A TikTok post made Manhattan’s Galeries Lafayette a trend in the city. Anyone who buys a croissant there shows off their purchase on social media. About the power of food influencers.
Lafayette Bakery in New York City is excellent. She has a bouncer and will gradually let people in. There will be three peaks each day because that’s when the new croissants are showcased.
The store became famous almost overnight. A TikTok user who posted a flat croissant with colorful fillings and icing on his account gained more than 2 million followers in just a few days, says baker Scott Cioe : “The next day, our product sold out in an hour. And the day after that, people were queuing outside the bakery, so basically two days after launch, we had long lines outside the door. Team – that hasn’t changed since then.”
Baker Scott Cioe started out making two dozen croissants a day and has now grown to hundreds.
attract customers overnight
New York food blogger Christine Yi has been there. She also managed to turn restaurants into overnight magnets by sharing their food with hundreds of thousands of followers.
“I find it actually unbelievable, almost scary at times. You can make a certain kind of food that isn’t even a favorite food in New York City. I’ve seen that,” she said. “On the other hand, you can take a very small, small restaurant that nobody knows about and make a name for themselves, boost their business, change their lives. And then all of a sudden there’s a line outside the door.”
The situation in Lafayette is similar. Before the hype, Scott baked just two dozen croissants a day. Now there are 600 people. He and his two colleagues could no longer handle the problem alone. Today, the bakery has 20 employees.
New York, a paradise for food bloggers
Food blogger Yi says location certainly contributes to success: “New York is this No. 1 in the world, with a large population and a large number of tourists. It’s easy to make a store go viral here. “
Buyers almost always have a group photo in the shop as soon as they scoop up trendy croissants. Customers snap a photo with a croissant of their choice and post it on social media. Jeff did too: “It just goes to show that your life is as sweet as the chocolates or croissants you buy here.”
Every day, people line up at Scott Cioe’s “Lafayette” bakery to buy his croissants and use them to showcase themselves on social media.
trends have their costs
Suzanne Higgs at the University of Birmingham studies the food blogging phenomenon. In her view, this is how people try to connect with each other. “We use social media to convey an impression of belonging to certain social groups and being liked,” the scientist said..
That’s what customers pay a lot of money for in Lafayette. Each croissant is almost ten dollars. “That’s the value of things like follows and likes on Instagram. That’s what you pay for: half croissant, half follower,” Jeff said, happily walking home with croissant in hand.