Foodie Fork helps Abhimanyu maintain work-life balance

Dividing his days between blogging at Foodie Fork and working for an MNC, Abhimanyu Chhabra found a perfect way to follow his passion.

Looking back, where did it all begin? 

I have always been in love with all kinds of food. Since childhood, I would require a variety in day to day food and loved experimenting with it. A couple of years back I created my blog and joined Instagram to share my food experiences with everyone. It also gave me a way to sneak out from my monotonous corporate work life and do something I am not obliged to.

Soon, people began relating to it and love started pouring in.

What's in the name? 

I wanted a name that people across the globe can relate to, irrespective of their country, caste or food behaviour. So after some brainstorming, we came up with 'Foodie Fork'. 

What is your USP in this cluttered space? How does your content give you an edge?

Food blogging is more popular than ever and more people are joining in on a daily basis. I try to keep my posts simple and relatable so that everyone can connect to it.

Please take us through your content creation process. How do you stay relevant and relatable?

I try to post a healthy variety of day to day food and also fusion food so that it can be relatable to all kinds of audiences. Also, I take care of the time of posting for e.g. if I am posting in the morning I would post a breakfast item.

Also, I take all kinds of feedback positively and constantly try to improve.

How do you make moolah with your efforts?

I never started off this thing for commercial gain, my sole purpose was to sneak some time off my work-life and pursue a hobby. However, as the follower count grew, brands started contacting me for promotions and it has been healthy pour ever since.

I still try to post as per my comfort so that the sole purpose is not lost, ensuring my passion stays alive.

How do you maintain editorial objectivity with the influx of brand briefs?

If a brand's requirement conflicts with the interests of my followers, then I honestly tell them to amend the requirement and in almost all the cases the brands have been supportive and I have been able to do justice to both, the brand and my followers.

One instance/experience that made it all worthwhile

There have been instances where people would say "Oh you are Foodie Fork, I have been following you and I love your page". It makes it all worthwhile. 

Weirdest brand brief/request ever

One brand asked me to promote their female ethnic wear and that was weird. 

If not blogging, you would be?

I am already working for an American multinational information technology company, so if not blogging I would be travelling and gobbling around to maintain my work-life balance.

A day in your life...

As I am working as well as blogging, a typical day consists of both. I engage with my followers on my blog and Instagram whenever I take breaks and during office commute.

My day is distributed between work and passion.

Message/tips for upcoming bloggers

Keep it real don't fall for inorganic things. Also, all good thing takes time, don't rush up things and wait for results.

Your favourite influencer

Everybody is doing great work and it is really hard to have one single favourite. However, I really like the feed of nomnom24x7 and f_o_o_d_i_eee.

The future you foresee for your personal brand

I want to grow the reach of a page and do continuous improvement during the process. So that more and more people can relate to it and have more reasons to check my page out.