In a world where AI is now at the forefront of most things, one restaurant fry cook decided he was going to do things differently. At Baba’s Chicken in California, fry cook Mike wanted to make sure their menu was jam-packed with realistic photos of what they actually sell in their restaurant. And the Internet loved it!
In Mike’s video (Babamike27), he explains that they’re “updating all of our menu photos,” at his restaurant. He hired a professional photographer, who then brought in what is known as a ‘food stylist’ along with him. Mike wondered what the food stylist was going to do and quickly discovered they’re the reason why we have so many delicious-looking photos on menus and in advertisements.
Mike gives a behind-the-scenes view of the food stylist going through every bun in stock at Baba’s to find what she deemed the “perfect bun.” She then picked out the most perfect pickles. After that, Mike saw the stylist set up a light box, meant to provide the best lighting. The food stylist took things to the next level after that. Mike found her with scissors, cutting out all the blemishes from their buns to make sure the sandwich looked perfect for their debut.
In several update videos, Mike showed viewers the end product when the stylist had everything set up and ready to go. I’ve seen a lot of chicken sandwiches in my time but they look absolutely perfect and ready to eat. In one update video, Mike says what this stylist does is a “craft” and it shows in her amazing work. And A+ to them for using a real photographer with real photos of their own food instead of taking a worse route!
People online praised Mike for avoiding the use of AI
On TikTok, dozens of comments came out in support of what Mike was doing. Some were photographers themselves, while others were just learning what a food stylist actually was.
“Hey thank you for hiring real artists!!!” reads one of the top comments. Another commenter, who shared they were a photographer, thanked Mike, stating they were “being pushed out” because of AI. “Thank you for investing in me getting the chance to have a future doing what I love 😭🖤”
One user cracked a joke, saying “Now hire me.. I am a food taster.. I taste all your food…..” Funny enough, there are jobs that include tasting food (separate from food critics). There was another who never heard of a food stylist before. “Wow!! That’s dope!!”
What’s becoming all too common is advertisements, especially from smaller businesses, using AI to show their food. Aside from the fact it sounds illegal, it’s completely stripping away a legitimate career opportunity from people. And how people responded in the comments, they aren’t liking it, either.
