Today we’d like to introduce you to Erin Byrne.
Erin, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Hi, I’m Erin, the founder of 312food and an independent marketing consultant.
I studied Neuroscience at Princeton and spent the first 5 years of my career in pharmaceutical consulting. While I loved most of it, the industry always felt a little bit “big” for me. I wanted to work with small, local businesses and make a real difference in the day-to-day lives of their owners.
A few years ago, I started 312food to help local restaurants in Chicago. Specifically, I believed there was an opportunity to better connect local restaurants with the local people who want to support them. I’m SUPER passionate about small business — and as a lifelong marketer, I thought I could help!
While 312food started out small, I had a huge vision. I bounced around the city with my iPhone in hand, capturing images of my favorite spots and sharing them on Instagram as @312food. I grew the account quickly, attracting tons of like-minded followers who also wanted to support their neighborhood mom and pop spots. It took off, as much as I ever could have hoped it would.
Now, I split my time between 312food (website and Instagram) and as an independent marketing consultant to small businesses. I love working with these local brands and helping them grow.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Yes, and no!
312food grew as quickly as I could have hoped. I had a vision for what I wanted to accomplish when I started it but, I’m also my harshest critic. It’s so scary to put something like this out in the world.
As someone who prides myself in my capability to effectively market others’ brands, I had these lingering, underlying doubts in starting my own. What if I couldn’t actually do it? What if no one liked it or if no one cared? What if it just plain didn’t work?
These concerns plus my fear of failure did NOT keep me from launching 312food, but they DID keep me from putting my name on it for the first 6 months. How crazy is that? I was spending an immense amount of time and energy building this beautiful, supportive local community and taking ZERO credit for it.
On top of this, I’ve also built this brand while simultaneously battling depression in my personal life. I just started talking about this publicly because I think it’s important to contribute my voice and platform to positive dialogue around mental health. Here’s the post if you want to see more about that: https://www.312food.com/instagram-vs-reality/.
Please tell us about 312food.
312food supports local restaurants and chefs in Chicago. Through my website and Instagram, I connect great restaurants with the awesome local people who want to support them.
As a blogger, I hope that I am known for:
— Trusted local recommendations
— Featuring the “little guys” and the neighborhood spots
— Being genuine, humble and sincere
— Beautiful food photos
As a marketer, I work with local businesses to drive growth. I’m proud of work that I’ve done with clients to grow their businesses — identifying and reaching the right local people, engaging with them in meaningful ways, driving new and repeat customer visits in sustainable ways.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
One of my favorite memories from childhood is playing laser tag with my dad. We used to go on Thursday nights after he picked me up from swim practice. He’d always make up silly excuses for my mom about why we got home so late whenever he picked me up. It was really silly and fun.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.312food.com
- Email: 312food@gmail.com
- Instagram: 312food
- Facebook: facebook.com/312food
- Twitter: twitter.com/312food
- Other: pinterest.com/312food
Image Credit:
Ashley Hutchinson, Kristen Mendiola
Getting in touch: VoyageChicago is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
