Oh girls, I've been quiet on #scroungegate because it's very hard for me to say what I want to say without breaking cover, but here we go:
This how it goes for free meals: usually, the restaurant has a PR agency acting on their behalf. The PR agency has a budget and target demographic, which they then use to match with journalists and influencers. Annoyingly, most PR agencies in this arena are based in London, so they take influencers on face value.
When the journo or instagrammer goes for the meal, the cost gets deducted from the PR budget. It's usually capped per person. Tips are expected, as is a level of media coverage, be it print or online. Engagement stats are expected afterwards and many contracts contain a clause stating the giftee will repay the cost of their meal if that data is not provided and targets are not reached. It can act as a very savvy marketing strategy if executed correctly.
Now the bad news: so many restaurants simply cannot afford to engage PR agencies, so they don't know this is how it works. They will go online and just look for prolific instagrammers and invite them along. Or worse, they will receive a direct request from the instagrammer and feel a free meal is a small price to pay for exposure in these difficult times. Sadly, they don't have access to the data, don't know how to tell who uses fake followers, and in the majority of cases, don't put a contract together. People like Truff take advantage of this.
There will always be vultures circling a dying animal.
