Shaping the UK's Dining Scene
Where do the best chefs, food critics and celebrities like to eat? Who does the best roast? The best burger? The best pizza? Social Media sensation Top Jaw has all answers. And on what better authority than the likes of Grace Dent, Michel Roux Jnr and Jason Atherton to name a few. Having looked through their last 75 "Best of London" interviews – the most mentioned overall restaurants include The Devonshire, Chishuru, St. John’s, Bouchon Racine, Hide and The River Café. Bleecker wins burgers and Mozza wins pizza… but Pizza Express is best if you ask Jay Rayner or Macus Wareing… Top Jaw’s catchy interview format has taken the UK by storm and built up a following of over 1 million across Instagram, Tik Tok and YouTube.
From its origins in longer-form 20 minute city guide clips on YouTube, Top Jaw pivoted towards snackable, short-form videos that resonate with generation TikTok and beyond. The duo’s "Best of" series have been particularly successful, catapulting lesser-known establishments into the limelight as well as celebrating much loved classics. One example is Donia, a small Filipino restaurant in London, which saw its Instagram following spike by more than 50% after it was featured (as reported by the FT). It's "best of" series is viral by nature, restaurants are tagged and then often interviewed themselves. Beyond the format, its success lies in its information (giving an insiders edge on where to eat), its high profile guests, each exposing their following to Top Jaw, its up-beat, its cheeky chappy presenters, and its much needed authenticity. This is the restaurant world's version of a peer review - it's where those in the know, those who have dedicated their careers to food, recommend. Mentions cannot be bought. Unless you are Deliveroo, who sponsor a "best of Deliveroo" edition designed to highlight the most deserving restaurants on their platform.
In an age where food culture is increasingly shaped by social media, it's interesting to note the Top Jaw collaboration with the Step: Your World App a year ago. In essence, Step offers digital maps of curated restaurants, shops and cultural experiences. A way for tastemakers to monetise their recommendations, users pay a subscription fee and can see all tagged locations on an interactive map. As a recent subscriber myself, I can say it makes it much easier to remember relevant recommendations at the right time and place, or discover new cities. Whilst apps like this are nothing new - Google has had a similar function for a long time - Step: Your World has an enviable list of "curators" across food, fashion and culture, and a glossy interface that is nice to look at and easy to use. Alongside TopJaw is Service 95 (Dua Lipa's platform for global recommendations) and a host of painfully cool models, DJs, creatives and food stylists. It's still early days, Top Jaw has just shy of 8.5k subscribers, which at £30 per year represent a quarter of a million sales going through the app in year one, and plenty of room to grow. The app now has 220k users, up from 50k in 2021.
In the long-term, if peer to peer platforms like this improve and grow, it may start a quiet revolution in how consumers choose restaurants. The Step: Your World proposition sits somewhere between Monocle and TripAdvisor. Compared to traditional review sites, recommendations are curated, and it circumvents issues around fake reviews or the fact that some people are more easily pleased than others (I have learnt to take reviews of vegetarian or vegan restaurants with a pinch of salt, since a segment of customers are just grateful to be catered to!). On the other hand, it's harder to keep recommendations up to date if somewhere goes downhill since it is not based on a continuous sample of visits. Compared to Monocle, it's doesn't yet cover as many cities, but again there is the advantage of the map and interactive app where you can save which pins you like, as well as the fact you can pick and choose which “curators” to follow.
Should Top Jaw continue to build influence, the winners will be those who meaningfully engage with the hospitality industry itself. By leveraging platforms like Code, which allows hospitality workers to visit establishments with certain benefits, restaurants can foster a that community. Additionally, being recognised as a good employer will encourage teams to talk positively about your brand, and given the transitory nature of hospitality jobs, word quickly gets around. Another clever way to engage the community is through mash ups and collaborations. Examples include Pho X Doh Hut, Pizza Pilgrim's guest specials and the Quo Vadis "& friends" series featuring famous chefs and restaurants for ticketed events. Ultimately though, the dining experience will have to deliver to the most discerning critics - those who live and breathe the industry. By getting those people through the door and ensuring they leave impressed, restaurants can harness the power of peer-to-peer recommendations.
So, what does the rise of Top Jaw signal for the future? One thing that stands out the way that AI and algorithms increasingly shape what we see, eat, and recommend. Algorithms feed us content that aligns with our past preferences (after researching this piece, Top Jaw is consistently the first thing that comes up on my For You page). These algorithms push us toward culinary choices that reinforce our established tastes, creating personalised yet potentially narrow echo chambers. While Top Jaw succeeds in breaking through this bubble by featuring diverse voices and fresh perspectives, it’s easy to envision a future where AI completely curates our dining experiences. Machine learning could eventually predict and recommend the “perfect” restaurant for any occasion, based on our preferences, location, diet or mood.
For restaurant businesses, this shift has significant implications. As AI-driven recommendations become more powerful, the establishments that thrive will be those that understand how to engage these algorithms effectively. Savvy digital marketing, a strong social media presence, and strategic collaborations will be essential tools for staying visible. Restaurants that harness the power of Social Media while maintaining authenticity will have a distinct competitive advantage.