The Food Blogger Pro Podcast

Strategies for growing on Instagram and Substack, the importance of staying consistent, and leaning into data with Jenn Lueke from Jenn Eats Goood.
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Welcome to episode 570 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Jenn Lueke.
How Jenn Lueke Grew to 1.7 Million Followers with Budget Meal Planning Content
Jenn Lueke started Jenn Eats Goood in 2018 as a college student — no strategy, no monetization plan, just a hobby Instagram account she loved running. For five years, growth was slow, but she remained consistent. Then in 2023, something clicked. She leaned into meal planning and budget grocery content, and everything changed. Within a year, she went from stalling in the thousands to crossing one million followers.
In this episode, Jenn and Bjork chat about all of it — what finally worked, how she prioritizes data in her content strategy, which platforms she's focusing on right now, and why she now considers her Substack newsletter her number one priority.
Three episode takeaways:
The importance of leaning into what is working — It took five years of trial and error, learning, experimenting, and testing before Jenn's following on social media started to grow. Her meal planning content really resonated with her audience, so she capitalized on the momentum of the series to grow her community (rather than reinventing the wheel)!
How Jenn built her team — Growth brings new challenges, and Jenn is candid about how hard it was to build a team in the beginning and what the division of labor looks like now that she's figured it out.
Why Jenn made Substack her number one priority — After just a couple of years, Substack is now the biggest revenue driver in Jenn's business. She and Bjork talk about how she balances free and paid content, what drives growth on Substack, and why it is the most important part of her business right now.
Resources:
Jenn Eats Goood
Liz Moody
Buy Back Your Time by Dan Martell
Q&A: Using Substack as a Food Creator — for Food Blogger Pro members
Don't Think About Dinner
Follow Jenn on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Substack, and YouTube
Join the Food Blogger Pro Podcast Facebook Group
Thank you to our sponsors!
This episode is sponsored by Clariti.
Interested in working with us too? Learn more about our sponsorship opportunities and how to get started here.
If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to [email protected].
Learn more about joining the Food Blogger Pro community at foodbloggerpro.com/membership.

Building a thriving email list, setting boundaries for your business, and leaning into your voice with Liz Wilcox.
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Welcome to episode 569 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Liz Wilcox.
How to Write Emails Your Readers Actually Want to Open
Early on in Liz's career as a content creator, she noticed a pattern: the most successful creators all had one thing in common — a thriving email list. So she started hers from day one, and she never looked back.
In the following years, Liz sold her travel blog, went all in on teaching email marketing, built a membership with 4,000 members, and — plot twist — competed on Survivor while her business kept running, generating $1,000 a day in revenue while she was literally on an island with no phone.
In this episode, Liz and Bjork talk about what it actually takes to build an email list that drives real business results, how she transitioned from one-on-one client work to a scalable membership model, and why she believes the biggest thing holding most creators back from email success isn't strategy — it's that they've stopped sounding like themselves. She also shares the mindset shifts, boundary-setting practices, and growth tactics that have made her business not just profitable, but genuinely sustainable.
Three episode takeaways:
Why email is the most important investment you can make in your business — Liz shares the tactics that have worked for building her list and her membership to 4,000 members, including live events, collaborations, freebie swaps, and affiliate marketing. She also talks about why getting in front of people and showing your face matters more than ever and why giving people a real reason to trust you is the foundation everything else is built on.
How Liz built a business with real boundaries — From knowing what "enough" looks like financially to the practice of saying no, Liz talks about the discipline and intentionality that have shaped her business.
The biggest email mistakes food creators make (and how to fix them) — Liz has seen a lot of creator newsletters, and she knows exactly where things go wrong. She shares the most common mistakes she sees and why leaning into your humanity, writing like yourself, and showing that you're genuinely invested in your readers can make all the difference.
Resources:
LizWilcox.com
Kirk DeWindt
Morgan Housel
Kit
Craft + Commerce
Liz's Email Marketing Membership
Follow Liz on Instagram and Facebook
Join the Food Blogger Pro Podcast Facebook Group
Thank you to our sponsors!
This episode is sponsored by Yoast and zZest.
Interested in working with us too? Learn more about our sponsorship opportunities and how to get started here.
If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to [email protected].
Learn more about joining the Food Blogger Pro community at foodbloggerpro.com/membership.

