How Instagram Turned Into a Giant Market for Food

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

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Joe Weisenthal (0:15)

We want to take a quick moment to let you know about something really new that's cool from Bloomberg. Starting right now, you can use our iOS app or Google Chrome extension to scan the news, look at any story on any website, and instantly bring up news and information from Bloomberg relevant to what you're reading about.

Tracy Alloway (0:35)

Yeah, it's pretty cool. So it means that no matter where you're reading the news, you can basically bring all the data and information that's on the Bloomberg with you.

It's kind of fun to test out, right, Joe?

Joe Weisenthal (0:48)

Right, so if you're reading a story about Tesla or Microsoft or Apple or Facebook, you can immediately bring up news and data from Bloomberg. And of course, we have all the news and data in the world.

It's really awesome. You should check it out by downloading the iOS app or search the Bloomberg extension on the Chrome Store to try it out.

Tracy Alloway (1:07)

Yeah, and it's called Lens. We should probably say what it's called, right?

Joe Weisenthal (1:11)

Oh, right, right. It's called Lens. Learn more at bloomberg.com/lens.

Tracy Alloway (1:26)

Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Odd Lots Podcast. I'm Tracy Alloway.

Joe Weisenthal (1:31)

And I'm Joe Weisenthal.

The other day, I was walking home, and I saw this huge line outside of a new store slash restaurant that was about a block away from me.

And it was just this massive line around the block. And I said, oh, what's this line for? You know, are people, is it sneakers? Is it some celebrity inside? It turned out that everyone was buying this ice cream that was wrapped in a gigantic fluffy waffle and it had all these sprinkles and other crazy toppings on it. And I was just certain that the only reason people were standing in line to buy it, because it just looked like ice cream and a waffle, was because it was going to look really good on their Instagrams, and they were going to rack up a bunch of Instagram likes. And that was a reason that people were lining up in a fairly chilly day for what looked like a line that probably lasted about an hour.

Tracy Alloway (2:25)

Yeah, well, you don't need to tell me. When I lived in New York, I lived right next to the Dominic Ansell Bakery, the place where they sell cronutts, and I got to witness the craziness every morning firsthand. So I would see the people lining up at 6 a.m. in the freezing cold. I would see the people that those people hired to wait in line for them and then deliver cronutts. That was interesting.

But the reason we are talking about this slightly random subject is because we are actually devoting this entire episode to, I guess we could say, like the economics of Instagram. Is that a good way to put it?

Joe Weisenthal (3:05)

Yeah, or Instagram is sort of this food marketplace. You know, the other fascinating thing about the cronut phenomenon to me was not just the people that essentially a food went viral and all these people lined up to buy them, but that then it happened globally almost instantly. So all around the world, whether it's other parts of the country, London, Korea, everyone had their cronut knockoff within a matter of days or weeks.

And I really think that the sort of Instagram phenomenon is indispensable to understanding what's going on in this new world of viral foods.

Tracy Alloway (3:45)

Yeah, indeed, and I mean, I have so many questions. My major question is like, what makes your picture of avocado toast better than the millions of pictures of avocado toast that have come before you? And why do human beings seem to have this like relentless interest in pictures of food on Instagram? And Joe, before we start, I'm just going to give one big caveat, which is that this subject might make me slightly grouchy, as you know.

Joe Weisenthal (4:17)

Wait, I thought you were really... Well, we'll see what part of it sets you off and makes you grouchy, but we'll leave everyone in suspense for that.

Tracy Alloway (4:25)

All right. So we actually have two people who are joining us today to talk about this subject. We have Julie Verhage. She's a reporter at Bloomberg, and she's managed to turn herself into a little bit of the hipster slash Instagram correspondent.