Best Served Hot: January 18–24, 2026

Welcome!

Hello! This past week, I returned from the Tastemaker Conference in LA. It was SO, so good to see so many of our clients in person and to make so many new friends!

While the end of 2025 felt low for the industry, I came away sensing a lot of renewed drive to make 2026 a success. The conversations focused on testing new income sources (like paid products, memberships, and Substacks), leaning into genuine human authenticity, and building systems to combat burnout. There’s a shift toward seeing AI as an opportunity rather than just a threat.

If we haven’t yet met, I’m Rachel Cunliffe, food blog designer + statistician at cre8d design. Every Sunday, Best Served Hot provides exclusive trend analysis and clear-cut insights and industry news you need to know.

If you find this analysis valuable, please consider sharing this Substack with your food blogging friends.

Methodology: Top food blogs are defined as those running Raptive ads with 100K+ combined followers on Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, and Facebook. Lifestyle, cocktail-only, and aggregator sites are excluded. This week we’re tracking 1003 sites.

Cover: National Pie Day, January 23