers that get hundreds and thousands of views, engagement, they do sell out businesses, have lines, and then there's content creators that have 60,000 followers that barely get engagement, you know. So there's no like way to kind of teeter how much you should pay. It's really just as you as a business owner, you know, what are you willing to pay? And uh, you know, what are you hoping to get out of it? Basically. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, and you've dealt with it and some of the essence of people just coming and expecting free shit. Yeah, between all my accounts. You don't ever expect free shit on either side, I guess, would be the best part.
SPEAKER_02:Sure. Yeah, right. And all my I look at the I look at the influencer and a content creator because I know one thing, I've spent millions of dollars providing this venue. And when you walk in here and you want to create content, obviously you're gonna come here and create your content, depending on what it is you're using your content for. If it's personal growth or personal this, that, and the other, yes, everyone comes here and they want to use this place to create their content. Yeah, well, nobody paid me that money. I didn't give you a I didn't build a backdrop for you to go create your content. So, you know, throw a good name out there or something, right? That's what I tell these people. But I also have a lot of people that come and want to do this monetarily with me, not a lot anymore, but and with my accounts combined, I have way more followers than you. What what what what am I gonna gain from this? You know what I'm saying? Not you, but I'm saying and into the normal person. So it's really hard. And but you're going above and beyond. So into my next thing, you're creating content, but you're also now what I respect for you is you're off of the screen and you're coming into the actual reality. There's a there's a big thing between a virtual culinary world and the actual real deal, right? Yeah, and now you went from that to being trusted in in doing the food truck venue. Let's talk about that. That was fun.
SPEAKER_01:So now you're it brought you to some cool collaboration. It's a doctor's.
SPEAKER_00:No, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_02:So now they're putting you in, or not they, you're collaborating and doing stuff in in real time, real life, where people are trusting your food knowledge now based off what you've done.
SPEAKER_01:To curate at Cousins Festival, I mean, you had so explain to everybody kind of how that came to be too.
SPEAKER_02:How'd you go through that? How'd that work out for you?
SPEAKER_00:Uh I know, right? Um, honestly, it was so every this was the first time they had something like this happen. So it was a first for both of us. So it was like a lot of learning with everything. It was a lot of like, okay, how does this work? How are we gonna do this? Oh, is this a thing? Like it was very much go with the flow, I would say. Um, they basically reached out to me and thought it would be a you know great idea and a great concept if I'd be interested. At first, I didn't even know I was gonna be selecting the food trucks. I thought the whole time, maybe I'm gonna be just like eating the food trucks there and like doing something like that. So I'm like, okay, yeah, that sounds fun. And then they're like, we want you to select the food trucks. And I said, oh, so I'm gonna be charging like the food that's gonna be at the festival. That's a lot of pressure. Yeah, I'm like, that's a lot of pressure. So I was like really nervous about the whole thing, like all the way up to that. But it was fun. Um, we ended up kind of doing like a contest type of thing, or we let people submit. And my reason for that I was very adamant on was like, I haven't tried all the food trucks in the area. So I felt like it was really unfair of me to just pick my favorite food trucks, you know, because there's so many great food trucks and great talent in the area. So I wanted to find a way that I can be fair across the board and open it up to give everyone an opportunity to um, you know, like sign up, basically. So we did a whole contest and it was great. And I got to try the businesses that were there, and um I selected some, cousins selected some, and overall it was like a great experience, and people enjoyed it. From what I hear, people enjoyed it.
SPEAKER_01:You didn't hear too many bad things.
SPEAKER_00:It was a good yeah, I didn't hear too many bad things, but I'm not sure like people would exactly say that to me if they like on online. But some of them would, so yeah, I didn't receive any negative comments. Um, you know, I know the people thought like towards the end the lines were long, which was expected. Um, it's a packed festival. There's no way out of that. But other than that, I mean, a lot of the food, the food trucks themselves got great feedback. Like people are like, they love their their seafood, they love their burgers, so that was great.
SPEAKER_01:That's pretty cool. It was cool to see, actually. I mean, you know, just seeing it happen and food rodeo, it's it's actually.
SPEAKER_00:It was crazy. I can't, I can't believe that, like you said, like I never everything that's happened to me so far is always like, what? This is crazy.
SPEAKER_01:Well, you got to throw out the pitch at the baseball game. She got crazy.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I was like, wow, crazy and saw that pop up.
SPEAKER_02:That was some fun stuff. So you got a lot going on from this. And yeah. So it's been good to the food business, it's been good to you.
SPEAKER_00:It's been a good thing. It has. I've I mean, like I said, I enjoy it and I'm just along for the ride. Yeah. Um, my favorite thing I always say is like, you know, I mean, I'll continue to do it for as long as the storm chasers have me and you know, the 757, um, you know, I'll continue to keep pushing it. It's not something that I bet everything on. You know, do I see myself doing this long term? No. But, you know, something that I'll continue to do, you know, as long as I continue to enjoy it. That's what matters to me.
