If you’ve seen any amount of South Jersey-centric video content on social media lately, you’ve likely seen our profile subject PJ Johnson.
Johnson is the creator of Traveling Tastebuds, a popular multi-platform video show that highlights food-related businesses around the region.
In each video, Johnson spends a few minutes highlighting the restaurants’ best-loved dishes, and often talks with the business owners or chefs.
“It’s just cool being able to hear all these stories in South Jersey, and how they get involved in something like this,” Johnson said, of his meetings with restaurateurs.
Recent stops for the online video show include Johnny’s Cafe in Margate, the new SmashBros location in Glassboro, and Cockadoodle Dan’s in Moorestown.
Where it Started
Johnson, 25, said he grew up in East Greenwich in Gloucester County, where he went to Kingsway Regional High School.
He now lives in Barrington, in Camden County, and said he was working as a computer programmer when this all started for him about five years ago.
Traveling Tastebuds, he said, was born out of two things – his desire to showcase the new, more-varied restaurants he was personally trying at the time, and him wanting to help businesses he saw struggling due to Covid-19.
In particular, Johnson said he saw the Swedesboro Diner, one of his local favorites, suffering due to temporary closures during the height of the pandemic. He hoped he could do something to help bring restaurants like the diner more attention online.
Brand Blowing Up
His videos have exploded in popularity since then, achieving his goal of creating a buzz for the restaurants he features and for his own brand.
Traveling Tastebuds now has nearly 6,000 followers on Facebook, 35,000 on Instagram and 125,000 on TikTok.
Johnson said benefits from his videos have gone both ways. He said his involvement with the show has led to him broadening his own culinary horizons.
“Growing up I was a picky eater,” Johnson said. “So for me to have the opportunity to sit down with a lot of chefs and have them make me new items – there have been so many owners that have just shown me how much care they have for what they do.”
Johnson said his focus has been predominantly on South Jersey restaurants, but he also occasionally travels to North Jersey and beyond for his videos. He said he’s also actively trying to expand his reach into Philadelphia.
The past couple of years have also seen Johnson expanding the types of shows he creates. While he still primarily creates videos on his own for his brand, he also has a series of clips going in collaboration with the area law firm Grungo Law.
New Job, New Direction
Johnson said that about two years ago he found himself laid off from his programming job and he decided to switch gears. He applied to be the social media manager for Grungo, which has offices all around South Jersey and in Philadelphia. He soon got the job and still works for them today.
Johnson said the firm had seen his videos when they were hiring him and they wanted to put one of their attorneys in a video as a promotion.
“They wanted us to do videos together, and I was thinking, ‘what if I post that first video and it doesn’t work?’” Johnson recalled thinking at the time. “But it just kind of caught on and people liked them.”
Enter Mike Aloi
A Different Dynamic
Aloi is the outgoing, wise-cracking attorney assigned to the video show for Grungo. The pairing of the two creates an interesting odd couple effect.
Johnson is young, easy going and reserved. Aloi is none of those.
The two at times resemble a vaudeville comedy team and their chemistry adds a playful element to the clips they do together.
“It kind of just worked,” Johnson said of his pairing with Aloi.
In other videos, Johnson will include his friends on his restaurant visits, or take his girlfriend Shannon along for his stops.
“I like to have a little cast of characters,” he said.
Some of the videos he’s recorded recently with Aloi have also featured Grungo Law’s intake manager Kimberly “Kimmy” Maldonado, which adds another layer to the clips, with an air of friendly rivalry between her and Aloi.
“That’s actually all authentic,” Johnson said. “I know it seems like me and Mike, or me, Kimmy and Mike – like it’s all acting, but it’s really not.”
Johnson said he’s been averaging one to two videos each week with Grungo and then more on his own.
The clips he creates for Grungo are essentially sponsored by the law firm and are free for the restaurants they visit.
“With that we just go to whatever place. They have no idea we’re going,” he said.
The videos he does apart from Grungo, however, are a form of paid advertising. Johnson’s website features multi-tiered video and social media packages for the businesses who want to hire him.
But that wasn’t always the case.
Formula for Success
Johnson said that when he first started, restaurants would offer something like a slice of pizza in return for his attention.
“I thought that was the coolest thing ever,” he said.
But after talking with other area content creators, Johnson realized there could be an opportunity for him to help himself, while helping others.
“‘This is kind of like modern-day commercials for these places,’” Johnson said of the advice he received from others doing similar things online. “‘You’ve got to start treating it like a business.’”
And now he’s done just that. Johnson said he has a backlog of restaurants willing to pay him to create videos for them and he just hosted his first event at Dominic’s Tavern in Bellmawr over St. Patrick’s Day weekend.
“I’m looking forward to doing another event because that went really well,” Johnson said. “There were a ton of people that showed up.”
Johnson will also be featured at the upcoming Taste of Community fundraiser for the Volunteer Center of South Jersey. That event will be held at the Showboat Hotel in Atlantic City on April 29.
But with all his recent success it doesn’t seem like Johnson is letting any of it go to his head, or taking anything for granted.
“I never thought that it would get this big,” Johnson said. “I did the whole youtube thing. I did the podcast thing before it was cool. I never thought me eating food or highlighting food would do anything, and here it is.”
One response to “Are these the best online food videos in New Jersey? A look at PJ Johnson and his Traveling Tastebuds”
[…] We know them! That’s PJ Johnson and his girlfriend Shannon from Traveling Tastebuds, who were on hand for the fundraiser. […]