Bad Influencers: Inside Berlin's Social Media Food Chain

We’ve all seen it: noodles lifted slowly from a steaming bowl, close-up shots of heaping toppings, an LED sign with a cheeky pun glowing in the background, and a caption framing the trendy Berlin ramen joint as “must visit” or “hidden gem.”

A few days later, another creator posts a video about the same place. Then another. Similar framing, similar praise, all within the same week or two. Did several food bloggers independently decide to visit and post about the same restaurant in a short time span? Perhaps the hype landed on everyone’s feeds at the same time? Or were some of these posts paid collaborations, requested by the business?

I’ve spent the past six years working across Berlin’s food scene — running a food blog, posting somewhat regularly about local restaurants on my own social media accounts, working in local food writing and journalism, attending press dinners and networking events, and managing social media for several independent Berlin restaurants. I’ve seen the strange, sometimes contradictory economy of Berlin’s food world from all sides. I watched during the early stages of the pandemic as restaurants scrambled to stay afloat, often turning to micro-influencers with just a few thousand followers in the hope of generating local buzz. More than five years and thousands of Instagram Reels later, there still isn’t much of a playbook on either side – and that's why I wanted to look more closely at Berlin's social media food chain, at the legal and ethical blindspots that get edited away from the glossy videos.

In general, creators are happy to accept invites and gain content, while restaurants often see these partnerships as relatively low-cost promotions. But restaurant owners across Berlin describe a pattern of unreliable collaboration: last-minute cancellations without notice, missing posts after hosted visits, and aggressive demands for free meals without clearly defined agreements.  

“I’ve had influencers confirm invitations then flake without canceling or rescheduling. I’ve had people accept free meals then never post and ignore my messages. Others have been offended when I placed a limit on how much they could order,” one restaurant owner running a Prenzlauer Berg Korean kitchen told HEIST. 

“Influencers help with relevancy, and I’m open to barter deals, but when I start getting quotes for €100, €200, even €500 for a Reel and a few stories, I lose interest,” he said. “Why pay €500 to a creator with 15,000 followers when I can get just as much reach paying €10 to Instagram ads?”