Sam The Cooking Guy on Growing a YOUTUBE Audience — Restaurant Influencers Podcast (RI001)

Sam The Cooking Guy (@thecookingguy) didn’t get millions of YouTube subscribers overnight. It took lots of hard work and grinding out video content for the Restaurant Influencer to find the secret sauce to building a devoted following on YouTube.

Watch this Sam “The Cooking Guy” Zien interview to learn tips and tricks to making YouTube content that works and building an authentic presence on social media.

CHAPTERS:
[03:34] - Opening Not Not Tacos
[04:59] - Entering the Restaurant Business
[08:01] - YouTube is a Simple Concept
[14:36] - Making Authentic Content
[28:09] - Get Better By Doing

Sam The Cooking Guy is a Restaurant Influencer —

After years spent grinding out little-seen YouTube content, Sam Zien (The Cooking Guy) began making authentic content about things his audience actually wanted to see. From there the YouTuber saw his star rise quicker and quicker.

Sam Zien, affectionately and professionally known as Sam the Cooking Guy, serves as the face of Graze, Not Not Tacos and two Samburger locations. He has flipped the food industry on its head by simply being himself.

A man of many hats and few cares, Sam The Cooking Guy has defined conventional wisdom by creating concept restaurants that serve mashed potato tacos and popular videos that teach young men and others how to cook.

“I think you learn more when you’re enjoying it,” notes Sam Zien while talking to Shawn Walchef on the first episode of the Restaurant Influencers podcast. “YouTube is a really simple concept: it's not about you, it's what your customers want.”

While Sam admits it took him seven years to discover this simple truth, the proof is in the pudding as Sam is teaching the world how to cook simply by teaching them to make things they can actually make.

WHAT DID YOU LEARN from this interview? Let us know in the comments! https://restaurantinfluencers.media

EPISODE LINKS:

• Sam The Cooking Guy YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbRj3Tcy1Zoz3rcf83nW5kw
• Sam The Cooking Guy Online - https://www.thecookingguy.com/
• Behind the Scenes of Sam’s Restaurant - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apfwiUblg70
• Graze by Sam - https://www.grazebysam.com/
• Not Not Tacos - https://www.notnottacos.com/
• Samburgers - https://www.eatsamburgers.com/

NOMINATE A RESTAURANT INFLUENCER — Do you know someone who is killing it on social media? Let us know by emailing [email protected] or sending the @calibbqmedia team a DM on social media.

SIGN UP – https://restaurantinfluencers.media

ABOUT RESTAURANT INFLUENCERS:
Are you SICK and TIRED of scrolling through your social media feeds and not seeing your business anywhere?

Welcome to the Restaurant Influencers podcast series, sponsored by Toast (@toasttab).

Every week host Shawn P. Walchef (@shawnpwalchef) talks with leaders in restaurant and hospitality about their secrets to Smartphone Storytelling and how to show up and engage where customers are spending time online.

The weekly digital series (audio, video, writing, images) is hosted by Cali BBQ Media Founder Shawn P. Walchef and presented by Entrepreneur Media (@entrepreneur), Yelp for Business (@yelp), and Cali BBQ Media (@calibbqmedia).

• Entrepreneur - https://entreprenuer.com
• Yelp for Business - https://biz.yelp.com
• Cali BBQ Media - https://calibbq.media

Subscribe to the weekly podcast wherever you listen to audio shows.

Follow @calibbqmedia on social media for updates on the show and Digital Hospitality content.

https://restaurantinfluencers.media

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SPONSORED BY TOAST:

Restaurant Influencers is brought to you by Toast, the powerful restaurant point of sale and management system that helps restaurants improve operations, increase sales and create a better guest experience.

Toast — Powering Successful Restaurants

Learn more at pos.toasttab.com