# CreatoRain > CreatoRain (客腾引) is a done-for-you restaurant influencer marketing service for chains and franchises: CreatoRain's in-house team finds, invites and pays food creators and follows up until each video is posted. It is operated by Midwest AI Solution Inc. in Atlanta, Georgia. Website: https://www.creatorain.com. Support: support@creatorain.com. ## About CreatoRain is a done-for-you restaurant influencer marketing service for chains and franchises: CreatoRain's in-house team finds, invites and pays food creators and follows up until each video is posted. Creators book their own visit, and you host it. You pay one price per video, with the creator's pay included. Behind it is a network of 300,000+ food creators, and a location can join a running campaign any day. ## Target Audience - Restaurant chains and franchises - Multi-location food and drink businesses with brick-and-mortar locations - QSR and fast casual brands - Asian restaurant brands ## Key Features - Done for you: CreatoRain's in-house team invites the creators, pays them and follows up until each video is posted; the client sends its locations and hosts each visit - One price per video, the creator's pay included: no monthly fee, no plan to choose and no minimum - Database of 300,000+ food creators, searchable by name, city, state and follower count - A location can join a running campaign any day - Creator matching for each restaurant by cuisine and dishes, in the regions where its locations are - Automated outreach and follow-up sequences - AI-drafted replies to creators, by default reviewed by a person on CreatoRain's team before they are sent, with offers kept inside the campaign's range - Creator agreements signed in CreatoRain's app for creators - Optional content review, a campaign setting that is off by default: turn it on to approve, send back or decline each video a creator submits - Per-creator tracking: replies, visits booked by location, videos submitted and approved - Multi-location campaign management ## How a campaign runs 1. Set up the campaign. CreatoRain reads your restaurant's website and drafts the campaign's name and a description of the dining experience you are offering. You review and correct it, and add your locations. 2. Match creators. CreatoRain searches for food creators in the areas where your locations are and shortlists the ones that fit your restaurant and your brand. You can also import your own creator list. 3. Invite creators. Once you start the campaign, CreatoRain sends the invitations and the follow-ups. When a creator replies, the AI drafts a reply, whether the creator asked a question or is negotiating terms, from what the campaign says about your brand, and keeps any offer inside the campaign's range. Unless auto-send is turned on, a person on CreatoRain's team reviews it before it is sent. Each creator has one thread and a status, so you can see where every conversation stands. 4. Host the visits. Creators who take part use CreatoRain's app for creators to read the campaign's requirements, choose one of your locations and book a date and time. You host them. 5. Follow it in one dashboard, per creator and across the whole campaign: which creators replied, which booked a visit and which videos were submitted and approved. The five steps are shown with pictures at https://www.creatorain.com/platform#how-it-works. ## Campaigns across many locations A chain or a restaurant group runs one campaign for all of its locations. You add each location once. Every creator gets the same invitation, written in your brand's name; only the locations it names change from creator to creator. When CreatoRain knows where a creator is based, the standard invitation names up to five of your locations in their state (in California, Texas and Florida, sometimes only one region of it), any of those you have marked as a priority first, then those in their city, and mentions the other states you operate in. Otherwise it tells them where you operate. The creator chooses a location in CreatoRain's app for creators and picks a date and time. You choose per location whether bookings are confirmed automatically or wait for you to confirm or decline them. Every creator visit is recorded against the location it was booked at, and a delivered video is counted for a location when its creator booked only that one, so you can see creator bookings and how many videos were delivered, for the whole campaign or for one location. A group with several restaurant brands runs one campaign in the group's name, and each brand's restaurants are added as locations of that campaign. A location can be added later without starting again. ## What the platform measures Per creator: replies to outreach, visits booked through CreatoRain (by location