Life & Work with Señor Foodie

Today we’d like to introduce you to Señor Foodie.

Hello Señor Foodie, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
My foodie adventures started out when I was just a kid. On Sundays after church, my parents would usually take the whole family out to try new places around Phoenix. When I started going to college, I joined a multicultural fraternity where I met some really cool guys from different backgrounds. My fraternity brothers introduced me to their cultures, new flavors, and other amazing restaurants that I wasn’t familiar with. I eventually became really passionate about trying new restaurants and sharing my experiences with friends.

At some point, I became the “go-to guy” for food recommendations. A lot of my friends and co-workers would ask me if I had a blog or an Instagram page where they can keep track of the places I visited. So in 2016 I created Señor Foodie on Instagram and started posting ever since.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It was difficult to build up a following. For nearly 5 years, I was struggling to get engagement. It was also hard to stay consistent with posting my food experiences because eating out isn’t cheap. People don’t realize that when an influencer is starting out, they’re putting in their own money, time, and gas to visit all these exciting places.

I didn’t let that discourage me from continuing to create content. I told myself that I’m going to keep posting what I like whenever I can and just see where it goes. Then about a year ago, my profile started to really take off where now I have restaurants messaging me all the time to come in for a free meal. It’s definitely nice to see all those years and hard work pay off.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
So I’m not a full-time content creator just yet… I don’t make enough money to quit my day job. Lol, I work for a large bank but on the side, I like to do photography and create content for restaurants.

What sets me apart from other foodies is the style I use when I create videos. I like not only highlight the food, but also the ambiance of the restaurant and the menu prices. I try to get every angle possible of the setting so that my viewers know what to expect if they’re interested in trying out a specific place.

I also like to think that I have good taste in a wide range of music genres. So I usually spend hours scrolling through my Spotify playlists trying to pick out the right song that fits well with my videos. One of my favorite types of comments that I receive from my followers is getting props for the song choice.

Lastly, I keep it real! I will only feature places on my Instagram that I personally like or products that I enjoy. It doesn’t matter if a crappy restaurant is willing to offer me a bunch of money, I won’t sell out and I think my followers appreciate that about me.

Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
What I love best about our city is the food scene growing rapidly! There seems to be a new restaurant opening every other week and it’s nice to know top chefs from around the world are choosing Phoenix to open up a concept. So as a foodie, it’s nearly impossible to run out of good places to create content for.

What I like least about our city is our limited selection of authentic cuisines from around the world. Although we have plenty of reliable Mexican, Italian, and different Asian spots down; it would still be nice to see us get as diverse as other cities such as San Francisco or New York.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://instagram.com/senor_foodie?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=