How food influencers help restaurateurs serve up staying power

Lorena Jorge painted, sanded and varnished the tables herself and created the beautiful Dominican-inspired artwork that adorns the walls. “When you have a small budget, that’s when you get creative,” she says.

The decor gives Morena’s cozy, homey vibe. It meshes perfectly with the scene in the open kitchen — two sisters cooking and talking to each other as if this wasn’t a restaurant but their own home. It’s the sort of well-designed, colorful atmosphere that pops on camera and commands the attention of Instagram-first crowds.

Restaurants like Morena’s aren’t just benefiting from social media — they’re increasingly dependent on it for growth, thanks to influencers who can turn a neighborhood spot into a destination overnight — bringing both opportunity and strain. Almost 85% of consumers say they see the influencers or creators they follow as trusted sources of information, according to Deloitte’s State of Social Research report. That’s probably why 90% of restaurants report that social media is very or extremely important to digital marketing.

Though word of mouth for the exquisite Dominican fare at Morena’s Kitchen & Bar quickly spread, the restaurant went viral after food influencer Nicolas Nuvan brought his camera and nearly four million followers across Instagram and TikTok to the restaurant last year. Morena’s food and vibe were a huge hit with Nuvan, who’s part of a new Mastercard social series that partners with community influencers to help small businesses trying to overcome long-term growth challenges. The series will also feature Food Network favorite Carla Hall, who visits a local Harlem restaurant The Edge for the series, and Darion Frazier, who has been documenting the San Francisco food scene for more than a decade and will be popping into a local Bay Area spot later in the summer on behalf of the brand’s social series.

Nuvan returned to Morena’s last week to help the family balance their dreams with the realities of running a business. Take the challenge of virality. “What I was afraid of is that we get such a mass amount of traffic, that because we’re a little short staffed, that we end up falling short to the public,” Lorena says.

Nuvan tells her that social media success only works if you’re prepared and able to take advantage of it. “When a business is going viral, usually they don’t have capital to sustain the new business,” he says.

Costs associated with going viral can include hiring more staff to serve and cook, buying more food than the restaurant orders and even needing more space as well as upgrading point-of-sale systems and digital tools to help make back-end operations smarter and more efficient. Those outlays are necessary to ensure new customers have a great first dining experience, and regulars don’t see a noticeable decline or wait for service or delivery.

That’s where the Jorges are now. To make room for their growing catering business, alongside Sweet 16 parties, bridal showers and normal clientele, Silvano Jorge wants the restaurant to expand into the empty storefront next door. As a boost to help with financial challenges like these, Mastercard awarded Morena’s Kitchen and Bar a surprise $10,000 grant to grow. Lorena already knows exactly where the first dollars will go: a new dishwasher.

They’ve never been able to afford to own one. Instead, their budget forced them to rent. “You end up paying almost the price of an actual dishwasher,” she says.