We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Katy Coffield a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Katy, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. One of the things we most admire about small businesses is their ability to diverge from the corporate/industry standard. Is there something that you or your brand do that differs from the industry standard? We’d love to hear about it as well as any stories you might have that illustrate how or why this difference matters.

Foodie Tribe is more than just a marketing agency. We are a marketing agency that focuses only on the food and beverage industry that also happens to have over 3,000 content creators within our network that we can activate at any given moment for a brand campaign!

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I started writing a food blog in 2009 for a class at University of Miami. My passion for food and writing quickly turned into the opportunity to be invited to local restaurants to review their food and environment. In 2016 I decided to create Foodie Tribe, a community of local foodies who wanted to promote their city through its food and culture. Very soon after opening our application process we began receiving applicants from all over the U.S., and even from around the world who wanted to be a part of our community.
From one day to the next Foodie Tribe transitioned from a local community organization to a global influencer talent agency – where we were pairing influencers to projects with brands within the food & beverage industry.
Now, six years later we’ve grown to more than 3,000 approved vetted content creators around the world who are working with brands including Sub Zero, McDonald’s, Caviar (a DoorDash company), Litehouse Foods, Del Monte Fresh Produce, HP, American Airlines and more.

Foodie Tribe is an influencer marketing agency. We receive numerous requests from brands, agencies, and restaurants within the food & beverage industry that want to collaborate with content creators. I am proud of the community we have created online, and in person when we manage physical events. Our influencers are also proud to be a part of Foodie Tribe, and we continue working diligently to make sure they are always eating, drinking, and celebrating together as members of our community!

We have more exciting opportunities and partnerships in the works, including our “Grow Your Influence” event series kicking off in Miami this September. We will also be launching a new vertical of Foodie Tribe soon…stay tuned!

How’d you meet your business partner?

I actually met Ali at a previous job we had working at a SaaS company. We were hired to grow the LATAM team in Miami, and quickly became great co-workers and friends. And, one night after work we built the Foodie Tribe mission and website!

How did you build your audience on social media?

Six years ago re-posting other people’s photos on Instagram was totally acceptable and normal. The original Foodie Tribe strategy was just to repost really great food pictures and credit the creators! Next thing we knew, #FoodieTribe took off and we were receiving tons of applications to join the Tribe. We used this same strategy for a few years! A couple of years ago we completely revamped our strategy to include more photos from our influencer and client campaigns, educational content, and spotlights on our influencers. As for advice – be consistent, post content that brings value to your audience, and stay flexible. The best part of social media is that everything has a short shelf life. Try different kinds of posts and content, and keep posting whatever works best!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://foodietribe.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/foodietribe/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/foodietribe/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/foodie-tribe/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/foodietribe
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@foodietribe

Image Credits
The images are all work from Foodie Tribe. Fage: https://www.instagram.com/peachonomics/ McDonald’s: https://www.instagram.com/foodsinmyheart/ American Airlines: https://www.instagram.com/_tamarapeterson/ Litehouse: https://www.instagram.com/dwardcooks/