The conversation around Instagram hashtags shifts every year, and there are always voices declaring them dead. The reality in 2025 is more nuanced: hashtags still matter, but how they work and how many you should use has changed significantly. A restaurant hashtags Instagram strategy built on dropping thirty generic tags under every post will do very little for your reach. A thoughtful, targeted approach using the right mix of tag types will still drive meaningful discovery — and for local food businesses, that discovery translates directly into foot traffic.
The key shift is that Instagram now reads post content more like a search engine and less like a tag-matching system. Hashtags still signal what your content is about and who should see it, but they work best when they are genuinely relevant to the post, specific enough to reach an engaged audience, and varied enough to cover different segments of potential customers. A generic tag like #food reaches a billion posts and almost nobody who is actually looking for your restaurant. A specific tag like your city plus your cuisine type reaches a smaller but far more qualified audience.
Do Hashtags Still Matter in 2025?
Yes, but their function has evolved. The most important change is that Instagram has explicitly stated that keyword search — where users type a phrase into the search bar — is now as important a discovery channel as hashtag browsing. This means that using relevant keywords in your caption and alt text works alongside hashtags rather than being replaced by them.
Hashtags still serve a specific purpose: they categorise your content within the platform's index and make it findable to users who browse specific tags. The hashtag strategy food business owners need to focus on is relevance and specificity over volume. Three well-chosen hashtags outperform thirty irrelevant ones because the algorithm uses hashtag relevance as a quality signal.
The Mix Strategy — Broad, Niche, Local, and Branded
A strong restaurant hashtags Instagram strategy uses four types of tags in combination. Broad hashtags like #foodie or #instafood have enormous audiences but enormous competition — your post will appear briefly and then be buried. They contribute little reach on their own but signal to the algorithm what your content category is.
Niche hashtags are where most of the discovery value lives. Tags like #slowcookedlambshoulder, #naturalnaturalwine, or #handmadepasta reach a smaller audience of people who are genuinely interested in that specific thing. They are the niche hashtags restaurant owners consistently underuse, probably because they feel obscure. But a user browsing #handmadepasta is significantly more likely to book a table at your restaurant than one browsing #food.
Local food hashtags Instagram are the most powerful category for driving actual foot traffic. Your city, your neighbourhood, your local food scene — these tags connect you with people in your area who are actively looking for somewhere to eat. Use combinations of area + cuisine (#manchesterjapanese), area + meal (#londonbrunch), and your city's general food tags (#eatEdinburgh, #NYCfood). These are the tags most likely to result in a booking.
Branded hashtags are tags you create and own: your restaurant's name, a signature dish, a seasonal menu campaign. They build a searchable archive of your content and encourage customers to use them when they post about their visits.
How Many Hashtags to Use
The old advice of using all thirty available hashtag slots is outdated. Current evidence and Instagram's own guidance points toward three to ten highly relevant tags being more effective than thirty generic ones. The platform has explicitly cautioned against using hashtags that are not genuinely connected to your content, framing it as a form of spam.
A practical approach: use three to five for most posts, focusing on the niche and local categories. Add one or two broad tags as categorical signals and one branded tag on every post. This totals around seven, which is a solid number — enough to aid discovery without looking like a tag dump that undermines the credibility of your content.
Finding Local Hashtags That Drive Foot Traffic
Search your city and neighbourhood name in Instagram's search bar and look at what food-focused tags appear with significant post counts. Browse those tags to see what other local restaurants and food accounts are using. Note any tags that show active, recent posting and where the content is genuinely local — these are the tags your target customers are browsing.
Attend to hyper-local tags too: your specific neighbourhood or district, local landmarks, or local events. A user browsing #ShoreditchFood is highly locatable and highly relevant to a Shoreditch restaurant. The local food hashtags Instagram that work hardest are often the most specific ones, not the broadest city-level tags.
Creating and Owning a Branded Hashtag
A branded hashtag — ideally your restaurant's name, or a campaign-specific phrase — creates a permanent, searchable content archive on Instagram. Every post you make using it, and every post a customer makes using it, builds a growing gallery of content associated with your brand.
Encourage customers to use your branded hashtag by mentioning it on your menu, on a small card at the table, or in your Instagram bio. When users post with your tag, engage with those posts — like them, comment, repost to your story. This creates a community loop: customers feel seen, others want to participate, and your reach grows organically.
Where to Put Hashtags — Caption Versus Comment
Both placements work. Putting hashtags in the caption means they are indexed immediately on posting, which matters for trending or time-sensitive tags. Putting them in the first comment keeps the caption cleaner and is a preferred approach from a visual standpoint, particularly for longer captions where tags would appear disruptive. The difference in reach between the two placements is negligible, so choose based on aesthetics and post to your comments immediately after publishing.
Monitoring Hashtags via Instagram Insights
Instagram Insights shows you, post by post, how many accounts you reached and through which discovery channels. After posting with your current hashtag set, check Insights after 48 to 72 hours and look at the "From Hashtags" reach figure. Over several posts, you can begin to see which combinations drive meaningful reach and which deliver almost nothing. Remove underperforming tags and test replacements. This iterative approach means your hashtag strategy food business gradually improves based on real data rather than guesswork.
What to Avoid
Banned hashtags — tags that Instagram has restricted due to associated spam or inappropriate content — will cause your post to underperform across all tags, not just the banned one. Check any new hashtag by searching it: if it shows a warning rather than recent posts, do not use it. Irrelevant stacks — tagging a dish photo with tags related to lifestyle or travel because they have high volume — is the classic spam pattern that Instagram now penalises.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I use the same set of hashtags on every post? No. Using an identical set of tags repeatedly is a pattern Instagram associates with spam and may reduce your reach. Vary your hashtags based on the content of each post. Keep a core set of branded and local tags constant, but rotate your niche and broad tags.
Are hashtags as important on Reels as on static posts? Hashtags play a smaller role on Reels than on static posts because Reels are primarily distributed through the algorithm's content recommendations rather than hashtag browsing. For Reels, keyword relevance in the caption and use of trending audio have a larger impact on reach than hashtags. That said, three to five relevant tags still help with categorisation and should be included.
How do I find niche hashtags specific to my cuisine type? Search your cuisine category in Instagram's search bar, then browse related tags. Look at what the best-performing accounts in your cuisine type are using. Also search the specific techniques, ingredients, and dishes your restaurant is known for — these often have active, engaged communities of users who follow them.
Ready to turn your restaurant's story into content that fills tables? Get your free restaurant content plan from Hero Content.