Meet Carly Spears | Creator & Restaurant Marketing Consultant

We had the good fortune of connecting with Carly Spears and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Carly, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
From a very early age, I had a strong interest in food. Beginning with baking banana bread and eventually evolving into a curiosity to try new cuisines and restaurants, my passion for the food and beverage industry has always been obvious.

With a strong business & culinary education and agency & restaurant marketing background; I began to get inquiries from chefs and restaurateurs to help consult for their businesses. After working in the agency world for four years and internally for restaurants for two, I decided it was time to take the leap, starting my own restaurant marketing consulting business.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
With ten years of Food & Beverage agency and restaurant marketing experience, my combination of culinary and marketing expertise is fairly unique in the creator world. My curiosity for developing food trends and travel coupled with a dedicated audience of true food enthusiasts is what continues to inspire my content creation every day.

Beginning at the food marketing agency THP, I learned the invaluable knowledge of growing a business alongside recipe development, food styling, photography and video. From there, I worked as the head of marketing for a restaurant group, opening the first food hall in Toronto – Assembly Chef’s Hall. Here, I furthered my knowledge of working with chefs and restaurateurs, a challenging experience drastically unique to working with major brands and recipe developers. I am so excited every day to bring this unique combination of experience in the food world to small and medium sized restaurants, when it comes to launching their marketing strategies.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?

First and foremost: Joe’s Stone Crab. Sometimes the classics are vital and, in this case, it is! In season, we’d order jumbo claws, their iconic fried chicken, hashbrowns and, of course, key lime pie! Plus, not everyone knows how insanely amazing their bread pudding is too.

For a vibrant atmosphere, great cocktails and their signature Mediterr-Asian cuisine: Mila is a must.

For epic brunch: B Bistro. Followed by a little stroll around Brickell.

Rooftop at the One for lunch or drinks.

Head over to the Miami design district for fresh Greek cuisine in the courtyard of Mandolin.

Walk down the narrow alley behind a poke shop where you’ll find Nossa Omakase – a unique, theatrical omakase experience.

Then, of course, a little DJ action at LIV ….

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?

Cooking with family in the kitchen during childhood followed by gluing myself to the Food Network at a young age are where I owe my initial inspiration and strong interest in food.

Throughout the years, it has been working closely with many of the best chefs in Toronto, New York and Palm Beach, attempting to accurately highlight their incredible passion through my own content and stories.

Website: www.thechewreview.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/thechewreview

Other: TikTok @TheChewReview

Image Credits
Michael Gozum – personal photo of me.