How a new wave of TikTok foodies is feeding Albuquerque’s restaurant scene

Foodie influencer Brandon Crespin hates the spotlight and his meals are usually cold by the time he’s done filming — but you wouldn’t guess it by watching his TikTok videos.

“There has to be a heaven for food, because I’m there right now,” Crespin said while trying crunchy chicharrones at Albuquerque’s El Kochi Loko in a video posted in July.

Crespin is one of several local content creators who use social media to highlight Albuquerque’s food scene. With a cellphone in hand — and sometimes a ring light and tripod — people with a knack for food and technology are using short-form, video-centric platforms like TikTok to uplift local businesses while earning extra income.

By visiting one to two restaurants per day and posting his reactions to the food, Crespin has accumulated 47,000 new followers — bringing his total following to more than 143,000 people — and made more than $10,000 since starting his foodie content in June.

Crespin — who pays for all his meals but usually only takes a few bites because of how often he eats out — is paid by TikTok’s Creator Rewards Program, which allows influencers to earn money for producing high-quality, original videos over 60 seconds long.

“I would have never thought me eating food would take me places where it’s taking me now,” Crespin, 33, said.

The pool of Albuquerque influencers has grown since Crespin started content creation, he said.

The influencer marketing industry is also growing across the world, projected to reach $32.55 billion in 2025 — up from $24 billion last year and $9.7 billion in 2020, according to an April report from Influencer Marketing Hub.

Lifelong foodie and Albuquerque Public Schools bookkeeper Destiney Abeyta, 24, echoed the sentiment of growth.

Abeyta’s foodie influencer journey started with nearly 1,000 followers and a video about Sahara Middle Eastern Eatery’s new Dubai chocolate vending machine in Cottonwood Mall in January. Ten months and more than 200 TikToks later, she has amassed more than 11,000 followers and earned $250 since joining TikTok’s creator fund two months ago.

“People like to see what’s going on in Albuquerque, so that’s kind of what inspired me to do it,” Abeyta said.

Alexandria Gonzalez, a 35-year-old systems engineer at Sandia National Laboratories, is going on five years of content creation. She surpassed more than 50,000 TikTok followers over the summer and earns about $75 to $100 per month from the platform.

“It still feels really surreal,” Gonzalez said. “It was never my intent to get a following like this. I’m very introverted, but this taught me how to come out of my shell and how to talk with people.”

Becoming an influencer wasn’t always in Crespin’s plans either. He was working as a corrections officer for Bernalillo County when he decided to explore videography as an outlet to decompress from the stress of his job.

His new hobby turned into a job opportunity when Paleta Bar co-founder Dipo Alam offered Crespin a marketing position with the company. Crespin took the role, which he said allowed him to invest in Paleta Bar, open two licensed locations in Arizona and eventually start his own marketing company.

It was the experience of owning and operating the Paleta Bars in Arizona that inspired Crespin to launch his foodie TikToks and gear them toward local restaurants.

“I’m here to support local business because I know the struggle,” Crespin said. “So now that I have this opportunity, I want to help those places because it’s freaking hard.”

For Gonzalez, posting to social media started as a way to reconnect with the community during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Being a millennial, social media has been such a part of my life since the MySpace days,” Gonzalez said, adding she primarily used social media as a tool to share with friends and family.

In mid-2020, Gonzalez started making content about her life in Albuquerque, sharing her perspective on everything from the local culture and events to the Duke City’s dating scene. Her foodie content came into the picture as restaurants started reopening in 2021.

What keeps Gonzalez spending five to 10 hours a week on content creation, in addition to her full-time job, is the positive impact her videos have had on local businesses, with several restaurants — such as Albuquerque’s Phat Stax and Say Cheese in Bosque Farms — reaching out to say her videos gave them a much-needed boost.

“That, to me, just makes it all worth it,” Gonzalez said.

Crespin agreed. The positive impact far outweighs the challenges that come with being an influencer, including frequent online trolling, maintaining a work-life balance and people recognizing him out in public, he said.

“I honestly don’t enjoy the publicity side of things. (I hear,) ‘You’re the guy from TikTok!’ everywhere I go. It was cool at first, but now, that’s the part I don’t like about it, just for privacy reasons,” Crespin said. “But what I absolutely love is the effect I’m bringing businesses.”

Crespin said several of the businesses he’s featured across his more than 70 foodie TikTok videos — including Albuquerque’s Quesadilla Way, Seoul Gimbap and Rice Box & Boba — reported record-high sales and increased foot traffic following the release of his videos.

Such was the case for Juice Ritual, an organic, customizable juice, smoothie and coffee house in Albuquerque. Owner Bryan Velazquez said the business’ daily revenue tripled following a nine-second video that Crespin posted in September. The video has more than 16,000 likes and 167,000 views.

“I was surprised and happy because I had been trying everything that I possibly could on social media to get traction,” Velazquez said. “When he posted that, within the next day, we were slammed out the door. It was a blessing for sure. I told (Crespin), ‘Dude, you have the magic touch.’”

Velazquez said foodie influencers are one of the more positive byproducts of the increasing role of technology and social media in society, offering small businesses with limited marketing budgets new avenues for getting the word out.

“I could pay a media company $5,000, $10,000, and they wouldn’t be able to do this,” Velazquez said. “People want to know who is behind the product and I feel like the foodies — they’re connecting with the audience and people don’t feel like they’re watching a stranger. They feel connected and safe to go and try these places that they’re posting.”

A 2023 survey from Matter Communications indicated that 69% of respondents were likely to trust a friend, family member or influencer recommendation over information coming directly from a brand.

Junny Pham, owner of Albuquerque bubble tea shop Tea Lab said many people “are not willing to try new food or a new restaurant because no one has tried it yet.”

“Once they see a TikToker or foodies reviewing it, that’s when they start to come try it out,” she added.

Pham said Abeyta’s first TikTok video on the business in February brought in much-needed foot traffic during the winter months.

“It really helped us,” Pham said.

The power of social media is the reason Crespin, Gonzalez and Abeyta choose to avoid posting negative reviews. A video can boost or destroy a business, Crespin said. If Crespin doesn’t like the restaurant, he said he gives the owners “constructive criticism” and simply doesn’t post the video.

As for whether Crespin, Gonzalez and Abeyta see content creation turning into a full-time career, they said anything is possible. But for now, their goals are to continue connecting with people, honoring the trust they’ve established with their followers, growing the local food and small business community and using their platforms to bring people together.

“We have amazing food here, and it’s not always about green chile,” Crespin said. “There’s so many different cultural restaurants that I didn’t even know existed here, and I love exposing that to people.”