We were lucky to catch up with Jamie Neroni recently and have shared our conversation below.
Jamie, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Do you wish you had started sooner?
You know, as I look back over the years, I see small glimpses of “eatwithneroni” all over the place throughout different parts of my life. It’s almost as if I had been naturally starting without realizing it. For example, when I first moved to Chicago, I had this urge to write Yelp reviews for all the places I had either been to or eaten at. There’s a major parallel there with what I do now on social media that I had completely forgot about until recently. A few months ago, I began to add Yelp reviews alongside my social posts, and just after 2 or 3 new reviews, I had achieved the status of “Yelp Elite” – all because 10 years ago, I had written all of these reviews. It’s funny how life works like that. Another example that comes to mind is when Snapchat first came out, I used to do these 30 second cooking videos. I had a “Juicing with Jamie” series and a “Sunday Soups” series. Again, I look back and think “Man, had I just kept that going” or “had I not been so intimidated with starting fresh on TikTok, this could’ve been bigger, faster”. But honestly, it’s all about the journey. What I’ve realized is, I have always had a passion for food and wine and enjoying good food with good company. Now, after a little direction and dedication to that passion, I get to share it with a lot of other people and I love that.
Jamie, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I began @eatwithneroni (TikTok, IG, Facebook) about 2 years ago now. I’ve always had a passion for good food and an endless curiosity for wine, and when you can share that with tens of thousands of people – I think that’s really cool. The brand all started when my boyfriend and I decided to move home to Ohio. With that decision came some tough goodbyes – Chicago’s food scene, the constant stimulation of “big city living”, and my best friends who would now be 4 hours away from my new home. In an attempt to be the most intentional with my remaining time in the city, I began setting up weekly dinner dates at a different restaurant every week. My best friend and I would meet at 5:30pm every Wednesday, no matter how busy our schedules were, and we’d try a new restaurant together. I’d post it to TikTok with a review or our meal, and just like that, “eatwithneroni” was born. Within a year we had 10,000 followers. It was a wild ride.
In the simplest form, I’m a food blogger. But to me, and to the restaurant owners, it’s much more than that. When you fully understand the “why” behind a business, you immerse yourself into the story; you become a part of it. It changes the entire experience- it can make it really special. I’ve had the opportunity to meet so many wonderful families who have owned restaurants for 30-50 years. After sitting down with them, you learn that their limoncello recipe is homemade because the owner and his father took a trip to Italy to visit their family together. Or, you come to find out that the owner’s best friend is now behind the bar of our favorite Italian restaurant because he went every day anyway and he’s like “I’m already here, so why the hell not”? When you can share stories like that with people, they relate more and feel a part of it, and it makes the meal even more special. I’m really grateful that I’ve been given a platform to do that.
I provide exposure and brand awareness to family owned businesses. I give them a platform to share their story in a way that connects them to their guests. Whether it’s 1000 new eyeballs or in some cases, 350,000, restaurants that I work with see an increase in followers on social media, and most importantly – a significant increase in their reservation/dining volume. I went to visit one of my favorite restaurants last Easter and the owner gave me a hug and said “ever since you made that video, it’s been “Christmas” level busy all year long!” and that made me really happy.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
I’ve wanted to quit so many times. When I first moved to Ohio, I thought “none of my Chicago followers will want to see Ohio content”. I felt like I couldn’t be a local guide if I didn’t know anything about the city. There were real feelings of imposter syndrome every day. I actually did stop posting on TikTok for quite some time when I moved, which only lead to the algorithm hating me and my videos only receiving 400-500 views on average vs my usual 30-50k. I thought “this is it, I should just stop”, but if I’ve learned anything in life, it’s that when you want to quit, you’re really close to a breakthrough.
So, I decided to keep going. In a conversation with a coworker, I realized that I was missing out on an entire audience by only posting to TikTok, so I added my Instagram. I promised myself to post something every single day until I had 1000 followers. And it worked. I also came to realize that restaurants, especially in Ohio, all have Instagram. It has become a real easy path to connect with owners. In the 9 months that I’ve been in my new town, I’ve grown to 6,000 followers on Instagram, nearly 12k on TikTok, and have started to secure consistent paid deals.
When you want to quit, you’re really close to a breakthrough. Keep pushing.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
For me, the most rewarding aspect is seeing how much of an impact a simple video can make. Take my favorite restaurant in Chicago – they’re now busy all the time. All year round. That’s so special to me. To be able to help these businesses grow is worth all of the time, effort, and money it takes to create.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.tiktok.com/@eatwithneroni
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eatwithneroni/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eatwithneroni/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamieneroni/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/user_details?userid=3V-OS_F4IqJE7e8KQneiTg
Image Credits
Jamie Neroni, Eva Valentine