The sector with the most to film and the least time to do it
Food and beverage social media marketing works when you film how things are made, work properly with food creators and stay inside the UK advertising rules. This training shows food and drink brands, restaurants and hospitality teams how to do all three. Half day £1,200, full day £1,800 for up to six people, excluding VAT.
Why is social media marketing different in the food and beverage industry?
Three reasons, and most general social media training addresses none of them. The visual bar is higher, because your audience scrolls past professional food photography all day and notices immediately when yours is not. The creator economy is more developed here than almost any other sector, which is an opportunity and a compliance problem at the same time. And the advertising rules are tighter, particularly around less healthy products, in ways that catch teams out.
The compensation is that you have more worth filming than almost any other sector. A kitchen, a process, a product being made. Most food and drink brands are sitting on content and photographing the finished plate.
When Cheese Artistry UK came to us at Prohibition, its account had 77 followers, which is close to invisible. We led with recipes and short-form video, backed by paid food creators and competitions with follower targets, and the account gained 2,289 followers in seven months at an 8.9% engagement rate. That was our agency work rather than a training day, though filming the making and working with creators are both on the day.
Is this for brands or for restaurants?
Food and drink brands
Retail and FMCG teams with listings to protect and a marketing function. The work is usually about consistency at volume, working with creators properly, and building content that supports a launch rather than just announcing one.
Restaurants and hospitality
Single sites and groups where somebody front of house is also running the social. The work is about a sustainable rhythm, local reach, handling reviews in public and turning a busy service into content without anybody standing still.
We run both, and the scoping call decides which shape the day takes. Groups with several sites usually want the brand version with a session for site managers alongside.
What does the day cover?
1. Food content that stops the scroll
Why process beats plated. Filming the making rather than the finished thing, which is what people actually watch.
2. Shooting food on a phone
Light, angles and movement. Hands on, in your kitchen or with your product, on the day.
3. Short form video
Formats a busy team can repeat weekly. See video training and TikTok training.
4. Working with food creators
Finding them, briefing them, paying them and the disclosure rules. See influencer marketing training.
5. The advertising rules
What the CAP Code expects, disclosure on paid partnerships, and the tighter restrictions around less healthy products.
6. Reviews and comments in public
Particularly for hospitality, where a bad review is a marketing moment either way. See community management training.
7. Seasonal and launch planning
Building a year that survives Christmas, and making a launch land rather than just announcing it.
8. Paid social for food
Where budget works in this category. See paid social media training.
What does the day look like?
| Time | Block | What comes out of it |
|---|---|---|
| 09:30 | Your channels and your competitors, reviewed | An honest read on where your content sits in the category |
| 10:15 | Formats and content pillars | Four repeatable formats agreed |
| 11:15 | Filming, in the kitchen or on product | Footage shot on your own phones |
| 13:15 | Editing and captions | Two or three finished videos ready to post |
| 14:45 | Creators, rules and disclosure | A briefing template and a compliance checklist |
| 15:45 | Seasonal plan | The next quarter mapped with owners and dates |
What are the advertising rules for food and drink on social?
Tighter than most sectors and frequently misunderstood by the people posting. The CAP Code applies to your organic social content as well as your paid advertising, which surprises teams regularly. Paid partnerships with creators must be clearly disclosed by the creator, and the responsibility does not sit only with them.
On top of that, products high in fat, salt or sugar carry additional restrictions on where and how they can be advertised, and the detail here has moved in recent years. We cover what applies to your specific products and where the risk sits, and we are explicit that this is training rather than legal advice. Where something needs a compliance decision, that goes to your legal team rather than being guessed at on a training day.
Who runs the day?
I am Chris Norton and I run most of these sessions myself. I founded Prohibition, the PR, social and content agency behind this site, I have worked in public relations for more than twenty years, and I have been running training since 2009, more than 400 courses and workshops in that time. I co-authored Share This Too, the social media handbook published by the Chartered Institute of Public Relations.
Food and drink has been a consistent part of our work. We have trained Ella’s Kitchen, and the agency has run campaigns for Primula, Black Sheep Brewery and Thai Leisure Group’s restaurant brands. David Sharples, Communications Manager at Black Sheep Brewery, said this about our agency work in a verified Clutch review in January 2025: “They’re a bunch of friendly people who feel like a natural extension of the marketing team.” For the filming blocks a producer comes along, because shooting food well on a phone is a craft and it is faster to show than to describe.
Food and drink social media questions
How much does food and drink social media training cost?
Half day £1,200 and full day £1,800 for up to six people, excluding VAT, priced by the group rather than per head. Around £200 to £300 each, delivered at your site so we can film your kitchen or your product.
Do you train restaurants as well as food brands?
Yes, and the day is shaped differently for each. Restaurants get a rhythm that survives service, local reach and review handling. Brands get consistency at volume, creator work and launch planning.
How do you advertise a restaurant on social media?
Give people a specific reason to book, show the food being made in short videos, and put a small paid budget behind the posts that already do well locally. Then bring local food creators in to eat, and brief them properly. For Thai Leisure Group’s Songkran campaign our agency hosted a dining event for creators. The campaign earned 22 creator posts, and the restaurants were fully booked while it ran.
How do you know if food social media is selling?
Decide how you will trace a booking or a sale back to social before the first post goes out. Give each campaign its own tracked link, and give creators and offers their own codes, so you can see which posts brought people in. It was the lesson from our agency’s work with Cheese Artistry UK: if we ran it again, we would link social to sales from the start, with tracked links and codes.
Can you train a group with several sites?
Yes. The usual shape is one session with the central marketing team and a shorter practical session for site managers, run on the same visit so the standard matches across locations.
Do we need a food photographer?
Less often than you would think. For social, phone footage of something being made frequently outperforms a professional shot of the finished plate, because it moves and it feels real. We teach the phone version and tell you where a professional shoot still earns its place.
How do we work with food creators without getting it wrong?
Brief properly, pay properly and be clear about disclosure. The common failures are a vague brief, an unclear commercial relationship and assuming the disclosure obligation sits entirely with the creator.
What are the rules on advertising less healthy food?
There are additional restrictions on products high in fat, salt or sugar, and the detail has changed in recent years. We cover what applies to your products and where the risk sits, as training rather than legal advice. Compliance decisions belong with your legal team.
Does the CAP Code apply to our organic posts?
Yes, and this surprises teams regularly. The Code is media neutral and covers marketing communications on your own channels, not only paid advertising.
Should we be on TikTok?
Food is one of the categories where the answer is most often yes, because there is genuinely something worth filming. See TikTok training for brands.
Will we film on the day?
Yes, in your kitchen or with your product, and you will leave with finished videos. It is the block teams remember.
Other sectors we train
Retail
See retail training.
Leisure and hospitality
See leisure training.
Every sector
See all sectors.
Tell us what you make and who is filming it
Half day £1,200, full day £1,800, up to six people, excluding VAT. Delivered UK wide or online.
One of the sectors we train, alongside every social media course. Delivered UK wide or online. Training rather than legal advice. Last reviewed October 2026.