and status), and the videos submitted and approved. It does not measure views, reach, foot traffic, sales or ROI. ## Pricing CreatoRain charges one price: $300 per video, the creator's pay included. It is the same price for every client and every location. There is no monthly fee, no plan to choose and no minimum: a client chooses how many videos each location gets and can add more in any month. Details: https://www.creatorain.com/pricing. What the $300 covers: - finding food creators in the regions where the locations are; - every invitation and follow-up, sent by CreatoRain's in-house team; - the creator's pay, which CreatoRain sends the creator; - the visit booking: creators book their own visit at the location; - the video, posted on the creator's own account and counted per location. What stays the client's: the meal the creator eats on the visit, typically 1-2 dishes from the restaurant's own menu, and hosting the visit. CreatoRain counts the videos posted per location; it does not measure sales or foot traffic. Worked examples, the number of videos times $300: 1 location with 2 videos is $600; 5 locations with 2 videos each is $3,000; 20 locations with 1 video each is $6,000. Restaurant chains with 3+ locations, and agencies running 3+ restaurant locations, can have one full creator campaign run free of charge first, up to one published video, as a working pilot before ordering videos. ## How CreatoRain compares https://www.creatorain.com/compare sets CreatoRain beside Mustard, FoodFluence, Aspire, DishPair, Sup, Modash, Upfluence, Feast Analytics, Invyted, GRIN, Influee, Influencer Hero, IZEA, #paid, Heepsy, Collabstr, Popular Pays and Later, question by question. Each answer about another company is taken from that company's own website. https://www.creatorain.com/compare/mustard, https://www.creatorain.com/compare/foodfluence, https://www.creatorain.com/compare/aspire, https://www.creatorain.com/compare/dishpair, https://www.creatorain.com/compare/sup, https://www.creatorain.com/compare/modash, https://www.creatorain.com/compare/upfluence, https://www.creatorain.com/compare/feastalytics, https://www.creatorain.com/compare/invyted, https://www.creatorain.com/compare/grin, https://www.creatorain.com/compare/influee, https://www.creatorain.com/compare/influencer-hero, https://www.creatorain.com/compare/izea, https://www.creatorain.com/compare/hashtagpaid, https://www.creatorain.com/compare/heepsy, https://www.creatorain.com/compare/collabstr and https://www.creatorain.com/compare/popular-pays each set CreatoRain beside one of them alone, from the same answers, and open with how the two compare for restaurant influencer marketing. ## Guides One restaurant owner's question per page, with its short answer below. Each guide ends with "Sources and method", which says where every number in it comes from: our own measurement and its date, a primary source and the date it was read, or our pricing page. - [How do I invite food influencers to my restaurant?](https://www.creatorain.com/guide/how-to-invite-food-influencers-to-your-restaurant): Pick food creators who already post about restaurants in your area. Message each one at their profile’s business email, or by direct message. Put the whole offer in that first message. Say what’s on the house, such as dinner for them and one guest. Say what you hope they’ll post, and by when. Ask them to say in the post that the meal was free. Offer the times you can host, and let the creator pick one. - [Does a food influencer have to disclose a free meal?](https://www.creatorain.com/guide/do-food-influencers-have-to-disclose-a-free-meal): Yes, in the US. A food influencer who eats on the house should say so in the post. FTC guidance says the post should name the free meal and who gave it. That holds even if you never asked for a post. The FTC also expects you to tell creators to disclose. It expects you to check what they publish, too. A platform label like TikTok’s toggle is not enough on its own. Ask creators to say it in words as well. This is general information, not legal advice. - [Should I pay food influencers or just give them a free meal?](https://www.creatorain.com/guide/should-you-pay-food-influencers-or-offer-a-free-meal): Start with a comp meal for the creator and any guest you allow. You pay the whole table’s bill, so set guest and drink rules first. Pay a fee for more than one video or several locations. A fee also buys a no-rivals promise or the right to run ads. If a creator quotes a fee for one post, check their audience first. Neither deal buys praise or guarantees a post. Put the terms in writing. The post should say it was free or paid. - [What should I do if a food influencer eats for free and never