Chandler Baird created SpokaneEats to help foodie community connect through Instagram, blogs, websites

Chandler Baird calls ahead.

The creative force behind SpokaneEats likes to give restaurants a heads-up that she’s coming – and probably bringing her husband. The couple usually gets to meet the owner and chef, who typically order for them – “because they know what’s best.”

The pair doesn’t usually pay. That’s one of the perks of founding a popular food blog and corresponding social media accounts.

Since launching SpokaneEats two years ago, Baird has been eating out once or twice a week, often for free. She accepts dishes and drinks, and – if she likes them – she spotlights them on her Instagram feed, Facebook page and website.

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A post shared by Spokane Eats (@spokaneeats) on Apr 9, 2017 at 5:02pm PDT

If she doesn’t like them, those menu items don’t end up in a post.

“I don’t post negative reviews,” Baird said. “If I eat somewhere that I don’t like then I won’t post about it. My deal is I want to help boost business.”

Plus, she said, if she comes across an entree she doesn’t like, she’ll pay for it. “I’d rather pay for it and not post. I don’t want it to be a conflict of interest, like, I feel obligated (to post something) because they gave me something.”

Most of the time, she likes the somethings.

And people like her posts.

Baird started her SpokaneEats account on Instagram in 2015. Two years later, she has 11,000 followers. She’s also expanded her brand, adding Facebook and Pinterest pages and, just over a year ago, a website. It routinely receives some 5,000 views per day, she said.

Her day job is in marketing and public relations. Nights and weekends and lunch hours, she’s a part-time photographer, blogger and food reviewer.

Baird aims to post five times a week on Instagram – or, once a day Monday through Friday – and complete a blog post once a week.

“I only work on my blog post on Sundays,” she said “I’m on my computer all day at work. I want to keep it fun.”

The project started as a passion and a way to pass time. Her husband, Dan, is in medical school.

“My husband studies all night,” Baird said. “I just wanted to do something else. I wanted to get into social media marketing – and I love food, yes.”

She wants to make this clear, though: she doesn’t consider herself a food critic. She’s more of a gourmand, an appreciator of fine foods and drinks.

“I am not trained in food,” said Baird, who was inspired to start her brand by a friend’s Utah Grubs website. “I am simply a girl who loves food. I think it helps my résumé that I am well-traveled and have lived in various places throughout my life. But at the end of the day, my goal is not to critique food, but more to introduce my followers to all the food and culture that Spokane has to offer.”

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Baird moved to Spokane in 2014 so her husband, who’s from here, could attend medical school here. She’s from Texas.

The 25-year-old grew up in Plano, north of Dallas. She attended college at Brigham Young University in Utah, graduating in 2014 with a bachelor’s degree in communication and emphasis in advertising. She had married a year earlier, in between her junior and senior year of college.

A year before that, she took a global marketing class that included a whirlwind trip. In three weeks, she visited London, Paris, Sweden, Denmark, Russia, Thailand and China. It was a turning point for her taste buds.

“We didn’t sleep,” she said. “But it was so amazing. I realized I love trying different foods around the world and experiencing different cultures.”

She tried “real British crumpets,” fish-and-chips with pea puree, French macarons and all kinds of other buttery pastries, Swedish meatballs, waffles topped with Nutella, borscht and Thai street food, including a fried scorpion.

“They just served it on a stick,” she said. “It was crunchy.”

Growing up, Baird had helped her mom in the kitchen. “We do these big Sunday dinners,” she said, noting she particularly enjoyed baking. Chocolate chip cookies and brownies remain her specialties.

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A post shared by Spokane Eats (@spokaneeats) on Sep 8, 2016 at 7:02pm PDT

“I’m a baker,” she said. “My husband does the cooking.”

When they’re out reviewing restaurants, she calls him her assistant.

“I like having his opinion,” Baird said. “I’m a big fruit and fish person. I love vegetables and chicken. But he likes dark meat and bread and cheeses.”

Their tastes, she said, complement each other. They help her offer her followers a more complete review.

When it comes to choosing a favorite local restaurant, it’s difficult to choose just one. Some of her highlights include Inland Pacific Kitchen, the newest and “very creative and unique” restaurant from Kate and Jeremy Hansen; Zona Blanca from “Top Chef” contestant Chad White – “Nobody (else) is doing ceviche in Spokane,” she said – and the Fleur de Sel creperie on Spokane’s South Hill. She also likes Aloha Island Grill on North Monroe Street.

“I like restaurants that use local ingredients,” Baird said. “I like variety.”

When she’s not eating, she’s exercising. “I go to the gym almost every day,” she said. “I am very active and love to explore and hike outdoors as well.”

She’s hoping to expand her brand and organize meet-up events for like-minded Spokane foodies. She’s also hoping to figure out how to monetize her brand.

One of the reasons she think it’s been so successful so far is “I post much like I talk. It’s not super formal.”

Plus, she said, “I have a degree in advertising so I know how social media works. I have a nice camera so my pictures are high-quality.” (Baird uses a Canon Rebel T5i and, sometimes, her iPhone.)

And, her moniker is easy to spell, understand and remember. “Everyone knows what it is.”

She isn’t sure what will happen to SpokaneEats once her husband graduates from medical school. It might depend on where he lands a residency.

Meantime, she’ll keep eating and posting on Instagram, Facebook and her website – Pinterest, too.

Note: There is a SpokaneEats Twitter account. It isn’t hers.

“I have no idea who runs it,” Baird said. “I don’t do Twitter.”