SPEAKER_02:I'd love to call, I'd love to collaborate with you on some sort of project just to have fun. Because like I said, I love working with passionate people.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:And it has nothing to do with me, with followers. I do, I do just fine. Yeah. My people come here physically, they get in their car and drive to me. So, and I'm very, very grateful for that, you know. But it takes a lot of work for my team and for everybody to happen. But when I see someone like you working and bringing passion to it, however you do, I now instantly want to collaborate and do passionate fun things. We can do that. Let's get together and do that.
SPEAKER_01:But right now, the fun part of this thing is uh Well, we've got some other fun, like a few other fun questions that I want to ask you. So there's a couple fun ones that we had kind of come up with. Out of all the things you've done, was there ever like a favorite post or collaboration and why? A favorite post and collaboration. Um maybe meaningful, maybe something. I don't know. It was kind of an open-ended question.
SPEAKER_00:I've done so many cool things that it's really hard. Like, even recently I went to like a NASCAR race in Richmond, which um that was like an amazing experience overall to just do something like that. Um I don't know. I really don't know my favorite collaboration. Like, I just love all your children equally. They're like, I just do so many cool things that they're all just like crazy. So yeah, I don't know. I gotta think about that one.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. There is a line of what is or what would be something that your audience would be really surprised to learn about you? To learn about it.
SPEAKER_02:I think we did.
SPEAKER_01:Well, the first was the how you started out with the line, because that was funny.
SPEAKER_02:She rated herself getting drunk for a living.
SPEAKER_01:I know, right? Uh and I don't think Tony knows that. Um, so you were in the military. Uh-huh. Oh, yeah. Served. What branch were you in?
SPEAKER_00:Uh, the Navy. Okay. So I served for eight years.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, thank you for your service. Okay. Yeah. He was Navy too.
SPEAKER_00:A D? Okay. I was just at a squadron wheel before I left.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I was a yeoman, so do a lot of your viewers, I mean a lot of your audience probably doesn't know that. Do you do you ever bring that up?
SPEAKER_00:Maybe the newer followers don't. Um, you know, if anyone's followed me within the last like year, if they didn't see, like scroll down to see my Navy post or I think I have it in my bio actually that I'm a vet. Uh, but I think um a lot of followers do know that I was in the military. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Well, and this is such that that area, having that support is amazing. Is there any other weird things like weird hobbies or anything that people would be really surprised to hear about?
SPEAKER_00:Um well, right now I'm currently learning the electric guitar. I don't think that's weird. That's great, though. I my real name is Stormy. I don't know. Like, that is your real name. Yeah, so many people ask me all the time. Every time I meet someone, they're always like, So what is your real name? I'm like, my real name's Stormy. So I guess, yeah, I'll let people know my real name is Stormy. There we go. Check her driver's license.
SPEAKER_01:It's okay. Um, let's see. So if you could go back to that very first post with the wine, what advice would you give yourself?
SPEAKER_00:Uh not to get too drunk. Uh, not to get too drunk. Um, let me think. I don't if I I don't know because content was just so fun back then, man. Like creating content in 2020 was like peak content. Like, I feel like everyone was just really being their authentic selves and just doing anything. So at that time in 2020, I remember posting and it was so fun. There was no pressure, it was everyone was just doing crazy stuff. Now there's just so much online that if I was to do something like that, I mean, I'm pretty sure I could, I could, but then all of a sudden now you got people commenting like, this is you know, showing drunk. Why are you promoting people getting drunk? I don't know, you know. So now the critics social media is kind of uh, but um I would say, yeah, just don't get too drunk on camera and don't make yourself look too crazy, honestly. And we try and do that.
SPEAKER_01:We're only halfway through our drink, so we're okay. All right, so you ready for the rapid fire questions? Okay, sure. All right, so we have 10 rapid fire questions that are going to be just fun. So you just quick answers. So you can think of. Yep. Sweet or savory. Sweet. Your go-to cocktail. Uh something with crown apple. Okay. Most overrated food trend. Ooh.
SPEAKER_00:Most overrated food trend? Uh stuff that uh stuff that's too much, like too big, like when people just make stuff, just throw a bunch of things together. Yeah, yeah. Okay.
SPEAKER_01:That's doing the most. Doing the most. All right. Okay, if you could only eat one type of cuisine for the rest of your life, what would it be? Oh, tacos. Okay. Tacos. Yeah, like Mexican food. Yep, Mexican. All right. Pineapple on pizza, yes or no? Uh, no. Okay. I like that. I don't like that. Everybody else is shaking their head. No, there's no yeses here, are there? I won't eat it on there either. Okay, good. We're all in agreement. We can move on. Favorite comfort food.
