Rob Locke of Sydney based food media production company Food Wine Dine, is the man behind many of the most mouthwatering images of Pepe Saya products, and an invaluable member of the Pepe Saya family (not just because he’s the only one who can reach things on the top shelf either). Pepe’s trained writer monkey - Bliss Boaden - had a chat with him about food, social media and life hacks for foodies.
BB: How long have you and Pepe Saya been working together? RL: I’ve been working with Pepe since 2011 when we made a short film about Pepe Saya butter for a series I was doing with Virgin Australia. Since then we have worked on a lot of stuff together and it's been fantastic to see the success and growth of the little butter company that could. Pepe is the great connector and I have met so many fantastic people through him such as Alex Olsson from Olsson's Salt, Chairman John Fairley from Country Valley Milk , Merna from Dessertmakers, Mike McEnearney from Kitchen By Mike and No.1 Bent St, Nick Gorman from Yarra Valley Caviar, John Susman from Fishtales and so many more great producers and chefs. The common thing that all these people have in common is that they are best in class and I think that is reflected in the Pepe Saya products.
BB: Speaking of Pepe Saya products, what is your favourite and how do you enjoy it? RL: I’m a traditionalist. Pepe Saya Salted Butter on a wedge of Mike McEnearney’s bread from Kitchen By Mike.
BB: You take amazing foodie snaps and vids for your clients. What are the 3 pieces of equipment /technology you use the most for your work? RL: Mostly my iPhone…and the iPhone and also an iPhone.
BB: What advice would you give small businesses to help create effective social media? RL: Tell your story. If you can show people what you are doing and what you can offer them they are engaged. Telling the story with great images and videos helps a lot too.
BB: You’re a pro at Instagram. Do you have any hacks you’d like to share? RL: Use keyboard shortcuts to store your hashtags.
BB: Social media is a tricky nut to crack for most brands. Where do you stand on Twitter vs Facebook vs Instagram in terms of what business should be investing their marketing budget in? RL: Invest it in good content...without that, it doesn't matter how much you spend on advertising and marketing, it's probably not going to work.
BB: Finally, what do you think the next big thing in Australian food will be? RL: 2 things. 1. Producers as the rock stars of food. Without them we are nothing.
2. Hopefully certain government organisations having faith in the chefs we have here, the producers we have here and the level of dining options we have in Australia at all levels (not just at the high end). I'm a strong believer that this trend of importing overseas chefs to open restaurants for short periods to educate us and the world about Australian food is wrong. We have enough great people in this country who can do that very well. I can't imagine a French or US government agency paying a lot of money to an overseas chef to come and do the same in their country. If we build the profile of our producers, chefs, restaurants and food destinations on a national and worldwide basis, that is something far more valuable for us in the long run, rather than filling the pockets of others who leave us with not much more than pretty Instagram photos when they depart.
You can follow Rob on instagram @foodwinedine and make sure you check out his website with snappy short films about all types of interesting local and international food producers www.foodwinedine.com
