Food Writer

Responsibilities

• Travel around the Philadelphia region - Northeast Philadelphia, Montco, Delco, Bucks, North Philly, South Jersey - to get a sense of the food scene beyond what goes on downtown and Fishtown/Northern Liberties
• File multiple times a week with news, critical takes, taste reports, trend coverage, profiles, etc.
• We want to deepen coverage of what our audience already craves from the Inquirer while evolving the ways that we tell stories and the platforms that we tell them on
• Regularly conceive and contribute to food guides and maps that cover the entire region, from bakeries in South Jersey to post-Soviet cuisine in the Northeast to the best strip mall dining off of route 202
• Contribute to our including our annual collection of the area’s most important restaurants
• Work with existing food staff and across the newsroom on expansive collaborative projects that help define what matters in the Philly food scene
• Collaborate with other newsroom teams when cross-beat stories occur, working with the expertise of other editors and reporters
• Work with social and video teams to package content for social media, including camera-facing work allowing them to grow into a food personality who represents the Inquirer
• Contribute to an inclusive and positive work environment

Requirements

• 3+ years writing experience or equivalent, with a background in food reporting
• Strong reporting chops and the ability to go into new communities to find stories
• Someone who knows Philly and its suburbs well or is willing to put in the time to do so
• Social media savvy (especially Instagram and/or TikTok)
• A valid driver's license & reliable transportation, and a desire to hit the road in search of what’s new and interesting
• Willingness to be a public-facing persona, with regular appearances on camera

Skills

• Reporting and research skills necessary to become a subject matter expert and cut through hype
• Strong writing skills, including use of alternative story forms and conversational voice
• Skills in brainstorming, planning, and coordinating multimedia storytelling
• Audience awareness: come in with ideas about the service you are providing that no one else is doing in this space, and then be prepared to evaluate the success of those ideas and pivot based on analytics and feedback