Note: Snoop seems to have his own ice cream brand Dr Bombay, I don’t know much about the background, but that seems irrelevant for the point I want to make right now. Random article for background: https://www.forbes.com/sites/desjahaltvater/2026/04/20/dr-bombay-ice-cream-and-hip-hops-cultural-code-in-snacking/

You may have seen the post: Snoop Dogg is recruiting an ‘International ice cream taster’ and you’d be paid $10,000 a month. WOW. Job of your dreams, right? And so accessible! Right in front of you on social media! Quick, apply now because I’m sure lots of people will want to travel the world eating ice cream.

First of all , great for press/ earned media because this is a very unique way of recruiting. Press eats it up.

There’s a link available from a recruitment agency, Deel, advertising the coolest job on the planet.

With a simple click, you can apply.

I’m walking you through the process with screenshots:

The flavours you can click are existing flavours from his brand, I presume.

In a next step, you are asked to write a social media post. Still seems like a valid sample of what you can do for for the recruiter’s selection process.

Except it seems automated in AI.

Anyway, this is your application and let’s hope for the best. It’s the email that followed that made me laugh but also frown:

REALLY.

In an email that reads like an interested recruiter’s message, the next ask is a video audition. At this point, you are invested so you are thinking why not? Except you are not sending it to a recruiter, but you are posting it on your personal social media, tagging all the companies involved.

Congratulations, you are now a free influencer and you have now dragged all your friends, family and followers into an advertising message, hoping for a job that will never be yours.

A post on their story tells us that their server went down, as a demonstration of the overwhelming success of this job listing. Everybody and their grandmother applied. Which means your chance of being recruited is next to nothing.

But thanks for your enthusiastic posts of your application video! You really gave it your all, as if you were hoping to be chosen for the job of a lifetime!

Very curious to see if the Internet will get flooded with videos of aspiring ice cream tasters.

But my point is mostly: it’s a little bit a lot misleading, isn’t it? 😄 you are advertising a potential employer to your personal network and you haven’t even been hired yet. You probably won’t be.

Uploading the video on their recruitment website would’ve been a healthy ask. But this one is a massive red flag.

Anyway, as a communication expert, I also think it’s a stroke of evil genius. It is very very hard as a company to get your (potential) customers to engage on social media. Personally, I engage an audience better than the companies I work for. But that’s because I’m a person in the first place, not a company.

That’s also why this works: Snoop is a big business by now, but he can still pass for a one person cool dude stoner. Making you dance like a monkey for a corporation, while thinking you’ll be his personal ice cream buddy.

What do you think? Fair game or bamboozling?

Thank you for reading all the way down!

Saskia Neirinckx - The Wicked

/ Reputations / PR strategy / Thought leadership / Personal branding / Chef matchmaking / F&B trend reports (commissioned only)

www.thewicked.be

Yesterday, during a routine inspection by Belgium’s food safety agency (the equivalent of a health inspectorate), mice were found in the restaurant of one of my clients, and the restaurant was forced to close. Before everyone panics: make no mistake, the city is FULL of mice, and every hospitality business has bait boxes and a professional pest control service that checks periodically.

The problem was already known, was caused by construction in the street that literally rattled the mice out of the ground, and the restaurant was already working on solving it. But suddenly it appeared on regional TV and in the online paper, with an interview from the food safety agency but without the restaurant’s response.

How did it get out? Apparently a customer who was present during the inspection gave an anonymous tip to the press. THANKS.

We scrambled to find out the facts and what had happened, and actually it wasn’t that bad. The fix was already underway.

What was bad though, was the publication. The restaurant was portrayed as if they were actual filth merchants and a health risk.

The journalist hadn’t asked my client for a comment either, so the story was hugely one-sided. On top of that, the footage used was archive footage of their new location, not the location where the mice were found. So now that brand new, very busy location was being presented in the media as closed and unhygienic.

We immediately contacted the editorial team for an urgent correction, or at least a right of reply for the business, to show it was much ado about nothing.

To my great relief, the editorial team took down the article and the accompanying Facebook posts entirely. They recognized the story was skewed.

But this kind of publication can do enormous damage to your reputation.

I only found out the restaurant had been forced to close after it was already in the media, so my advice here is: if something happens, notify your PR immediately. Because then I can anticipate every possible disaster scenario right away.

And make sure you have a good PR person/publicist/bodyguard to protect you from incidents like this. Because a mouse quickly morphs into an elephant.

And you know, editorial teams are genuinely open to reason when a story doesn’t hold up. Never start threatening legal action out of panic. Send me in first.

And respond very fast because as soon as other newspapers start copying the news, it’s like throwing water on gremlins and it gets away from you entirely.

