When we talk about picking your food writing niche, we mean defining your topic, identifying your audience, and selecting your platform. You’ll need to have all those things clearly decided in order to start writing or you’ll waste a lot of time going in lots of different directions and getting nowhere.
WHAT’S A NICHE?
The word niche comes from the French word for nest, which is the perfect way for us to think about it here. For our purposes, a niche is “a specialized segment of the market for a particular kind of product or service.” Niche also denotes “products, services, or interests that appeal to a small, specialized section of the population.” (Thanks Oxford Languages!)
Having a well-defined niche means you know exactly what you do, who you help, the problem that you help solve for readers and where readers can find your content.
Imagine meeting someone and they ask, “What do you do for a living?”
You can answer, “I’m a food writer.” (Not a niche answer.)
Or you can answer, “I write about Mexican food. I help busy home cooks easily and quickly create traditional Mexican dishes. You can find my recipes and videos at my website, ItTastesLikeMexico.com.” That’s a niche answer!
Get a free copy of the Pick Your Food Writing Niche Workbook here.
WHY HAVE A NICHE?
Food is an enormous market. Chances are you’ve heard people say that the market is saturated and new food bloggers or cookbook writers don’t have a chance of making a dent in it. The first part of that sentence is true: the market is saturated. But with the right niche, new bloggers and writers have an excellent chance of being successful.
The key is the right niche.
Julia Child built a career bringing French cooking techniques to American readers. Rachel Ray built a career showing busy home cooks how to get a balanced, tasty meal on the table in 30 minutes. Both women wrote for American home cooks, but they offered readers completely different information. They each found their own niche.
Having a niche isn’t about boxing yourself in or limiting what you can write about. It’s about giving yourself a starting point. And it’s about letting your readers know exactly what they can expect from you and where to find you.
DO’S AND DON’TS OF PICKING A NICHE
- Do pick a topic you LOVE, a topic you could talk about for hours with your friends and family, with strangers in the check-out line at the grocery store.
You’ll be spending several hours every week writing about your topic, making videos, making social media marketing materials, talking about it and thinking about it so it has to be something you’ll enjoy.
- Do pick a topic you know about AND that you want to learn more about.
- Do pick a topic small enough to be manageable, and yet big enough to attract a large number of readers.
There are literally thousands of food writing topics: healthy food, quick food, cheap food, exotic food, food for kids, food for body builders, vegan, low-carb, low-protein, nutrient dense food, grilled, baked, fried … the list goes on and on. No one can possibly cover it all.
“Healthy food” is a broad term, too broad for a manageable niche. What aspect of healthy food do you want to discuss? Do you want to help your readers easily add more vegetables to their diet? Or maybe how they can find healthy options when they eat at fast food restaurants?
Maybe you’re interested in Italian food. Again, that’s too broad. Are you going to update traditional recipes to make them easier to prepare? Or maybe show your readers how to quickly batch cook freezer meals based on Italian classics?
- Don’t select a topic just because it’s trendy. Trends come and go so you could soon find your topic passe leaving you with nothing left to write about.
- Don’t select a topic simply because it seems profitable. Almost any topic can be monetized but if it’s not something you’re really interested in, writing about it will seem a chore.
- Do avoid seasonal topics. Instead of “Christmas dinner” as a topic, think about “holiday meals” and make sure to identify a holiday you can create meals for every month. You want readers all year round, not just for a month or two.
- Do keep in mind your strengths and interests when considering a topic. What are you passionate about? What’s your dream job, a job you would do even if no one paid you for it? What do people ask your advice about? What are you known for? What do you want to be known for?
ELEMENTS OF A NICHE
To craft a good niche you have to have a topic, an approach, an audience, and a platform all revolving around you and your goals as a food writer.
In the example above, we focused on the topic Mexican food, the approach was quick and easy versions of traditional dishes, the audience was busy home cooks, and the platform was a website, ItTastesLikeMexico.com.
YOU AND YOUR GOALS
Your niche revolves around you and your goals, what you want to accomplish as a food writer. This isn’t the “I want to be rich and famous” goal. (Although that’s a perfectly good goal, it’s just not what we’re after here.)
Think of the qualities you want to be known for as a food writer. Do you want to be helpful, informative? Encouraging, motivating? Do you want to be an authority on a particular subject?
What do you want to contribute to your readers’ lives? Do you want to help them be more adventurous in their cooking? More comfortable and confident in the kitchen?
