At this year’s National Restaurant Association Show, Nathan Sno, CEO of Food Story Media, not only taught attendees how to tell a better digital story, he demonstrated what a great storyteller does. “Want to win on social?” he asked. “Stop asking what to post. Start asking what pillar you’re activating.”
Welcome to the new playbook for restaurant marketing, where viral success isn’t about chasing algorithms — it’s about commanding attention.
In his May 18 session “Mastering Social Media: Your Story Is Your Superpower,” Sno broke down what most brands get wrong online: they lead with tactics instead of identity. “Your brand narrative is foundational,” he said. A winning strategy, he argued, must be rooted in three things: a clear belief, a lived experience, and relevance to the audience. Skip any one of these, and you’re just more noise in the scroll.
Sno’s approach is part psychology, part systems thinking. It’s less about aesthetics and more about architecture — what’s behind the content, not just what it looks like. To that end, he laid out a five-point framework for content that sticks:
- Say less
- Hook fast
- Write to ignite
- Be recognizable
- No tone = no attention
This isn’t about feel-good storytelling for its own sake. It’s about moving the needle — whether that’s increased reservations, better brand recall, or deeper customer loyalty. Sno emphasized that a great story without strategy is just noise. “You need systems. You need repeatability,” he said. “Without structure, good content burns out fast.”
The brands that win, Sno said, are the ones that can repeat their message across platforms without losing coherence or humanity.
