How Instagram helped the founders of The Infatuation quit their jobs and work full-time on food reviews

While at a food market called Dinerama in London's Shoreditch district, Chris Stang pulled out his phone, like so many of us would do, to snap a photo of the burger he was about to eat.

A snarky Londoner next to him glanced over and said, "What, do you have a food Instagram or something?"

Stang's reply: "Actually, yeah."

But Stang's page isn't just any little account: It's The Infatuation, a multi-city bar and restaurant review website that has a legion of diehard fans.

Stang, cofounder and CEO of The Infatuation, told Business Insider that when he explained to the stranger judging him for his food photo what his Instagram account was called, her immediate response was, "Oh my God, I follow that!" and pulled out her phone to show him the various Infatuation accounts (and there are many) that she followed on Instagram.

That conversation, Stang says, happened three months before The Infatuation even launched in London.

Were your friend

The Infatuation officially went live in London in April, but it had been gathering a following there for a while, as evidenced by Stang's run-in with a fan. The @infatuation_london Instgram account has 56,488 followers at last check.

A quick scroll through the page — and the company's other accounts, like @infatuation_nyc and @infatuation_sf — will show you mouth-watering photos of barbecue, pasta, and decadent desserts.

But what actually is The Infatuation?

But where its power really comes from is Instagram. The Infatuation runs 22 separate accounts — one for each of its active cities, a main account, plus accounts like @pizza, @avocadotoast, and @burger. The company also has its own branded hashtag, #eeeeeats, that has been used millions of times on Instagram —

e built and built and built on Instagram, and then...we went and grabbed as many of those food accounts as we could just to give us more real estate on a platform we were really committed too. Instagram for us has been massive, both for the community development and growth overall, our business."