A Website Lets Influencers Eat For Free At Fancy Restaurants And For Some Reason People Are Shocked

The Model Restaurant is a concept that gives free food to ‘beautiful people’ or influencers (read: people with a high social media following the ‘gram) at luxe restos in London and across Europe.

The brainchild of Italian entrepreneur Giovanbattista Cimmino, the service is a win-win for both models and restaurants. Accepted applicants get to eat out at nice places while restaurants look busy, and get the benefit of further free-promotion via ‘gram posts from the chosen few.

And following news via Arabian Business that ‘The Model Restaurant’ is expanding into the Middle East, people shouldn’t be shocked. In fact, the influencer scene is pretty ripe for this.

A PR blast shared in the UK in May dubbed this as ‘free fine-dining for beautiful people’

And some find it hard to believe

This is like an exclusive ‘rent-a-crowd’ service but people shouldn’t be shocked

When I shell out for a restaurant in Dubai, I want the whole experience. Good food only gets you so far, and sitting in an empty restaurant, or a restaurant lacking atmosphere does impact the night.

And in Dubai, this can often be the case. To combat this, restaurants and restaurant PRs reach out to influencers on the daily with the offer of free meals, in exchange for coverage. So while The Model Restaurant may seem like an unsavory model, the company is simply calling it for what it is and providing a service.

This concept is not quite so simple for Dubai ‘fluencers

Unlike in other countries when barter deals are simply sealed via a #paid #tag on your #gram #post, in the UAE the blogging industry is regulated.

The long and short of the 2018 ‘fluencer regulations are if you’re going to accept something in exchange for a post on your social profile, it needs to be clearly marked as such, and you need to have a license issued by the UAE. Advertisements and barter deals must be clearly labelled.