A place buzzing this week can be yesterday’s news tomorrow, replaced not because the food changed, but because the feed did. Image: Region (AI-assisted).
Have you noticed that every café in Canberra now sells some version of “viral Dubai chocolate” drink or overpriced delicacy?
A few months earlier, everything had matcha in it, and if you were not paying attention, you would catch yourself paying $10 to $15 for a green tea cloud over your latte.
These trends don’t spread by accident; they’re the offspring of virality.
What was once a slow-burning phenomenon of culinary identity has become a clout-chasing trend, driven by TikTok’s algorithm.
In Australia, one in five people admits to booking a restaurant purely so they can post about it online, a testament to how deeply social media has rewired our dining decisions.
Now, we’ve all accepted that food culture has changed in the age of the algorithm. The question worth asking now is: What does this mean in the long term for the Australian hospitality industry?
To begin answering it, we need to examine three major shifts in the industry shaped by social media culture: changes in customer behaviour, changes in how operators do business, and changes in the wider food and beverage culture.
Starting with the shift in customer behaviour, loyalty, once the heartbeat of a café or neighbourhood restaurant, is becoming harder to find. Social media platforms have trained us to chase the next shiny thing rather than return to familiar comforts. A place buzzing this week can be yesterday’s news tomorrow, replaced not because the food changed, but because the feed did.
Studies show short, fast video feeds condition us to crave novelty over familiarity. Dining out has always carried a sense of discovery. Still, discovery meant slowly building a relationship with a venue: becoming a regular, knowing the specials, chatting with the staff. Now it’s about keeping up with the latest trend before moving on.
For business owners, the pressures are sharper than ever.
Hospitality has always been about telling stories through food, but in the age of social media, identity is harder to hold onto. The safest path isn’t always to innovate; it’s to imitate. A dish that fits the trend is a safer bet than one that takes a risk. So, we see many talented chefs setting aside their instincts to follow the currents of virality.
On top of that comes the relentless cycle of marketing. To stay visible, venues are expected to host influencers, provide complimentary meals, and consistently produce a steady stream of camera-ready content. It’s no wonder that 86 per cent of Australian operators now allocate most of their marketing budget to social media. This isn’t an exciting new frontier for those already stretched thin by rising costs and long hours – it’s a drain.
Regarding the wider food and beverage culture, TikTok has turned millions into surprisingly capable home cooks. Quick tutorials can teach you to whip feta into a silky dip or roll gnocchi that looks close enough to restaurant quality. It may not be perfect, but they’re good enough to satisfy most cravings.
This raises a blunt question: Why bother going out? Why put on pants, book a table, and pay $25 when you can recreate it in pyjamas for $5 and brag online anyway? Dining out has always been about more than convenience; it’s been about discovery, atmosphere, and connection. But when those deeper layers are stripped away, what’s left to pull people out of their kitchens and into restaurants?
None of this denies that social media has given hospitality unprecedented reach. TikTok has driven billions of food-related views, reshaping how people decide where to eat. For some operators, that visibility has been a lifeline. But it comes at a cost: a constant race to stay relevant, a reliance on fickle attention, and an erosion of the slower, steadier values that once defined the industry.
Food has always been one of humanity’s simplest and richest joys. Sharing a meal with others isn’t about spectacle but presence. The danger of letting algorithms dictate hospitality is that the meal becomes secondary to the experience. We risk trading taste, connection, and conversation for a fleeting digital performance.
The challenge for the hospitality industry over the next decade is to harness the reach of social media without compromising the deeper values that make dining experiences meaningful. If we can keep flavour, story, and connection at the heart of the experience, then maybe — just maybe — the algorithm won’t consume everything that matters.
Bernardo Mateus has over 15 years’ experience in the hospitality industry and teaches courses on hospitality leadership, event management, and guest service management at the Canberra Institute of Technology.
