Go Epicurista
Christina Thomas is a foodie on a mission to #MakeSomedayHappen one delicious bite, sip and trip at a time. Her endless search for the best local eats and amazing dining experiences around the world led her to create GoEpicurista.com in 2013, a culinary travel blog voted top 2 local blog by Orlando Magazine readers in “Best of Orlando 2016”. She has drawn on her 20+ years of hospitality industry experience working in hotels, restaurants and event management plus her passion for food to become a hospitality consultant in all aspects of operations and marketing, as well as a freelance food travel writer, contributing regularly to publications like Orlando Sentinel’s Signature Magazine, Edible Orlando, Four Seasons Resort Taste Magazine, and other luxury, lifestyle and travel websites. Christina loves to develop travel inspired recipes perfect for easy entertaining and has worked on campaigns with Sunday Supper and Florida Strawberry Growers Association, Florida Beef Council, Idaho Potato, Mann’s and Florida Dairy. She’s a proud CK Mondavi Wines Brand Ambassador, has judged multiple local cooking competitions and is also a four-time Sunday Supper #Hashed Competition Champion! If you’re looking for the inside scoop on how to win the competition, she’ll happily tell you over a venti caramel macchiato or a glass of bubbles!
Repeated requests for advice from restaurant friends asking for help on how to work with bloggers, how to keep up with all the social media craziness, and how to take drool-worthy food photos, led Christina to create the first ever Food Service Social Media Bootcamp. There was no better place for this innovative program to be presented than the 5th Anniversary of the Food Wine Conference. Christina has been a proud supporting sponsor on the planning committee since 2014. Her unique perspective as a hospitality industry insider, a food and travel writer, a social media influencer, and most importantly as an avid fan of all things food inspired a program of of all ‘meat and potatoes’ with no filler – i.e. lots of actionable tips that food service operators can implement right away. She’s gathered some of the most respected bloggers, social media influencers and content developers to reveal the insider secrets of how to build relationships with influencers, how to maximize your digital presence and engage your customers online, and better yet how to turn them into raving fans. The world of bloggers and social media is unique and very different from traditional media. The same rules don’t apply. This one day intensive hands-on workshop covers the kind of information she wishes she had known when she was overseeing the operation of multiple food and beverage outlets at one of Orlando’s top convention hotels. Now she’s sharing it with you.