Brandon Baker
Food Blogger, Creator of BrandonDoesDallas.com
COSIGNed By: @COSIGNKG
Instagram: @BrandonDoesDallas
Website: BrandonDoesDallas.com
Brandon Baker is a food blogger based in Dallas. “Growing up I always had a passion for good food, so this just stuck with me, and to my bones,” he says. Between having a long list of restaurants that he wanted to try and recognizing a niche that hadn’t been filled, he began a blog about restaurants throughout all the suburbs of the Dallas-Ft. Worth area. BrandonDoesDallas.com was born.
Brandon began the blog as a passion project, but finds that balancing it with work and his personal life is the most challenging part of it all. “I remind myself that Brandon Does Dallas doesn’t pay the bills nor cuddle me at night,” he says. “So I do everything I can, but there is a bold line I draw when I say ‘enough for today.’ It helps that I have the best contributor, Katherine Harp.” And once he got got his first paid client, he knew he was doing something right.
If you’re interested in being a food blogger, Brandon recommends that you find your voice and do something others aren’t. “When you read an Instagram caption or blog post, that is truly me and my personality,” he says. And if you end up with haters, it means that you’re doing something right. He says that he’s found that the blogger community in Dallas is divided in two, one groups supports each other and the others give you the cold shoulder. “Stick with the supporters,” he says, “My motto: ‘Introduce two people who can benefit from one another every day.’”
Along the way, Brandon’s learned a lot. He was gracious enough to share some tips and tricks of the trade:
- “Do not use flash at night. Plan your restaurant visits around lighting, do your research – is the restaurant well lit in the evening? Stop by one day before your reservation to see! I’ve gone back to restaurants and reordered certain dishes just to re-shoot them in better lighting.”
- “Switch up the angles, don’t take a photo of every drink in the exact same spot and from the exact same direction. I take hundreds of photos from all angles and filter through them later that evening to find the best ones.”
- “Don’t be shy – stand on a chair, take your plate outside or to an empty table, people will look, who cares?”
Brandon loves the Dallas food scene because there’s always a new place opening up. “There is always a new & unique concept surfacing,” he says. He did have a hard time naming his favorite restaurant though, but says, “My go-to is any of the Kenny’s concepts. My favorite has to be the lasagna from Kenny’s Italian Kitchen though – thank me later.” He hopes to leave a legacy of being “A kind-hearted foodie that shared his passion for food and quirky personality with Dallas.”
We COSIGN Brandon Baker for finding his niche and for his execution once he did.
Who Does Brandon Baker COSIGN?
@RockChickCookies
@OhSoCynthia
@DiningWithDeliaJo
@IrenesBakery
@BerrynakedPops
@NicoleSlaw
@MyDallasObsession
@JustEatDallas
@LoveYouMoreToo
@TheWeeGypsy