Limited access in Chicago
Chicago Influencer Marketing for Restaurants and Local Brands
Venue campaigns from the West Loop to Pilsen open by request. Online campaigns can start now.
Published
Storytime connects Chicago businesses with Instagram creators who try your food, product or space and post about it. Chicago is a limited-access city for us. Online, delivery and packaged-goods campaigns can run now with creators across the US, and in-person venue campaigns open by request. If you run a restaurant, café, bar or shop in Chicago, request access and tell us your offer.
Chicago is the third most populous US city, with 2,731,585 residents in the Census Bureau's July 2025 estimate. Cook County had 12,246 restaurants, cafés, bars and other food service businesses in 2023, and Choose Chicago counted 56.8 million visitors in 2025.
Where Chicago's food and nightlife scenes are
Choose Chicago says the West Loop's former warehouses now hold the city's most talked-about dining scene, with Randolph Street known as Restaurant Row. Wicker Park and Bucktown are known for boutiques, street art and bars, Logan Square for nightlife and breweries, and Pilsen for its food and Mexican culture.
Those neighbourhoods draw different crowds. When a Chicago venue campaign opens, Storytime scores creators on where their followers live, their engagement and their content quality, so a Pilsen taqueria and a Randolph Street cocktail bar don't have to share the same creators.
Restaurant Week in winter, festivals in summer
Chicago Restaurant Week, produced by Choose Chicago, runs January 22 to February 7, 2027. The 2026 edition had more than 550 restaurants. Summer is festival season: Taste of Chicago fills Grant Park in July and Chicago Gourmet follows in September.
If you want creators posting around one of those windows, put the dates in your request. We open venue campaigns by request and can't promise a date, but the team reads every request with its timing in mind.
What a Chicago brand can run today
Campaigns without a venue are open now. If you sell online, through delivery or on store shelves, creators order or buy with your promo code, unique code or link, or get a gift card or cash reward, and then post. Every post shows up in your dashboard with its impressions. How Storytime works walks through the steps, and pricing is starting at $10 per influencer collab.
Illinois rules to know before you brief creators
Creators must disclose gifted or paid posts under the FTC Endorsement Guides. Illinois adds a law, in effect since July 1, 2024 (Public Act 103-0556), that sets earnings rules for children under 16 who appear in paid vlogger content. Tell us up front if your campaign would involve child creators.
Restaurants can see how food campaigns are set up on our restaurant influencer marketing page.
Frequently asked questions
Can I run a Storytime campaign at my Chicago restaurant today?
Not openly yet. Chicago is limited access, so you request access with your venue and offer and the Storytime team opens venue campaigns by request. Campaigns with no venue, using a promo code, link, gift card or cash reward, can start now.
Should I time a request around Chicago Restaurant Week?
You can. Chicago Restaurant Week runs January 22 to February 7, 2027. Put those dates in your request; we can't promise a venue campaign will be open by then.
Do Illinois laws affect influencer campaigns in Chicago?
The FTC Endorsement Guides apply everywhere, so creators disclose gifted or paid posts. Illinois also regulates earnings for children under 16 who appear in paid vlogger content, under a law in effect since July 1, 2024.
Why in-person beats paid ads: Nielsen’s consumer-trust research has long shown people trust recommendations from real people over brand advertising.
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Bring Storytime to your Chicago venue
Request access with your offer and we will tell you what can run in Chicago now.