Food Influencer Chris Franzoni Uses His Platform to Celebrate the City

Eight years ago, Chris Franzoni was just a guy with a cell phone who photographed his food. That is, until a food blogger friend encouraged him to do something with his snapshots.

“She was like, ‘You’re going out all of the time, you’re taking pictures of food and posting all of the time. Why don’t you have your own Instagram account just for food?’” In 2015, Franzoni started his food-focused social media account, EatMoreBeMore. “At the time, I had an hour-and-a-half commute to D.C. each way, which gave me time to think about what I wanted to post,” says the 42-year-old Franzoni, now the assistant attorney general for the State Labor Relations Boards. “So, I just started posting places I really liked.”

Others like them, too. Now with 143,000 followers on Instagram and 83,000 on TikTok, Franzoni has become one of the premiere food influencers in Baltimore. In the past year, his primary focus has moved from stationery stills to creating content—from previews of new places to themed videos for his lively 20-second reels and TikTok videos.

“Reels can be more entertaining—that’s the appeal,” he says. “You can pass on more information in a fun way and be a little more humorous.”

To make reels, Franzoni goes through the painstaking process of shooting and editing his video, writing a script, then adding the voice-over. “Reels are so much more work,” he says. “Gone is the day of snapping a picture in a restaurant, posting it, and getting a thousand likes. Each video is like a mini-motion picture.”

Franzoni is not in it for fortune or fame, rather he sees himself as a booster for Baltimore.

“When I was in law school in New York, every time I told someone that I’m from Baltimore, they’d say, ‘Is it really like The Wire?’ I got tired of that and saw it as an opportunity to shed light on everything our city has to offer.”