Student Story: Influencer Tyler Butt

With 1.3 million followers on Tik Tok and 360k on Instagram, Tyler Butt is a no-frills, family orientated, nutrition and home cooking influencer. His audience looks to him for easy, time efficient recipes. You can follow him at @tylerbutt_eats. As a recent graduate of the Online Essentials Cooking course we caught up with Tyler about what it takes to become an influencer and the challenges and inspiration behind the aspirational life he’s carving for his young family. 

Tyler, it’s great to have you with us, can you explain in your own words what you do for a living?

I am a “full time” food creator but I focus a lot on my family. This career really has allowed me to balance the life I’ve always wanted with my family and be around day to day without needing to be location based.

When did your interest in food and cooking begin?

I started off with more of a fitness and nutrition focus. I completed a nutrition coaching course and put together extremely simple recipes for people to recreate on a fitness journey where they could eat what they love but still hit their goals! This love of food developed and I slowly focused more and more on the food side and then had a craving to learn and teach myself the fundamental basics as I feel this is the best foundation to create a diet you and the family can thrive on.

We see your daughter cooking alongside you so often, what does food around the family table mean to you?

Food around the table is big and getting bigger. Right now we’ve slipped out of the habit of eating physically around the table as we are renovating our house but it’s a big thing for us to all come together and enjoy home cooked food from scratch

We have begun growing our own veg and have a vision of a homestead with animals and lots of vegetables growing with berries and fruits - where I can bring the family together with our own food and build that through my children. I didn’t cook as a kid, my family didn’t either so I’m really passionate about that with my kids.

What’s your food style?

My style is very traditional at the moment, mastering the basics… lots of veggies, a solid protein and starch. I like the “meat, veg and potatoes” feel and I like this passed through. It’s very hearty and wholesome. But I’m a big fan of all cuisines and will no doubt dive into other cuisines over time.

What does a typical week look like for you?

A typical week is spent with slow mornings with the family, it’s important to get in a dog walk and coffee with my partner and little one. I workout 3-4 times pw, staying active is key and then I film and edit daily.

What have been some of your favourite content collaborations so far?

My favourite content collaborations are of course with food brands that have tasty products or different technology like thermomix for example. But I actually thoroughly enjoy collaborating with local businesses like restaurants, distilleries, chefs, farms & even ice cream factories getting out into their environment and showing their process, showing my audience behind the scenes and learning more.

What led you to Leiths and the Online Essentials course? 

I found out about Leiths through my friend who did the full in person diploma, I saw she was a great chef after the process. I wanted to train in person but being out of London it worked well to do it online.

Where do you draw inspiration from for your own recipes and dishes?

Inspiration really is from all over, whether it be other chefs and cooks I see online, restaurants I eat at or recipes in books.

What are some of your favourite food accounts to follow? 

Food accounts I love are food creators like Josh Weismann, Andy Cooks, salt hank and then various uk food restaurants and creators too.

What would you say to others who would like to pursue a career in food media or increase their own media influence?

Honestly you just have to firstly be prepared to keep trying new things and new styles. Whether it be trying new recipes or trying new ways of creating content - just don’t stop! Take inspiration from others, remake their versions of things in your way and over time you will find your own unique flow.

What’s next on the horizon for you?

I am looking forward to expanding my family and having our new baby literally in the coming days! More food pop-ups I’m sure will come as we just finished up with a great smash burger pop-up. I am venturing into YouTube content too which is exciting and just stepping it up more and more with learning new recipes and showing different styles through my social channels. I’m always looking to improve and take classes and consume other educational content to better myself but also have fun with it! I am also looking forward to growing more fruit and veg and incorporating that into more dishes along with cooking with my little ones.

Editors note: Tyler has since welcomed his second daughter into the world. Congratulations Tyler and family on the arrival of baby Olive, the whole team is thrilled for you.

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