Breaking down the pros and cons of AI Buttons, discussing clickable links in Instagram, and digging into Google's test replacing search titles with AI-generated titles with Bjork Ostrom and Emily Walker from Food Blogger Pro.
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Welcome to episode 568 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork is sitting down to chat with Emily Walker from the Food Blogger Pro team!
Food Blogging News Roundtable: AI Buttons, Instagram Links, and Google Rewriting Your Titles
In this roundtable episode, Bjork and Emily break down the biggest stories impacting food creators so you can stay informed and make smart decisions for your business.
From a new HubSpot marketing report that has some encouraging news for creators who lead with their personality, to a quiet Google experiment that could have big implications for every recipe title you've ever carefully crafted — there's a lot to cover! Bjork and Emily also dig into the AI button debate (should you install one on your site?), what Instagram's new caption link test means for food bloggers, and how Pinch of Yum approaches testing site changes before rolling them out broadly.
Four episode takeaways:
Good news for food creators who show up as real humans — 63% of marketers say that more unique, human-centered content is now required to stand out. Bjork and Emily break down what this means for food bloggers specifically, why short-form video has the highest ROI of any content format right now, and why thinking of yourself as a marketer — with a novel, standout, distinct brand — is more important than ever.
Everything you need to know about AI buttons — Should you install an AI button on your site? Bjork and Emily explain what AI buttons are, how they work, and the pros and cons of adding one from both a user experience and SEO perspective.
Instagram is testing clickable links in post captions — For the first time in Instagram's history, the platform is testing the ability to embed clickable links directly inside post captions. Right now the feature is limited to Meta Verified subscribers, but if it rolls out broadly it would be a meaningful shift for food creators. Bjork and Emily discuss what this could mean for your content strategy and what we know (and don't know) so far.
Google is experimenting with replacing your titles with AI-generated ones — As part of a small experiment, Google is testing replacing original post titles with AI-generated titles in traditional search results, with the stated goal of rewriting "tone and intent to better match queries and boost engagement." Bjork and Emily break down why this is concerning for food bloggers — from negating careful keyword research and ruining brand voice to creating a mismatch with user intent — and how this differs from Google's long-standing practice of rewriting meta descriptions.
Resources:
The State of Marketing
AI buttons: Smart UX play, risky GEO tactic, or both?
Feast
Hubbub
Shareaholic
Instagram tests clickable links in post captions for Meta Verified users
Google confirms AI headline rewrites test in Search results
SEO Testing
What Food Bloggers Need to Know About AI Search and the Fight for Fair Traffic with Adam Gallagher from Inspired Taste
Join the Food Blogger Pro Podcast Facebook Group
Thank you to our sponsors!
This episode is sponsored by Member Kitchens and zZest.
Interested in working with us too? Learn more about our sponsorship opportunities and how to get started here.
If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to [email protected].
Learn more about joining the Food Blogger Pro community at foodbloggerpro.com/membership.

