Food influencers help local restaurants go viral

Open this photo in gallery: Vancouver-based influencer Laura Ullock documents an all-you-can-eat pizza experience in a video that would soon garner more than a million views. Creators like Ullock help drive traffic to local businesses as viewers trust their recommendations.Isabella Falsetti/The Globe and Mail It was a 22-second video that changed the fortunes of a Hong Kong bakery in British Columbia. Laura Ullock, a prominent food and lifestyle social-media influencer based in Vancouver, had heard about Unique Slow Rise Bakery, a small, family-run business tucked away next to a campground in the shadow of Shannon Falls, in Squamish. Arriving unannounced…