Make a list of the qualities you want to incorporate into your food writing. Make a second list of what you want to deliver to your readers?
SELECT YOUR TOPIC
Your topic could be a type of cuisine (Italian, Mexican, Vietnamese), a main ingredient (beef, tofu, pasta), a cooking method (grilling, baking, stir-frying), , a setting (camping, parties, romantic dinners for two), a nutritional aspect (low-carb, low-protein, dairy free), or a dish (pizza, cookies, salads).
It might be a combination of two or more, like low-carb baking.
Here are some food topics to get you thinking.
Cuisines
Mexican — Indian — Mediterranean — Cajun — Egyptian — Asian — Kosher
Italian — African — Soul food — Caribbean — Creole — French — Halal
Ingredients
Beef — Vegetables — Wild game — Seafood — Cannabis — Tofu — Whole grains
Poultry — Fruits — Meatless — Rice — Hot peppers — Chocolate — Cheese
Cooking Methods
Stir-fry — Slow cooker — Dutch oven — Cast iron — Sheet pan — Barbeque — No-bake
Bake — Braise — Batch cook — Sous vide — Air fryer — Pressure cooker — Roast
Setting
Kids party — Romantic dinner — Lunch box meals — Cooking for one
Camping — Brunch — Tailgating — Holiday meals
Nutritional Aspect
Low-carb — Dairy-free — Keto — Renal diet
Low-protein — For weight loss — Plant-based — Diabetic diet
Low-sodium — Nutrient dense — Anti-inflammatory — Paleo
Dish
Soups/stews — Bread — Pizza — Tacos —- Freezer meals — Meal prep — Baby food
Cakes — Casseroles — Burgers — Dim sum — Cookies — Deserts — Pasta
Bone broth — Chicken wings — Breakfast — Salads — Wraps — Pho
You might want to add an approach to further narrow your niche.
Approach
Easy — Impressive — Simple —- Quick
Inexpensive — Traditional — For beginners — Copy cat
Identify Your Audience
Who’s your target audience and what do they want from you? What’s the question you’re going to answer for them, the problem you’re going to help them find the solution for?
Again, be as specific as you can. Are you writing for busy parents with kids who are picky eaters? Extreme bodybuilders? New moms who are breastfeeding? College students cooking in their dorm rooms? Seniors on fixed incomes trying to stretch their food budget?
Who are you trying to reach?
It’s tempting to say, “I want to reach everyone!” That will guarantee that you reach no one.
Readers want information geared specifically to them. They want to know that you had them in mind when you were writing your content.
Yes, if you write for busy parents with kids who are picky eaters then you’ll lose the extreme bodybuilder crowd but you weren’t writing for them anyway. We promise you that if you try to please too many types of readers, none of your readers will be completely happy. And in a crowded field like food writing, you’ll build a loyal readership only by being exactly what your readers want and need.
SELECT YOUR PLATFORM
Where will your readers find your content?
The platforms for reaching readers are ever increasing. You can have a website, a YouTube channel, Instagram and Pinterest accounts. You can have a membership site, a Facebook page or group. You can give cooking lessons on Zoom or write and self-publish e-cookbooks, have a softcover cookbook traditionally published, give in-person cooking classes, have a podcast, write for newspapers and magazines, or food blogs, lead food tours, or host tasting dinners.
All of those things are possible and you may do several of them over the course of your career as a food writer but it’s best to pick just one or two as a starting point.
Most food writers have their own website. Even if you write for a magazine or newspaper, or freelance for several publications, having a website is helpful as a place to showcase your writing.
If you’re going to focus on recipe writing, videos are a must so most food bloggers with their own website also have a YouTube channel.
Our advice is to start small and keep it simple. Remember, each platform will have to be built out and developed. Say you have a website. You have to find ways to attract readers to it. One way is to post articles.
Then you want to start a Pinterest account for your website. You’ll have to find ways to attract followers on Pinterest. There’s no way to automatically transfer your website readers over to have them become your Pinterest followers. You have to post pins to attract readers on Pinterest.
Now you’re posting articles on your website and posting pins on Pinterest. True, you can use the same content, that is your Pinterest pins are based on your website articles, so you don’t have to start from zero but you have added another thing to your to-do list.
Then you want to add an Instagram account for your website. Again, you’ll have to attract followers with content on the new platform.