But what surprises me most is that the inspector’s intervention apparently happened so publicly, in the middle of service, that customers present could just watch it unfold with zero discretion. Ass move, food safety agency.

Xo,

Your media bodyguard and strategic safety blanket

Saskia Neirinckx The Wicked

/ Reputations / PR strategy / Thought leadership / Personal branding / Chef matchmaking / F&B trend reports (commissioned only)

www.thewicked.be

EVERYBODY’s drinking or serving layered lattes with cold foam now, it seems. Specialty coffee is making a shift from coffee purists to a much more performative coffee drinking, caused by social media and ideal for marketeers.

100% accelerated by Nespresso making Dua Lipa pose with what looks like a Temu transparent plastic sippy cup matching the esthetic of the youngest followers . Great marketing obviously, catapulting the brand into a much younger audience.

Clean esthetics that make me yawn with boredom with salted honey cold foam are the thing now. And it seems that (disposable) plastic cups with straws are back in business. If you’re not into a maxi Stanley travel mug that can also hold your keys, lipgloss and school books, you should definitely give the sippy cup a try!

And in specialty coffee world: the things that made specialty coffee special, like great beans from a local roastery, single origin and tasting notes, is now so widespread that it is basically expected. It’s not enough anymore. Even GRIND, which actually has great coffee beans compared to the big brands, is going for a cool Insta style coffee - pineapple included.

So what can you offer as experience to your coffee drinkers to get them to come back? The market has switched to: does the coffee look great on a picture? What experience can you offer the coffee drinkers? Communities of running clubs are running from coffee bar to coffee bar, strengthened by a cool social media campaign. Great coffee + great experience = returning customers.

Illy is capitalising on the trend by introducing a chilled coffee summer drink, ticking all the boxes.

So how do you take your coffee? I keep it simple with filter coffee at home with freshly ground beans from a local roastery. But then again, I’m GenX :-)

In the summertime, I like to make cold brew (the filtering process is BRUTAL) and drink it over ice with tonic.

For the record, I’ve always been a strong opponent of coffee pods. You can have all the recycling programs you want but I’m not buying it. You can make your coffee cheap and simple with great beans and a filter, aeropress, bialetti or espresso.

Just some random things I noticed lately and certainly not a complete trend report.

Thank you for reading Platelicker!

Find my work on my website www.thewicked.be

And don’t forget to subscribe!

x

Saskia

ALVIN CAILAN: ‘Burgers do not need bacon to be delicious. Bacon is great with eggs or in a breakfast burrito, but in a burger it’s a crutch’

Every year someone predicts we’re done with burgers. ALSO: every year burgers reinvent themselves and prove the opposite. They’re one of the few foods that effortlessly move between fast food, street food, fine dining, influencer bait and obsessive culinary craftsmanship.

For the nerds and the noobs alike, here’s a quick state of burger culture in 2026, illustrated with some of the burgers featured at Belgium’s DRIP Festival, which brings together local burger heroes and international icons.

I interviewed some burger wizards and DRIP headliner Alvin Cailan, in a series of Substacks I’ll be releasing one by one.

EPISODE 1: Smash Burgers Are Still Everywhere

Smash burgers are still a trending format in burger culture. For the noobs: the smashing and flattening of the meat patty at sizzling hot temperatures gives a maillard reaction that brings its typical crispy caramelised flavour.

The smash burger heroes in my own home country Belgium: MOSH! burgers just entered at the 100th spot in a list of World’s 101 Best Burgers list and Rambo keeps burger lovers on their toes with their limited editions. In a next episode, I’ll elaborate on their weapons of choice at DRIP.

Stooges Rotterdam nuances the rule of smashburgers:

Kick Vogel, Stooges Rotterdam:
‘It’s better to get the burger crispy but keep the meat in the middle juicy. Smash it, but not TOO thin. This way you get the best out of both worlds.’

ALVIN CAILAN: ‘I like smash burgers, it’s the oldest way of making burgers. But I don’t think burgers should be either smashed or thick. It really depends on what you’re craving at the moment.’

International icon: Copenhagen’s hyped Gasoline Grill started at a gas station, now has several locations and does international collabs like the one with The Standard Hotel London and now a presence at DRIP.

The real arguments start when the conversation turns to sauces though. Ketchup and mustard? Burger sauce? Chili crisp? Green sauce? Teriyaki glaze?

Next episode: The Sauce Wars.

What is your favourite burger sauce?

Thank you for reading Platelicker!

Find my work on my website www.thewicked.be

And don’t forget to subscribe!

x

Saskia

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OH GOD WHAT DID I JUST WALK INTO?

