Is social media actually getting visibility to your street food business? Here’s the alternative you need
- Jing Wei Lau
- Jun 4
- 4 min read
Updated: 1 day ago
If you’re a food vendor relying on Instagram or Facebook to get the word out about your next pop-up… ask yourself:
How many views did your post get today? 👀
How has it helped get people to your popup today? 👀
As foodies ourselves, we’re familiar with the pain of trying to find good food via social media, and we've stumbled across some amazing vendors at markets or festivals and thought “Where are they popping up next?”. We quickly realised:
Some vendors don’t have social media 📱
Others haven’t posted in months 🙅🏻
Some are super active, but only in stories that vanish after 24 hours 🫥
And most don’t show up in our feeds unless we actively search 🔍
And we know how many opportunities are lost in that gap — for both vendors and customers.
We spoke to John from Brooklyn Brownie Co recently, and his experience hit home for a lot of street food traders. As a dessert trader who has been in the street food industry for years, he’s seen the ups and downs of social media first-hand, and lately, it has felt more like a "toxic loop" than a boost.
“We’ve got 25,000 followers and I think only 2% of them see our posts. That’s mad.”
- John, Brooklyn Brownie Co
That’s not just a one-off. Across the board, small businesses are watching their reach shrink. According to Social Insider’s 2024 report, organic reach on Instagram is now as low as 4%, and Facebook’s even worse, standing at only 2.6%. Even if your post does manage to reach someone, it still might not drive action — the average Instagram conversion rate is only 1.08%, according to a recent Business DIT study.
Let’s break that down:
Say you’ve got 2000 followers on Instagram. Based on the numbers above, your post might be seen by just 80 people (4% reach). With an average of 1.08% conversion rate, less than one person out of the 80 people might actually take action.
Say you spent one hour editing your post, that’s a lot of time and energy … for very little return.
So... what's the alternative to social media for street food businesses?
“You’ve got to go back to grassroots. Indi Local is a platform that actually shows where you’re trading, who’s nearby, and helps people discover you locally. That’s what matters now.”
- John, Brooklyn Brownie Co
Our mission is simple: To give vendors a better way to get discovered by people actively looking for them, because once upon a time this was the exact problem we had ourselves: no central place to find out what was happening locally, who’s popping up, when or where, not to mention the number of times we passed trucks not knowing they were there - so we built the app we wish we always had: Indi Local.
Here’s what makes Indi Local different from social media:
Your schedule won’t get buried in a sea of social media posts
Social media is overloaded with all types of content: cat photos, memes, influencer ads and more, people use social media to aimlessly scroll and "switch off" so it's easy for your popup schedules to get lost. Indi Local is specifically designed to discover street food and local events, meaning our app users are actively looking for you, and they are motivated to find something nearby!
It's a digital business card
Unlike social media where stories disappear after 24 hours, your schedule lives on your business card permanently so long as you keep it updated. You have a unique shareable link to your profile allowing your customers to see your:
📍 Pop-up schedule
📋 Menu
📞 Contact details
🔗 Website or socials
It's a Google Maps for street food & local events
Your pop-ups will also appear on our live discovery map, showing who is trading where, right now! This means customers can find you based on location and are more likely to visit when they are nearby
Send friendly reminders to loyal customers
Customers who follow you on the Indi Local app will get push-notifications when you're trading nearby — no need to hope they see your latest social media post
You’re building real visibility - not just likes.
Social media followers might look good on paper, but they don’t guarantee action. Indi Local is made specifically for people who are actively looking for street food and are more likely to show up.
Social media still has a place
So we do have a guide to help you make the most of it.
From posting schedules at the right time, to pinning your updates and making engaging videos, here's our hot take having built our own engaged community on social media.
but the bottom line:
“Social media numbers are nice, but they don’t pay the bills. We need people to actually show up.”
- John, Brooklyn Brownie Co
You didn’t start your business to fight an algorithm.
You started it to make good food, connect with your community, and do what you love.
Indi Local helps you get back to that — with a tool that’s built for vendors, not influencers.
Create your business profile on Indi Local today:
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