Since each platform has its own quirks, you’ll have to figure out how to translate a website article for maximum appeal on each new platform. That means new images for more pins and posts. More for your to-do list.
So start small and keep it simple. Start with your website. Go on all the platforms you intend to use and register your brand name when you launch your website. Start with one social media platform when you launch, but wait a month, or even more, before you start the next one. Gradually add each platform so that by the end of your first year, your content is spread across them all.
You should use the social media platforms that your readers use.
Here’s some information on each of the major platforms to help you decide which you should focus on. (Thank you Pew Research Center for this information!)
- Reach: The largest social media platform, Facebook reaches 69% of all American
- Men vs Women: Slightly more women (75%) use Facebook than men (63%).
- AGES: Percentage of people who use social media who also use Facebook
- Under the age of 30 – 79%
- Age 30 to 49 – 79%
- Age 50 to 64 – 68% of
- Over the age of 65 – 46%
- Best Content: Text, video, photos
YouTube
- Reach: 73% of Americans
- Men vs Women: More men (78%) use YouTube than women (68%)
- Ages of Users:
- Under the age of 30 – 91%
- Age 30 to 49 – 87%
- Age 50 to 64 – 70%
- Over the age of 65 – 38%
- Best Content: Videos
- Reach: 37% of Americans
- Men vs Women: Slightly more women (43%) use Instagram than men (31%)
- Ages of Users:
- Under the age of 30 – 67%
- Age 30 to 49 – 47%
- Age 50 to 64 – 23%
- Over the age of 65 – 8%
- Best Content: Photos, short videos
- Reach: 27% of Americans
- Men vs Women: Slightly more men (29%) use LinkedIn than women (24%)
- Ages of Users:
- Under the age of 30 – 28%
- Age 30 to 49 – 37%
- Age 50 to 64 – 24%
- Over the age of 65 – 11%
- Best Content: Text and links, blog posts, group discussions
- Reach: 28% of Americans
- Men vs Women: Significantly more women (42%) use Pinterest than men (15%)
- Ages of Users:
- Under the age of 30 – 34%
- Age 30 to 49 – 35%
- Age 50 to 64 – 27%
- Over the age of 65 – 15%
- Best Content: Photos, text, short videos
- Reach: 22% of Americans
- Men vs Women: Slightly more men (24%) use Twitter than women (21%)
- Ages of Users:
- Under age 30 – 38%
- Age 30 to 49 – 26%
- Age 50 to 64 – 17%
- Over the age of 65 – 7%
- Best Content: Text (limited characters), photos, videos
What social media platforms are most likely to attract your ideal readers? What platform are you most comfortable using?
Are there other platforms you’ll be using to connect with your readers?
- Live cooking lessons
- Tasting dinners
- Podcasts
- Self-published e-cookbook
- Traditionally published printed cookbook
- Newspapers
- Food tours
- Industry newsletters
- Magazines
YOUR ASSIGNMENT
That’s a lot to take in, isn’t it?
Take a minute to look back at the questions about your interests and strengths. Think about what you want, what you’re most comfortable with. Remember that nothing here is set in stone. We’re looking for a starting point, a place to begin your food writing career and not trying to determine limits on your writing in the future.
Try combining a few topics, approaches, and audiences, like brunch for adventurous cooks. Does that appeal to you? Or does camping recipes for big families seem more like what you’d like to tackle?
Here’s your assignment: Take a look at your list of food writer qualities and goals. Go over the topic options we listed above. Add several more of your own ideas. Now pick one or two. Look at the audience and platform options again, adding several of your own ideas. Pick one or two of each. Mix and match a few choices. See what feels comfortable, what draws your attention.
So, what are your food writing qualities and goals?
What’s your topic? Do you have a special approach to that topic?
Who is your primary audience? What problem will you solve for them?
What’s your first platform?
Put all of those answers together and you have your niche.
WHAT’S NEXT
Narrowing your niche is hard work but once you’ve done it, you can start building on your choices. And because you know your goals, your topic, your audience, and your platforms, you have a clear, precise road map to launching your career as a food writer.
Next is choosing your brand name, setting up a website, and writing your first piece of content. We’re here to help with that.
Don’t forget to get a free copy of the Pick Your Food Writing Niche Workbook. The 22-page workbook takes you through each of the steps listed above. To get your free workbook, click here.
Check out our related post, Step One: Find Your Why.
