A little help from Masterchef's Brendan Pang on this comprehensive guide to developing a winning social media presence to grow revenue in your food business.
Have you ever heard these questions before?
"Social media is too hard for me…"
"Should I be on TikTok and LinkedIn too? Or just Instagram?"
"If I post this photo, will the algorithm punish my account?"
"What is the algorithm?"
"What cameras and equipment do I need to have a social media presence?"
"How much time each day should I spend doing social media?"
The confusion and anxiety surrounding social media is very real. We hear them from entrepreneurs in our training program and shared commercial kitchen, and even from the those who reach out to us online for advice.
While social media has obvious advantages (remember when billboards and flyer drops were the only way to reach customers?), its ever-changing nature, endless posting options, and pressure to stay relevant make it a stressful place for food business owners. And let’s not forget the constant comparisons to other accounts that seem to have it all figured out... it can feel overwhelming.
We were fortunate to have Brendan Pang stop by recently to teach our community of food entrepreneurs how he grew his Instagram following from 0 to over 885,000 in five years. Brendan understands the challenges of running a successful and engaging social media account. With his love for FoodLab’s mission—helping food entrepreneurs from migrant, refugee, women, and First Nations communities—he created a workshop full of practical tips for navigating the tricky world of social media.
This blog post highlights some of our favourite lessons from the workshop, that every food business should focus on. We distil it down to five parts:
Content Planning & Strategy
Writing Content
Production Tips
Engagement
Growth
Content Planning & Strategy
When you first get on Instagram, you might follow a few accounts and think, “I need to post content like that!” So you start posting based on your competition and feeling...
“Sales are low—I’ll post about my product today... maybe next week I'll share my business story.”
But without a plan, this approach feeds anxiety because it lacks direction.
Have a Clear Strategy
Think of social media as its own business. Write a social media plan just like you’d write a business plan. Start with answering these questions:
What’s my vision for the next three years?
What’s my mission on social media?
What unique value can I offer, compared to my competitors?
Who is my audience, and how can I create FOMO (fear of missing out) for them?
A solid plan not only reduces stress but also helps you identify gaps in the market so you can really shine.
Know Your Audience
Don’t just think about who your audience is—get specific. Create customer personas to visualise your ideal follower. For example...
Would Evangeline, a 35-year-old Filipino bank manager working in Eveleigh, want to see a post about how you cleaned your deep fryer? Probably not. But she might love a behind-the-scenes look at how you caramelised the perfect Leche Flan, which she’ll want to share with her sister back home.
Craft your content with someone like Evangeline in mind, considering her lifestyle, preferences, and even when she’s likely to scroll (like her train ride home at 5:30pm).
Use a Content Calendar
Avoid last-minute panic by mapping out your posts in advance. Brendan plans his content for the entire year, aligning it with seasonal trends and key dates and holidays meaningful to his followers.
Balance your content with a mix of:
Cooking process timelapses
Recipe videos
Before-and-after shots
Competitions
Sneak peeks
Business origin stories
Behind the scenes - storytelling (where produce comes from, inspiration for a recipe etc.)
Planning ahead reduces stress while giving you room to post spontaneously when inspiration strikes.
Writing Content: Stories, Hooks & Consistency
Be Yourself
Your story is your strength. No one else can steal it. Share your journey, motivations, challenges, and victories to make your content relatable. Highlight what makes your business special, like unique ingredients or cultural heritage.
Start with a Strong Hook
Every great post begins with a hook—a question, bold statement, or striking visual. An example of Brendan's go-to hook:
Pair your hook with consistency—use a recognisable tone, colour palette, or typography to build your brand identity.
Production Tips: Shooting & Filming Content
You Don’t Need Fancy Gear
Using a cheap $30 desktop tripod from JB Hi-Fi and his smartphone, Brendan captures almost all of the content he needs. Creativity and good techniques matter far more than expensive equipment, and the best way to learn is to go and watch Brendan's content!
Prepping for a Shoot
Preparation is key. Have your props (like bowls, a wooden flat lay, and pots) ready, ingredients (everything all pre-chopped and laid out around the film area), and plating ready before you start filming. This will make the process smoother and keep you focused on capturing the best shots.