posts?](https://www.creatorain.com/guide/what-to-do-when-a-food-influencer-never-posts): Check what was agreed. Once the agreed date has passed, send a short note. Ask how the meal was and when the post is coming. If no date was set, ask for one. If a second note a week later gets no reply, stop. Write down what happened, and don’t invite them again. Don’t ask for a Google or Yelp review instead. Both forbid trading a free meal for a review. Keep it private. A public callout makes your restaurant part of the dispute. - [Should my restaurant hire an influencer agency, use software, or do it myself?](https://www.creatorain.com/guide/influencer-agency-software-or-do-it-yourself): Do it yourself if you want a few creator visits a month. It suits a staff member with a few hours a week. You pay only for meals and any creator fees. But you find, invite, follow up and book. Use software when that work outgrows one person. It finds local creators and handles much of the outreach. You pay a monthly fee, and you still approve and host creators. Hire an agency or managed service when nobody on staff can own it. - [How do I find the right food influencers for my restaurant?](https://www.creatorain.com/guide/how-to-find-food-influencers-for-your-restaurant): Start with your city’s food hashtags on Instagram and TikTok. Look at who tags restaurants near you. Check who has already tagged your own restaurant. Ask creators you have hosted for names. A creator platform can run the same search by area for you. Before you invite anyone, check three things. Most of their followers should live in your area. Recent posts should get real comments. And they should say when a meal was free, as the FTC expects. - [How much does it cost to get food influencers to my restaurant?](https://www.creatorain.com/guide/how-much-does-it-cost-to-get-food-influencers-to-your-restaurant): There is no set price. The cost has four parts. First is the meal, since you pay for everyone at the creator’s table. Second is any fee. Some creators come for the meal alone, and others charge per finished video. Third is finding and managing creators, through your own hours, software or an agency. Fourth is your staff’s time on the night. Before you compare quotes, ask which parts each price covers. - [What did Portillo’s learn opening in Texas, where nobody had heard of it?](https://www.creatorain.com/guide/portillos-new-market-nobody-has-heard-of-you): Analysis: Portillo’s ties the start of its new Texas restaurants to awareness, not the food. In Dallas-Fort Worth, it ran ads built from crowdsourced content and social media clips. Brand awareness rose about 10%, and sales rose by a high single digit. Houston had less marketing before opening, and it started slower. The lesson for a multi-location owner is the Dallas one: build awareness before the doors open, with ads built from social media clips. The figures come from company earnings calls, releases, trade press and published case studies. CreatoRain is not affiliated with Portillo’s and El Pollo Loco; this analysis uses public sources only. - [How much of Chili’s Triple Dipper boom did creators actually cause?](https://www.creatorain.com/guide/chilis-triple-dipper-nine-creators-and-the-pnl): Analysis: Some of it, and not even Brinker could say how much. Food creators made the Triple Dipper go viral on TikTok in 2024. By late December it was 14% of sales, up from 7% a year earlier. Chili’s also ran value TV ads in those months. It cut its menu and sped up its kitchens too. Its award-winning nine-creator TikTok campaign came later, in the spring of 2025. Read from Brinker’s earnings call, El Pollo Loco’s filings, an awards entry, a TikTok case study and press reports, all linked under Sources and method. CreatoRain is not affiliated with Chili’s, Brinker International, El Pollo Loco, and Dude Perfect; this analysis uses public sources only. - [What can a chain opening new US cities learn from Jollibee’s creator rules?](https://www.creatorain.com/guide/jollibee-creators-100x-new-us-markets): Analysis: Let someone the new city already trusts introduce you. Jollibee’s head of marketing, Luis Velasco, said so to QSR Magazine in October 2023. He called it “100 times more impactful” than a brand talking about itself. He set three creator rules. Pick only creators who fit the brand and love the menu. Never treat it as advertising. Plan differently for each platform. Kyuramen shows the limit. For suburban openings it planned mailers and local endorsements instead of Instagram and TikTok. Every figure is from company filings, the companies’ own words in the press, or press reports, linked under Sources and method. CreatoRain is not affiliated with Jollibee, Rooster & Rice, Kyuramen, HeyTea, Luckin Coffee, and GEN Korean BBQ; this analysis uses public sources