SPEAKER_00:Favor, ooh, favorite comfort food. Uh favorite comfort food. Um I would say maybe like a roast. Okay. Yeah. Ooh, like a stew.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, that's always good. That is always good. That is good. Mashed potatoes and a good hearty meal.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, that is a good comfort food. Most unusual food you've ever had to try. Ooh, um, was there like a weird animal or something that you didn't know? I just gave it to you.
SPEAKER_00:I'm like, um, I mean, I've I would say like I've had like squid, like the actual like slimy squid before. Like I've I've eaten that, um, like the little baby squid. I tried that before. I just like texture, not my not my thing, but um, I'm pretty sure there's some crazy stuff that I've eaten, but I just can't think of it right now.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. Dream collaboration.
SPEAKER_00:Dream collaboration.
SPEAKER_01:Um like a place, uh restaurant, or an individual.
SPEAKER_00:So one of my favorite foodie content creators is Jack's Dining Room. Um I I love his content. So I would say, like, just I mean, he's not like a from his page, it's not like a collab type of thing, but I don't know if there's a foodie that I really uh look at, his content, I love his stuff. And then also, of course, like Keith Lee. I think Keekly's awesome. Like, if he ever came down here to the 757, I would love to like do a collab with him to show him some like mom and pop places and stuff. So yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, those are good ones. Those are really good. Um, one ingredient you can't live without.
SPEAKER_00:One ingredient I can't live without um season and salt. Okay, just to see, yeah, right.
SPEAKER_01:That's not salt. Yeah, yeah, you gotta do that. All right, ultimate food, guilty pleasure food. Like the meal that you're just like, yeah, guilty pleasure.
SPEAKER_00:Guilty pleasure food. Um I love like uh lemon cake. Oh, okay. Yeah, like anything lemon.
SPEAKER_02:I love like a sugar frosting on it, moisture.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, like a nice lemon pound cake or a lemon cake.
SPEAKER_02:Yes, come on.
SPEAKER_00:Come on, y'all.
SPEAKER_02:Yes, yeah, that with a nice glass of eggnog.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, uh huh.
SPEAKER_01:You do a little lemon cello.
SPEAKER_00:I love lemon cake. So all things, yeah, lemon cake. Lemon. Yeah, cake and ice cream, also. Like I can I love eating ice cream, so uh for sure.
SPEAKER_01:All good, guilty pleasures. So yeah, I think that was our quick rapid fire. Well, somewhat quick. We tried to do it. You did good, you passed. You did good, you passed. You passed it. You passed the tacos.
SPEAKER_02:We'll give you that.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, you passed the tacos.
SPEAKER_02:You could have got them all wrong with the tacos you hit. Save your task.
SPEAKER_00:If there's if I never know like what I want to eat, it's in my mind, it's like I can always go for tacos. I can always go for tacos. And actually, I think a good second would be Italian food, like pasta. I can always like eat a good pasta and stuff like that.
SPEAKER_02:So my go-to one is Thai after Italian, of course, mine's Italian always, but yeah, Thai. But if my little guilty one, I guess you can call it, is faux. I love eating faux.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, yeah, that's always good. Yeah, that and ramen for sure.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I just eat I drink it until my stomach bloats. I don't care. I love it. Well, it's been amazing having you here.
SPEAKER_01:So far, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:We've been we've been on, but we could keep on talking. We'd love to have you again. Again, let's work on some sort of collaboration, doing something.
SPEAKER_03:We gotta be fun, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:I have a lot of things that happen here. We can do something. Maybe you can come in and uh and and do it with us, drink some wine with one of our wine dinners and stuff. Okay, yeah. I'll do wine and lamb. Right?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, okay. That'll be fine. Definitely fine. Try my lamb, see what happens there. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Keep on doing what you're doing for the community, keep on doing what you're doing for Hampton Roads, firstly, and keep on doing what you're doing for the culinary scene and the food scene. It's keeping everything abreast, it's keeping us chefs moving, and believe it or not, it is keeping people on their toes and making sure they keep producing things because we want to be talked about in the right way, not the bad.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:So keep on doing that. We appreciate you.
SPEAKER_01:I know, and where can everybody find you? So go ahead and shout out everything.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Um, so you can find me on Instagram at underscore stormy blue, and then on TikTok, it's Stormy Blue with two E's at the end. And yeah, thanks for having me. I was really excited to come and you know, hey, you're the legend, seriously. Like when I first when I first moved here, everyone always like, Luche, you gotta go, Luce, you gotta go, Luche. So I appreciate you guys for having me. Yeah, we love so much. So it's great having a lot of fun.
SPEAKER_02:Storm facers, ciao for now. Thanks for tuning in.