Just had a lunch at 2 Michelin star restaurant The Jane by Nick Bril, and on the way to my car I thought I’d drop in on this brand spankin’ new place next door ‘BAD MODERN JAPANESE EATERY’.

^{Disclaimer:
This is NOT a criticism, but an observation by a GenX reputation bodyguard to chefs. At this point, I have not tested the menu, as this seems irrelevant to my observation about the culture.}

WHAT DID I JUST WITNESS? The whole place is unapologetically silver. Like, the couch the curtains everything. It looks like an AI picture. I can’t deny that I walked in with a WHAT THE SURREAL FUK IS THIS? But I walk myself back because I realise this new style is a very valid one, even if it’s not my scene.

^{Photo credit: © Saskia Neirinckx}

CULTURAL SIGNAL

I guess the kids who danced TikTok (Musical.ly) dances years ago grew up huh? And make no mistake, from our high tower of hospitality and fine dining we may think this is weird, but this is the new generation, guys. They think social media first, so this kind of restaurant is gonna happen. It’s a cultural signal. They are having a career now and they will be spending their moneys in their hotspots of choice.

There are PLENTY of bad restaurants that focus on social media too much, and personally I’m very alert to those, but if you want to make your TikToks this is the kind of place you go to.

SWARMING TIKTOK CROWDS

Sushi meets burgers meets fries, a collision of cultural cues that might seem odd to traditionalists but makes perfect sense to the social-first crowd. I get flashbacks from my London visits where I avoid places like Camden, swarming with influencer types queueing for the latest dish that went viral - not necessarily the best dishes but triggering a FOMO in TikTokers and a need to prove you have also been there. Seems dangerously crushing to businesses to be hyper popular one day and then fall out of grace again when the new kid arrives on the TikTok block.

^{AI social media campaign, announcing the opening of the restaurant.
Photo credit: @badrebelkitchen on Instagram}

ALCOHOL-FREE DINING AND PARTYING

Get this: there is NO ALCOHOL in this place. Its very nice owner and founder Layla explained the younger crowd - the matcha pilates girlies for one - focus on health, and don’t drink. I tried again: ‘no MDMA even?’ Not knowing what is cool these days, having left my party days behind me aeons ago.
’No’, she insisted, while she poured me a coconut matcha with vanilla syrup in a non-recyclable plastic cup, on the house! I explained that in my days, going out was terribly dangerous and you were attacked basically EVERY time. I have a very mean right hook simply because you needed to defend yourself as a girl, pre #metoo days.

ARE YOU HAMACHI CRUDO OR SUSHI & FRIES?

As a trend watcher, I’ve always seen TikTok places as a gimmick, not to be taken seriously. But I’m starting to realise this is a harbinger for more to come. The “TikTok generation” aren’t the kiddies anymore, they’re now claiming physical spaces, building for their own tastes and very valid trends.

You might not catch me swapping my hamachi crudo for sushi with fries on silver couches, but I can’t dismiss the cultural gravity here. The hospitality script is being rewritten with a new chapter. We may raise eyebrows at influencers in restaurants and I am probably the worst eyeroller of all, but there is a new generation running a new show, with a sparkling pink filter on top.

OK BOOMER

It’s worth noting that my visit to Bad Japanese Eatery began with an Instagram invite - yes, they thought of me as an influencer. Just before the event, they messaged me to be on time for a big group influencer photo, which made me politely decline. I will go eat somewhere when invited and when it’s really my thing, I do have 10.000 followers consisting of a loooottt of culinary journalists, chefs and foodies. But I draw the line at socialising as a creator, I’m just gonna stay back in my own age group :-)

PR IS SOCIAL MEDIA FIRST

Interestingly, when I decided I MUST WRITE ABOUT THIS PHENOMENON, I asked for a press release, only to be told, “It’s all on Instagram.” Layla had no traditional PR materials and felt confident the grams gave all information needed. A ladies’ magazine was gonna come by to test soon and they would just write their own stuff. “PR” to the new generation is influencer culture, less aimed at journalists and more at Insta-TT-driven buzz.

They’re not waiting for the old gatekeepers (it me). They’re inviting their own - and yes, they’ll make sure that reel goes viral.

^{Photo credit: @badrebelkitchen on Instagram}

MAKE SOCIAL MEDIA WORK BETTER FOR PR

Great reminder to keep pushing my hospitality PR clients to connect socials with PR, often run as 2 completely separate schemes. Press is of course NOT DEAD and I even believe in a renaissance of print - but print became online first and then socials first, and we need to structure our PR campaigns is way that all of these reinforce each other and I am looking forward to working together with the TikTok kids for that.

Thank you for reading me!

x

Saskia, platelicking myself through hospitality, PR strategy, chef reputations and trend reports.

Find my work on my website www.thewicked.be