Writing a compelling book proposal, demystifying the financial reality of cookbook publishing, and sharing what publishers are looking for in a cookbook author with Sally Ekus from The Ekus Group.
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Welcome to episode 567 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Sally Ekus.
How to Write a Cookbook Proposal and Land a Book Deal with Sally Ekus
Have you ever wondered what it actually takes to get a cookbook deal — and whether your platform is big enough to make it happen? Sally Ekus, a literary agent specializing in the cookbook space, is here to pull back the curtain on the entire process.
In this episode, Sally shares exactly what she looks for when evaluating potential cookbook authors, how to build a proposal that stands out, and what a realistic book deal might look like depending on the size of your audience. Whether you're dreaming of a cookbook or just starting to explore the idea, this episode will give you a clear and honest roadmap for what the path forward actually looks like.
Three episode takeaways:
What publishers are really looking for in a cookbook author — Sally breaks down the four pillars she evaluates in every potential author: platform, concept, voice, and personality. She explains why your social media following matters (and which platforms publishers care most about), why a consistent email newsletter can set you apart, and how to demonstrate that you can actually convert your audience into book buyers.
How to write a compelling cookbook proposal — A great proposal goes far beyond a list of recipes. Sally walks through what to include, how to articulate your unique concept, and why aligning your book idea with the stories you already tell in your content is so important. She also shares how a standout proposal can help offset a smaller following — because showing how you reach your audience is just as important as how many people you reach.
The financial reality of cookbook publishing — From the structure of a book advance to earning it out, royalties, and what a deal might realistically look like based on your platform size, Sally demystifies the money side of cookbook publishing. She also makes the case for why many creators write cookbooks even knowing most won't earn beyond the advance — brand extension, legacy, and sharing a meaningful message are all powerful reasons to pursue it.
Resources:
The Ekus Group
Not So Secret Agent
391: Behind the Scenes of the Cookbook Publishing Process with Sally Ekus
JVNLA
Lat14
Karyn Tomlinson
Theo of Golden
Pinch of Yum
Follow Sally on Instagram
Join the Food Blogger Pro Podcast Facebook Group
Thank you to our sponsors!
This episode is sponsored by Yoast.
Interested in working with us too? Learn more about our sponsorship opportunities and how to get started here.
If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to [email protected].
Learn more about joining the Food Blogger Pro community at foodbloggerpro.com/membership

Navigating the AI Search landscape and advocating for fair traffic for food bloggers with Adam Gallagher from Inspired Taste.
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Welcome to episode 566 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Adam Gallagher from Inspired Taste.
What Food Bloggers Need to Know About AI Search and the Fight for Fair Traffic
Adam and Joanne Gallagher have been running Inspired Taste since 2009 — long enough to have lived through every major shift in how Google works, from early SEO best practices to AI Overviews. But what's happening right now feels different, and Adam isn't staying quiet about it.
In this episode, Adam and Bjork dig into the current state of search from the perspective of a creator who has spent 15+ years playing by Google's rules — only to watch those rules change in ways that feel fundamentally unfair to creators.
This is also a conversation about what comes next — equal parts anxiety and optimism — and what creators can actually do right now to advocate for a more fair and sustainable version of AI-powered search.
Three episode takeaways:
What AI Overviews are doing to your traffic — Adam breaks down what position zero actually means and how AI Overviews are affecting the gap between impressions and click-through rates. He and Bjork also unpack the strange irony at the heart of the current moment: Google spent years penalizing creators for scaled content, and is now surfacing AI-generated recipes — essentially the definition of scaled content — at the top of search results.
Why Adam chose to block AI crawlers from Inspired Taste — Adam shares the reasoning behind his decision to block ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude from crawling his site, and why he believes creators have both the right and the responsibility to push back on how their content is being used.
What you can do now to improve the future of search for food creators — Adam shares what he believes needs to change in how Google handles AI Mode and AI search results to make them more fair for creators, and why he thinks advocacy could actually move the needle. He also talks about the importance of communicating directly with your audience about what's happening to help them understand why supporting independent creators and seeking out real, tested recipes matters (watch the two Reels linked in the Resources section to see how Adam and Joanne are doing this at Inspired Taste).
Resources:
Inspired Taste
AI Slop Recipes Are Taking Over the Internet — And Thanksgiving Dinner
Raptive
Pinch of Yum
Cloudflare
NerdPress
The Last Invention
Robby Stein
Rajan Patel
First Instagram Reel about AI Recipes
Second Instagram Reel about AI Recipes
NBC News: Why AI holiday recipes can't handle the heat
Follow Inspired Taste on Instagram and Adam on LinkedIn
Join the Food Blogger Pro Podcast Facebook Group
Thank you to our sponsors!
This episode is sponsored by Clariti.
Interested in working with us too? Learn more about our sponsorship opportunities and how to get started here.
If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to [email protected].
Learn more about joining the Food Blogger Pro community at foodbloggerpro.com/membership.