How professional food photography grew a pie brand’s Swiggy and Zomato sales by 25%

Three months after our shoot, Sunanda Basu, the Pie Lady to her loyal regulars, sent me her numbers. Google enquiries had gone from one a month to six. Her Swiggy and Zomato sales were up by 25%.

Her pies and tarts had always been wonderful. More than 30 five-star reviews on Google said so. Word of mouth had built the food brand a loyal following, but online, where most new customers meet a brand first, it barely registered. Google sent just one enquiry a month.

What it lacked was a way to be found. And here’s how one focused shoot changed that.

The challenge: great reviews, invisible online

Like many growing food brands, this one began with DIY photos. They served well enough while customers already knew the brand. Strangers on an app are a tougher crowd.

Think about the last time you ordered from a delivery app. You probably decided in seconds, on the strength of a single photo. A wonderful pie that looks ordinary on screen simply gets scrolled past.

Sue wanted her bakery products listed properly on her website, Swiggy and Zomato, with images that could do the selling for her. She wanted a lean, focused shoot, so every image had to earn its place.

The approach: making the pies look as good as they taste

Sue’s brief came down to three things. A focused shoot, where every frame had to earn its place. Images that could sell her bakes on her website, Swiggy and Zomato. And images that were bright.

A listing works like a menu, and on a menu, lifestyle scenes only get in the way. They look lovely on a feed, but a hungry customer just wants to see the pie. So the focus was simple: clean hero images that let each pie speak for itself.

I photographed 10 to 12 products, each on its own, with two images apiece so every listing offered more than one view. Every image was clean, clear and true to the product, so a customer scrolling an app would know exactly what they were ordering. That included the size. Her pies are minis, smaller than the ones you usually find in the market, and on a phone screen every pie looks the same size. Shooting at a 45-degree angle showed off their depth and height, and I framed each one so a customer could judge its size at a glance.

Clean didn’t have to mean cold, though. A few frames included hands, reaching for a slice or holding a tart, to give them a human feel. That gave her a fresh set to use on her website, so it wouldn’t simply mirror her app listings.

With bakes this colourful, the aim was to let every colour shine. The tarts were the real test. The glaze has a lovely gloss, and catching that shine on camera took careful lighting. Once that was right, the rest followed

The styling wasn’t in the brief at all. Her tarts used to carry a different arrangement of toppings, so I reworked it for the camera. The new look didn’t stay on set, either. Sue now uses the same styling on the tarts she sells.

Every frame had one job: to help a stranger say yes.

The results

Sue shared her figures three months after the shoot, and they spoke for themselves.

+25% Swiggy and Zomato sales in three months

Google enquiries: from 1 a month to 6

The reviews had always been there, and so had the quality. What the new images gave new customers was a chance to see it before they ordered.

Six times the enquiries and a quarter more sales, all from one focused shoot.

In Sue’s words

Nisha’s work stood out because she understood my specific requirement. I would recommend her to anyone in the food business.

What you can take from this

Whether you run a D2C food brand, a café or a bakery, this pie brand’s story may sound familiar. Here’s what I’d want you to take away from it:

1. Reviews alone won’t sell your product. Customers need to see it before they trust the stars.
2. On aggregators, your photo is your shopfront. It’s often the first and only thing a customer looks at before ordering.
3. You don’t need a big production. You need a clear brief. Put everything into the shots that sell, and build from there.

Good food deserves to be seen. Sometimes, all it takes is the right picture to let it speak for itself.

Let’s talk

Is your product better than your photos make it look? Let’s fix that. I’ll take a look at your current listings and tell you honestly where better images could make the biggest difference.