How Saumya & Vishu run the Road To Taste

Following 3 Rs, Relevant, Regular and Responsible, have been key to the existence of Road To Taste over the last four years.

Before starting a blog, it is important for you to have stories to tell. It is perhaps even more important for food bloggers. After visiting about 15 places in a year, collecting stories and memories, Vishu and Saumya felt they were ready to share these in the form of a blog, Road To Taste.

Looking back, where did it all begin?

It all began on our first anniversary trip to Rann of Kutch and Diu. After being married for 1 year and travelling to more than 15 places during that span along with a full-time job, we decided to share our stories with the world. The idea for blogging was conceptualized then and to turn it into Road To Taste took us 3 months. We launched our blog on 10th April 2016. Coincidentally, that's Vishu's birthday too.

What's in the name? 

For us, the name should depict the essence of the blog. As we both love travelling, especially road trips and food is the spice of a trip/destination we named it RoadtoTaste. Roads travelled, food tasted and experiences garnered is our mantra!

What is your USP in this cluttered space? How does your content give you an edge?

Being yourself is the USP. Be original, be honest to your craft and things will slowly fall into place.

The content that we create are most relatable, genuine and we promote responsible tourism through our content which we believe is necessary for people to understand and follow us if they like our work.

Please take us through your content creation process. How do you stay relevant and relatable?

We believe in exploring the unexplored most of the time. We visit places which are usually unheard of and indulge with the locals there to understand their culture, lifestyle and learn the best practices they follow. This makes us get close to nature and create content which is most relatable and relevant. Having said that, visiting the popular places at a destination and trying the local cuisines there also helps us in creating the most relatable content.

How do you make moolah with your efforts?

Brand collaborations and paid promotions are a part of our job. Along with that, we manage social media platforms for various clients which includes resorts, hotels and food brands which help us make a living.

How do you maintain editorial objectivity with the influx of brand briefs?

Weaving stories around a brand brief, injecting the brand within the story is what we aim at. We try to keep the story concentrated around the topic chosen and introduce the brand where it goes most apt with the flow of the story. We refrain from doing completely promotional articles and always try to share relevant content with our audience even if it is promotional.

Also Read: With her blog, Nikita Varma hopes to make people aware of diverse cuisines

One instance/experience that made it all worthwhile

Last year during the Travel Earth Awards in Sabah when we were chosen the 'Travel Influencer of the Year' among a list of esteemed bloggers and influencers, it all seemed worthwhile. The feeling of accomplishment and recognition at such a big platform made all our efforts and hard work stand true to the fact that there is no shortcut to success and patience pays.

Weirdest brand brief/request ever:

There hasn't been a weird request as such however when brands come up with expectations like creating content and giving them multiple posts on social media platform in barter that's weird for us sometimes. We don't understand how brands can expect us to put in loads of hard work and creativity in promoting their product and don't expect any monetary benefits from it. Brands should also understand that this is our job and products don't pay bills, money does.

If not blogging, you would be?

Being an engineer by profession, we both have worked as IT Consultants in the past. However, if we weren't a blogger we would definitely be in a creative field like radio jockeying or event management.

A day in your life...

A typical day when we aren't travelling starts with both of us having breakfast together. Post that Vishu heads out to his office and I start working on the brands for which I handle the social media. This includes handling our social media, posting new blogs, planning future travel and replying to the queries or comments received through email or personal messages. Once Vishu is back from office in the evening we sit for some time and discuss each other's day over a cup of tea or coffee. After the evening snacks both me and Vishu work together on new blogs, new travel plans and other work related to the blog. This is usually followed by dinner and sometime together before we call it a day.

Message/tips for upcoming bloggers

For all those who aspire to be a travel blogger, they should be a traveller first. Once they have travelled enough that they have numerous stories to share they can start their blog. Also, it is very important to follow the 3 Rs, i.e. Relevant, Regular and Responsible. 

Your Favorite Influencer

We don't have a favourite influencer to list however we do respect and admire the creativity and hard work put in by the creators. When it comes to inspiration, every traveller is an inspiration for us.

The Future you foresee for your Personal Brand

We want to travel the world and explore the remotest and beautiful areas. We want to make RoadtoTaste a one-stop destination for all the travel, food and lifestyle-related needs of every individual.