only. - [What did El Pollo Loco learn by aiming ten food creators only at the cities where it has restaurants?](https://www.creatorain.com/guide/el-pollo-loco-ten-creators-only-where-it-has-restaurants): Analysis: El Pollo Loco’s birria launch shows a few creators can change what people order. It paid to show ten creators’ TikTok videos only in cities with its restaurants. The company said birria reached 12.5% of its sales mix. It stayed above 10% for six weeks straight. The credit is shared. Prices rose and a TV campaign followed. Birria was already a trend, too. The sales lift in TikTok’s case study is TikTok’s own claim. Every figure is from company filings, earnings calls as reported by the trade press, or TikTok’s own case study, linked under Sources and method. CreatoRain is not affiliated with El Pollo Loco, Portillo’s, and Chipotle; this analysis uses public sources only. - [How do restaurants get more customers during football season?](https://www.creatorain.com/guide/how-do-restaurants-get-more-customers-during-football-season): Treat football season as a calendar of big weekends. Mark rivalry games, holiday games and playoffs first. Build a short game-day menu of wings and trays in set sizes. Sell watch-party tables with a deposit. Space takeout pickups around kickoff and halftime. Have local creators film that menu two weeks before each big weekend. - [What Halloween promotions work for a restaurant?](https://www.creatorain.com/guide/halloween-restaurant-promotion-ideas): Run three offers. Give guests in costume a small deal early in the week. Add one themed item that photographs well. Sell a takeout bundle for parties at home. Halloween is a Saturday, so push takeout that night. Post every offer a week ahead. Give each offer its own register button, then count sales by store. ## Links - Website: https://www.creatorain.com - About: https://www.creatorain.com/about - Platform: https://www.creatorain.com/platform - Influencer database: https://www.creatorain.com/platform/influencer-database - Automated outreach: https://www.creatorain.com/platform/automated-outreach - Creator matching: https://www.creatorain.com/platform/ai-matching - Creator reply drafts: https://www.creatorain.com/platform/negotiation-chatbot - Content review: https://www.creatorain.com/platform/content-approval - Booking and video tracking: https://www.creatorain.com/platform/conversion-tracking - Pricing: https://www.creatorain.com/pricing - Restaurant chains: https://www.creatorain.com/solutions/restaurant-chains - QSR and fast casual: https://www.creatorain.com/solutions/quick-service-restaurants - Asian restaurants: https://www.creatorain.com/solutions/asian-restaurants - Agencies: https://www.creatorain.com/solutions/agencies - Instagram marketing: https://www.creatorain.com/use-cases/instagram-marketing - Online reputation: https://www.creatorain.com/use-cases/review-management - Case studies: https://www.creatorain.com/case-studies - Compare: https://www.creatorain.com/compare - CreatoRain vs Mustard: https://www.creatorain.com/compare/mustard - CreatoRain vs FoodFluence: https://www.creatorain.com/compare/foodfluence - CreatoRain vs Aspire: https://www.creatorain.com/compare/aspire - CreatoRain vs DishPair: https://www.creatorain.com/compare/dishpair - CreatoRain vs Sup: https://www.creatorain.com/compare/sup - CreatoRain vs Modash: https://www.creatorain.com/compare/modash - CreatoRain vs Upfluence: https://www.creatorain.com/compare/upfluence - CreatoRain vs Feast Analytics: https://www.creatorain.com/compare/feastalytics - CreatoRain vs Invyted: https://www.creatorain.com/compare/invyted - CreatoRain vs GRIN: https://www.creatorain.com/compare/grin - CreatoRain vs Influee: https://www.creatorain.com/compare/influee - CreatoRain vs Influencer Hero: https://www.creatorain.com/compare/influencer-hero - CreatoRain vs IZEA: https://www.creatorain.com/compare/izea - CreatoRain vs #paid: https://www.creatorain.com/compare/hashtagpaid - CreatoRain vs Heepsy: https://www.creatorain.com/compare/heepsy - CreatoRain vs Collabstr: https://www.creatorain.com/compare/collabstr - CreatoRain vs Popular Pays: https://www.creatorain.com/compare/popular-pays - Blog: https://www.creatorain.com/blog - Glossary: https://www.creatorain.com/glossary - FAQ: https://www.creatorain.com/faq - For creators: https://www.creatorain.com/creators - Careers: https://www.creatorain.com/careers - Contact: https://www.creatorain.com/contact - Legal documents (terms, privacy, data processing and the rest): https://www.creatorain.com/legal - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/creatorain/ - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/creatorainai/ - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@creatorain-ai - Crunchbase: https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/creatorain - G2: https://www.g2.com/products/creatorain/reviews - Trustpilot: https://www.trustpilot.com/review/creatorain.com - ToolRadar: https://toolradar.com/tools/creatorain - Indie Hackers: https://www.indiehackers.com/product/creatorain - startuphub.ai: https://www.startuphub.ai/organizations/creatorain - SourceForge: https://sourceforge.net/software/product/CreatoRain/ - TrustRadius: https://www.trustradius.com/products/creatorain - GoodFirms: https://www.goodfirms.co/software/creatorain - GitHub: https://github.com/creatorainco ## Food creators by city One page per US city we cover: the local food creators there, the platforms they post on, and their public follower counts. - Albuquerque: https://www.creatorain.com/blog/albuquerque-food - Atlanta: https://www.creatorain.com/blog/atlanta-food - Austin: https://www.creatorain.com/blog/austin-food - Baltimore: https://www.creatorain.com/blog/baltimore-food - Charlotte: https://www.creatorain.com/blog/charlotte-food - Chicago: https://www.creatorain.com/blog/chicago-food - Cincinnati: https://www.creatorain.com/blog/cincinnati-food - Cleveland: https://www.creatorain.com/blog/cleveland-food - Columbus: https://www.creatorain.com/blog/columbus-food - Dallas: https://www.creatorain.com/blog/dallas-food - Denver: https://www.creatorain.com/blog/denver-food - Detroit: https://www.creatorain.com/blog/detroit-food - Fort Worth: https://www.creatorain.com/blog/fort-worth-food - Fresno: https://www.creatorain.com/blog/fresno-food - Hartford: https://www.creatorain.com/blog/hartford-food - Indianapolis: https://www.creatorain.com/blog/indianapolis-food - Jacksonville: https://www.creatorain.com/blog/jacksonville-food - Kansas City: https://www.creatorain.com/blog/kansas-city-food - Las Vegas: https://www.creatorain.com/blog/las-vegas-food - Los Angeles: https://www.creatorain.com/blog/los-angeles-food - Louisville: https://www.creatorain.com/blog/louisville-food - Memphis: https://www.creatorain.com/blog/memphis-food - Miami: https://www.creatorain.com/blog/miami-food - Milwaukee: https://www.creatorain.com/blog/milwaukee-food - Minneapolis: https://www.creatorain.com/blog/minneapolis-food - Nashville: https://www.creatorain.com/blog/nashville-food - New York: https://www.creatorain.com/blog/new-york-food - Oklahoma City: https://www.creatorain.com/blog/oklahoma-city-food - Orlando: https://www.creatorain.com/blog/orlando-food - Philadelphia: https://www.creatorain.com/blog/philadelphia-food - Phoenix: https://www.creatorain.com/blog/phoenix-food - Pittsburgh: https://www.creatorain.com/blog/pittsburgh-food - Portland: https://www.creatorain.com/blog/portland-food - Raleigh: https://www.creatorain.com/blog/raleigh-food - Richmond: https://www.creatorain.com/blog/richmond-food - Riverside: https://www.creatorain.com/blog/riverside-food - Sacramento: https://www.creatorain.com/blog/sacramento-food - San Antonio: https://www.creatorain.com/blog/san-antonio-food - San Diego: https://www.creatorain.com/blog/san-diego-food - San Jose: https://www.creatorain.com/blog/san-jose-food - Seattle: https://www.creatorain.com/blog/seattle-food - St. Louis: https://www.creatorain.com/blog/st-louis-food - Tampa: https://www.creatorain.com/blog/tampa-food - Tucson: https://www.creatorain.com/blog/tucson-food - Virginia Beach: https://www.creatorain.com/blog/virginia-beach-food ## Languages The website www.creatorain.com is published in four languages. English pages have no prefix. The same pages are in Chinese under /zh, Korean under /ko and Vietnamese under /vi, for example https://www.creatorain.com/zh/pricing. The guides listed above, the glossary, the blog's city lists and the legal documents are in English under every prefix. Two more guides, written for Chinese restaurant brands entering the US, are at /zh/guide/us-market and /zh/guide/influencer-101. This section describes the website, not the CreatoRain app. This file is the only llms.txt; there is no per-language copy. ## Company Midwest AI Solution Inc., operating as CreatoRain (Chinese name: 客腾引) Founded 2024 30 5th St NE, 2nd Floor Atlanta, GA 30308 Support: support@creatorain.com Memberships, programs and trade shows (none of these is an investor in CreatoRain): - Exhibitor at the National Restaurant Association Show in 2024 (sharing a sponsor's booth) and 2025. - Georgia Tech CREATE-X program, Cohort 12. - iVenture Accelerator, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, cohort 11. - CreatoRain is a member of NVIDIA Inception. - Participant in the Google for Startups Cloud Program. © 2025 NVIDIA, the NVIDIA logo, and NVIDIA Inception are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of NVIDIA Corporation in the U.S. and other countries.