Food Photographer
Fred Braun of Mount Prospect spent much of the pandemic travelling from local restaurant to local restaurant, tasting and photographing their delicacies and specials and posting them on Facebook for followers to see and salivate over.
“I wanted to help promote local restaurants by more than word of mouth,” he explained. “I started by making sure to leave good reviews on Yelp, Google Reviews, etc. I didn’t know how many local residents used those reviews, so I decided to post on the Mount Prospect Neighbors page on Facebook. I knew that pictures would be worth more than words, so I made a point of taking a picture of the meal to include with each review.”
“I’m not sure exactly what gave me the idea to do this but it was probably the great meals I was having from our local restaurants, couple with the knowledge that they were really hurting for business due to the pandemic and ensuing restrictions,” Braun continued. “I was also sick of seeing all of the fighting and negativity on that page, so I figured that a few positive posts could only help with that.”
Braun said that he did not have a personal relationship with any local restaurant owners, although he knows a few casually. Instead, he is trying to review as many different restaurants as he can in an effort to help as many restaurants as possible.
He admits that he has not kept track of how many restaurants he has reviewed on social media but that it has been more than a dozen. A couple of them have been located outside of Mount Prospect, but most have been within Village limits. In fact, he keeps a running list of those he still wants to visit and review.
“A couple of the owners have commented about how much they appreciated the posts and that has been great,” Braun said. “My favorite, however, is when a neighbor posts that my review inspired them to visit a restaurant and even try the dish that I ordered. That is the best because that is my goal.”
“Reviewing the restaurants has been fun and seems to really be helping the restaurants, so that is awesome,” he added.
Sample post: Hello Neighbors! This frigid edition of Fred’s Featured Feast calls for soup!
Everyone knows Olympus Gyros has delicious gyros, burgers, hot dogs, etc. What many people might not know is how good their beef barley soup is! Yum! Perfect for this cold weather!
Another lesser-known item is their chicken taco! It is serious one of the best chicken tacos I’ve ever had! It comes with lettuce, tomatoes and cheese, so if you want cilantro and onions (like I do!) be sure to ask for it. There is no charge, but you do need to let them know. The three-taco dinner comes with rice and beans.
Next time you crave soup or chicken tacos, keep Olympus on your radar!