Resy OS Tips and Tricks National
How to Make Your Resy.com Photos Stand Out to Potential Diners
In our image-driven landscape, the photos you post on your Resy.com page can have a big impact towards driving reservations for diners looking for their next meal. But which photos are best? Instead of leaving you data-less at your next photo shoot, we reached out to 175 Resy diners about their venue imagery preferences to see what types of photos make them want to visit.1 Here’s what we learned:
What works
87% percent of diners in our survey strongly agreed or mostly agreed that “a mix of food and vibe images makes it easier to decide if I should try a new restaurant”. What does this tell us? The most helpful types of restaurant images on the Resy app aren’t just food photos — which give them a sense of presentation and even portion sizes — but of your restaurant’s interior, too. This can help diners gauge the ambiance and seating arrangements, which can be useful if they’re planning a dinner or special event.
Ultimately, diners aren’t just using your photos to get hungry. They want to educate themselves on your offerings and make sure that those offerings align with their preferences and needs for the meal they’re planning.
Here are some more best practices:
- Always show realistic representations of your food and dishes: Style things how they’ll actually be served.
- When it comes to food pics, diners like to see signature dishes.
- Include photos that depict your ambiance and vibe, like your restaurant during a busy rush.
- If you have multiple seating options, like a lounge and a rooftop bar, showcase them all.
Here’s a common take from one diner: “When I’m looking for a restaurant to add to my list or book a reservation, I want to see the vibe. I prefer images that show the seating arrangement, intimacy or conviviality of the space. I want to know what it’ll feel like to be there. Is it a place to go to catch up with a friend? For a special date? To bring parents? Or host a group meal?”
Think of your photos as an at-a-glance representation of the type of dining experience diners can expect. Is there any nook you’re particularly proud of? A fireplace? Anything that makes your restaurant stand out? Include it!
Pro Tip: The photos you upload to your Resy.com page can be used by Resy’s Marketing team if you’re featured in editorial content. Ensuring you have a variety of photos allows our team to put your best face forward.
What doesn’t work
The photos that don’t convert diners, on the other hand, are the ones that don’t convey authenticity — that don’t give them a thorough or accurate sense of the space, atmosphere, vibes, or food. This could be because the photo is too blurry to discern what’s on the plate or the photo is actually just stock.
If diners can’t get context about what to expect about the experience, it’s much harder for them to make an informed decision based on their needs and preferences. Here are some examples of photos to avoid:
- Overly styled or misleading photos
- Low quality, poorly framed, or blurry photos
- Generic stock photos
- Logos
- Standalone photos of staff
One diner wrote, “Staged images of food, logos, close-up shots and vertical photos cropped to horizontal are common but do not tempt me to book a reservation. They do not give me a true sense of what dining will feel like.”
The most intriguing learning from all of this data is that these photos are not about being fancy — they’re about building trust. Diners don’t need you to go out and hire the best food stylist in town so that every plate is pure artistry (unless that’s what you’re known for). What they want is an accurate, clear depiction of what to expect at your restaurant. The more information they have up front — from an exterior shot so they can find your restaurant on the street to a photo of your signature dishes so they know what to order and a look at types of seating so they can make sure you’ll have room for their group — the more they can simply enjoy their meal when they arrive.
1. Based on a survey conducted by Resy’s User Experience team of 175 randomly selected U.S. diners from October 17, 2024 through November 15, 2024.
*Opinions and views in articles shared on Resy OS are presented for the purpose of discussion and commentary on topics of interest in the restaurant industry; they should not be viewed as substitutes for advice given by professionally engaged business consultants and advisors.
