Influencer Puts Elm City Under The Influence

A cocktail from Sherkaan that involves masala spices. A stacked burger from Prime 16. A grain bowl at B Natural, brimming with vegetables. A flight of beers at Bar … All of these and more have appeared recently on Sup New Haven, an Instagram hub and now standalone website that, in its own words, is ​“a lifestyle blog that focuses on New Haven restaurants, retail, events, local history, and everything else 2 – 0‑3.”

Sup New Haven is the brainchild of Alicia Rinaldi, who usually refers to herself as a blogger, though several other terms have emerged in recent years to describe what she’s doing. One is ​“influencer,” a term Rinaldi thinks may be overused; ​“if you call yourself an influencer, you’re probably not an influencer,” she said with a laugh. ​“It can be a little cringy.” Another newer phrase — content creator — feels like a more accurate fit, as Rinaldi does the research, writes the posts and takes the photos for Sup New Haven. 

“If I could do only one part of it, I would do that,” she said. But with over 9,500 followers and counting, a large part of running Sup New Haven is managerial, ​“responding to DMs and comments — you have to get to know the community. But the creation part is the fun part.”

Rinaldi, who is 27, grew up in Guilford and went to college in Miami, where she studied advertising. After graduating, she couldn’t find a full-time job, ​“so I just started posting things on Instagram,” she said, about local dining spots. She began attracting followers. A Miami real estate agent who was doing the same thing for events in Miami contacted her.“He wanted an Instagram feed to show other places beyond his events,” Rinaldi said. ​“There’s so much more to the city.” Also, as a real estate agent, he didn’t always have time to manage social and wanted someone to take over operations of it. Rinaldi agreed. Their efforts became The Brickell Scoop (Brickell is a neighborhood in Miami), which gathered over 25,000 followers and earned the support and trust of the local business community.

Rinaldi learned a lot about how to work social media from The Brickell Scoop, but ​“I didn’t have full control over it,” she said. ​“I was getting frustrated.” She also thought about where she was from. ​“Having lived in Miami, and running that page and seeing how effective it was, I wanted to start the concept in New Haven,” she said.

She wasn’t sure it would work. She noticed New Haveners weren’t quite as glued to their phones as Miamians were. ​“People aren’t 24/7 taking pictures of themselves” in New Haven, she said.

Then the Covid-19 shutdowns began. She saw local restaurants and other businesses were hurting, in part because they were taking pandemic protocols seriously. Compared to Miami, she said, ​“a lot more businesses took precautions that affected their bottom line.” She thought perhaps she could help draw attention to them. ​“Let me try it and see,” she said.

“I didn’t tell a single person that I started it,” Rinaldi said. She opened the Instagram account and in June 2020 posted a picture from in front of Sherkaan on Broadway.

“Our city has seen such an incredible transformation in the last few years,” she wrote. ​“So many new businesses and restaurants are opening up, and it’s become a destination for so many activities. This page was created to showcase the New Haven lifestyle — it will feature recommendations for local restaurants, services, events and more!⁠ If you have any suggestions for what you’d like us to post about, or if you want to send in your pictures, shoot us a DM or use #supnewhaven ‼️”

Soon after Rinaldi posted, someone commented and tagged her friend. ​“This page is made for us,” the first poster said. ​“Oh my gosh it is,” the friend replied.

In the next six months, as Rinaldi followed up with posts about Junzi Kitchen, Elm City Social, Milkcraft, and the Owl Shop, among many others, Sup New Haven attracted 1,000 new followers per month for six months. Meanwhile, she noticed businesses began tagging Sup New Haven when making posts of their own. Some restaurants started to approach her, inviting her to come in and try the food.

“I guess the concept worked,” she recalled thinking. Rinaldi guesses she still gets about 20 to 30 new followers a day.

The brevity of an Instagram post hides how much work can go into it, ​“when you really take the time to research all the businesses,” Rinaldi said — both scouring the internet and doing a lot of driving around. ​“I like learning about new places,” she said. ​“If there’s a place I haven’t seen I want to try it, not just go back to my favorite place. Maybe that’ll be my new favorite place.”

In the beginning, she did the work for free. Now it’s a combination of trade (a post in exchange for goods and services) and pay. ​“I would do this for free if the world was different,” she said; she needs to be compensated somehow, but also understands that ​“a lot of businesses are struggling to stay open and hire people.” When she visits, she said, ​“you get to know the people at the restaurant — the history of it, why they wanted to open it. We want to tell the story.” Also, ​“I take 500 pictures. I bring extra equipment with me.

Rinaldi isn’t alone in her niche as a food blogger; she’s part of a small constellation of other regional foodies, including Bald Bites and CT FoodGirly. Recently Westville’s kosher restaurant Fin and Scale hosted a dinner for regional influencers and Rinaldi said there were about 10 writers there.

Rinaldi knows that ​“people don’t want to be sold to,” and instead has sought to build something more like a community. Last week Rinaldi took the step of launching her own website for Sup New Haven in addition to maintaining its social media presence. Part of the reasoning involves more flexibility in presenting content, from more in-depth stories about the restaurants to creating a directory of New Haven spots.

Another involves ensuring her independence from social media in a changing landscape. ​“I have a theory that Instagram is just going to go poof and we’re going to lose everything,” she said. Even if that doesn’t happen, she’s not counting on the social media platform to continue to work for her as it has. ​“You never know with algorithm changes,” she said. ​“Instagram isn’t what it used to be. It’s becoming very pay to play. People are getting hacked, and there’s no customer service. It’s a gamble, just having an Instagram page. I wanted to diversify my platform.”

With Sup New Haven finding its footing, she has ideas to cover more events, from bar trivia nights to business openings and sidewalk sales. She also has longer-term ideas to perhaps expand to other small cities. But meanwhile, New Haven’s restarting social scene is enough to keep her busy, and she’s humbled by the way her platform serves as a conduit for New Haveners to get to know their city better.

“It’s a way for people to take pride in where they live,” she said.

Find Sup New Haven on Instagram and its own website.