Lighting, Angles and Filming
Natural light is your best friend. Shoot near a window or outdoors whenever possible, and experiment with angles to find the most flattering perspectives for your food—no shadows! We noticed it took Brendan some time to find the perfect angle when he demonstrated this for us. He often uses a small portable gas cooker to ensure that preparation and cooking shots are taken in the same location, with the camera staying in the exact same position from start to finish. He makes sure the final presentation bowl is large, visually appealing, and centred in the frame.
For filming video, Brendan keeps his phone on a tripod, recording in portrait mode rather than landscape. He films the entire cooking process in one go, creating a single long video that lasts ten to fifteen minutes.
While simultaneously watching the pan he’s frying food in and his smartphone screen to ensure everything is captured, Brendan focuses on textures, colours, and movements in his cooking. Intentional details like tossing garlic into the pan, pouring stock with a ladle, capturing the steam rising from freshly cooked dumplings, or the satisfying crackle of pork make the content visually irresistible.
Once the entire cooking process is recorded, Brendan finishes with a shot of the final completed dish, beautifully garnished with details like a lime wedge, fried onions, and fresh mint. Finally, he turns the tripod toward himself to record a quick clip of him tasting the dish, joking that he used to avoid being on camera because it felt awkward, but he’s learned that his audience connects more deeply when they see a real person enjoying the food!
Editing and Structure
It might seem surprising to take a fifteen-minute video recording and cut it down to just 30 seconds, but people’s attention spans on social media are short!
You don’t need to be a tech expert to edit content. Brendan recommends CapCut, a free app that allows him to easily trim out the least interesting parts of the video. He keeps key moments like throwing in the main ingredients, mixing everything through, garnishing the final dish, and, of course, a shot of himself enjoying the food.
Brendan follows a clear structure in his videos. He starts with a shot of the finished dish as the first frame, followed by a quick clip of him eating the food. He overlays this sequence with a voiceover (which can also be done on CapCut), where he delivers his recorded hook and describes the ingredients as they appear in the video.
Every video ends with a clear call to action, as all social media posts should. Some examples include:
“Make the recipe this weekend.”
“Give this a go and let me know what you think.”
“Try this out for your next dumpling party!”
Engagement & Growth Tips for Social Media
Social media isn’t a one-way street. Respond to comments, answer DMs, and interact with other accounts in your community to build relationships and grow your presence.
Consistency Matters
The golden rule of social media is consistency. Posting regularly (but not necessarily daily) and staying active helps keep your audience engaged and your account visible.
Collaborations
Brendan’s collaborations with other foodies, brands, and communities have been instrumental in his growth. Partnering with others allows you to tap into new audiences and build credibility.
Have Fun!
At the end of the day, creating food content should be an enjoyable and creative process. Experiment with different angles, lighting, and editing styles to find what feels natural to you. Don’t stress about making things perfect—your audience will appreciate authenticity over perfection. Laugh at the bloopers, embrace the occasional kitchen mishap, and let your personality take centre stage. The more fun you have, the more engaging your content will be. So hit record, cook up something delicious, and share your passion with the world!
We hope these insights from Brendan’s workshop will inspire you to take the plunge and level up your social media game. Remember, social media is a tool to tell your story and connect with customers — it doesn’t have to be perfect, but it does have to be you.
Have questions or tips of your own to share? Reach out to us on Instagram - we’d love to hear from you!
About Brendan Pang
Growing up with a Chinese-Mauritian background Brendan founded a food business, Bumplings, in his hometown Perth, centred around Asian street food.
For over five years, he served up thousands of dumplings and other street eats at events from his shop in Fremantle, and through his pop-up cooking school. Brendan was featured as a contestant on Masterchef in 2018 and 2020, which catapulted him into a new career of writing several cookbooks including 'This is a Book About Dumplings', 'This is a Book About Noodles' and, more recently, 'This is a Book About Street Food'.
Brendan has a special heart for our mission at FoodLab supporting other entrepreneurs from migrant and refugee backgrounds, particularly those starting their own food businesses. So we are excited to share a few key tips we learned from him in his most recent social media masterclass.
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