Ask An Admin: Social Media Manager Alli DelGrippo

Ask an Admin is an interview series spotlighting professionals in every corner of the restaurant world. Keep up with more restaurant industry content by following BentoBox on Instagram.

Alli DelGrippo has been in the wine industry for her entire career. After years of working in wine sales, she recently joined the teams at The Good King Tavern, le Caveau, and Superfolie, where she works as the Social Media & Events Manager.

Learn about why she thinks pausing to capture a social media moment is important & why the restaurant industry is so special to her in this month’s #AskAnAdmin.

What was your path to your current role?

I was in wine sales before moving into this role! I started with a distributor in Pennsylvania doing on-premise sales, then moved into a management role on the retail side in New Jersey during the pandemic. From there, I worked with a small importing biz (where I started working with The Good King and le Caveau teams), before working on the supplier side of wine sales, and then finally making my way to this team.

My role is a bit of a kitchen sink. I’m primarily responsible for our social media channels, and planning and executing our private events and special programming (collaborations, pop-ups, etc) and also work as a floor sommelier in both le Caveau and Superfolie!

Click here to see this post on Instagram.

Are there any tips you would suggest to other people in similar roles?

Don’t be afraid to capture the not-so-perfect moments and let it be collaborative! Don’t get me wrong: I love gorgeous, curated shots on a restaurant’s social channels. But my favorite content, and the content that seems to connect most with our audience, typically features the photos that I take on my phone in moments that feel organically intimate to our spaces. A lot of the time, it’s a glimpse “behind the curtain” of service — our team being goofy, the perfect le Caveau snack lineup being plated during a busy service, the froth on a just-shaken cocktail bubbling as it's poured into a glass.

I also ask both our teams and our guests to post and tag photos for their shots, which also contributes to the warmth of our pages. While I curate the majority of our content, and am selective with reshares (sometimes that post-pommes frites photo taken with a greasy lens doesn’t make the cut!) I love the collaborative warmth of having others’ photos, as well as the ones I take. We keep a shared album that is regularly updated, because while I know what details, dishes, and viewpoints I love about the spaces, everyone has their own favorites. I love noticing a new detail that I’ve never thought twice of before through our guests’ and teams’ eyes.

What is one thing you wish the FOH and BOH staff knew about your work in the office?

Restaurants are busy and every person on every team often has various responsibilities that they’re executing all at once. Because there is so much momentum in running a restaurant, pausing for social media can feel frustrating or like it’s not worth the time, but what I hope my teammates remember (especially when it feels like my camera is in the way) is that my goal is to champion how hard everyone’s working by highlighting our food and beverage programs, encouraging new guests to join us, and sharing the things that make our spaces special.

Do you like working in restaurants more than other industries?

Oh yes. I joke that I was born with generations of Italian women (the ultimate hospitality pros) echoing in my head at all times, so getting to make someone feel welcome — make sure their glass stays full, that they’re fed, and that they leave feeling cared — feels so special to get to facilitate, and I get to take part in that every night.

What’s a memorable moment you’ve had in one of your restaurants? Do you have a favorite?

Honestly, it’s a fairly magic moment for me every time I work on the floor at le Caveau. That space has always held a lot of wonder for me. I was reading about my now boss, Chloé, natural wine, and the space opening early in my career, while working on the commercial wine side of things. Knowing there were women working with natural wine so close by was a big motivator for me in making the switch from commercial wine sales to working in small production wine. The first sale I made while working in importing was to le Caveau, and so much of what I’ve learned about wine has come from time in that space.

In your opinion, what is a well-run restaurant group like and what can restaurant groups do to be more like that?

It’s about care: care for your team, for your food & beverage program, for your concept, and for your guest’s experience. That’s what makes this industry so special: the opportunity to show anyone you interact with on a given day that you’re thinking of them and are there to make their experience special.

Ask An Admin: Social Media Manager Alli DelGrippo

Recommended

Ask An Admin: Beverage Director Kenneth Crum

Ask An Admin: Major Food Group’s Kyra Suki Burner