These two have the inside scoop on the tasty side of Queens.
Woodside residents Ashley Copperstone and Brian Geraghty, both 23, created the Instagram account QueensEats together to highlight the hidden gems of small food businesses in Queens.
The page started in February of 2015, and the regular posts feature mouth-watering close-ups of every type of cuisine offered in the “World’s Borough,” along with information on where they can be found.
Copperstone and Geraghty say that many of their favorite restaurants are small operations that cannot afford to pay for marketing to build a strong customer base in the community. They use the blog to spread the word about great places that they want to stay in business.
“We know so many places in this borough that need word-of-mouth support,” Geraghty said. “And it costs us nothing to do that.”
Although they have garnered a considerable following on Instagram, the two behind QueensEats use their voice and growing influence to spread only positive reviews. They keep negative criticism to themselves, and disapprove of negativity which they say is pervasive in many restaurant review outlets.
“People will only really say something when they have something bad to say,” Geraghty said. “We are ardently opposed to that.”
Following the success of their Instagram account, Copperstone and Geraghty have teamed up with fellow blogger Ashley Dean of The Queen of Astoria to host regular supper clubs and happy hour events.
These outings work to take people out of their comfort zone to try new food, and can attract anywhere from 20 to 100 people. The next one planned is a Halloween happy hour at Rockaway Brewery in Long Island City.
While Internet fame might be a dream come true to most bloggers, the QueensEats foodies do not earn any money from their photo project and don’t intend to work on it as anything more than a hobby.
Both are passionate about their current jobs and intend to continue pursuing work in their respective fields. Copperstone works as a children’s special educator and Geraghty is a lab assistant at New York Presbyterian Hospital and is hoping to attend medical school.
“We love doing QueensEats; it’s super fun, we love the people we meet and the places we get to go,” said Copperstone. “But I love my job.”
