How to Pitch Stories to Eater Seattle

Eater Seattle is always on the lookout for new contributors. Our goal is to not just deliver news on major restaurant openings, closings, or coming attractions, but also dive deep into the city’s food scene, whether that means writing an investigative piece on chain that’s gone bankrupt or profiling on an Indian chef who’s introducing her flavors to a Vietnamese-French restaurant.

We are actively seeking pitches from anyone who loves food and wants to explore how it intersects with Seattle life, politics, and culture. We are especially interested in working with those whose voices are often underrepresented in media. Here’s who we’d like to work with:

• Student journalists, or writers looking for their first byline
• Non-writers who have a story to tell (and might need some help telling it)
• Seasoned food writers (get it? Seasoned?) who have a dream story they haven’t found a home for
• Journalists who don’t usually cover food but have a pitch that involves food or the restaurant industry

We will almost always respond if you email us, even if that response is just a brief “no thank you.” If we don’t respond, we’re just very busy — bug us in a couple of weeks. We’re not trying to be jerks!

The site does not accept pitches regarding recipes, food holidays, and grocery products, nor does it conduct restaurant reviews. While Eater Seattle does occasionally accept local restaurant and dining-driven opinion pieces and personal narratives, we have a preference for reported stories, i.e. rants about annoying food trends are pretty much always going to be rejected. And please, search the site before you pitch us — it’s possible that we have already covered the story you want to write.

Some examples of what we might be looking for in a story:

• Seattle’s Most Exciting Indian Food Is at French Restaurant Pomerol
• Seattle Taprooms Want to Win Over Millennials — But Not With Beer
• Inside the Seattle Company Plotting Lab-made ‘Coffee’ Without Beans
• How Seven Stars Pepper Transformed Seattle’s Chinese Food Scene

Eater Seattle also wants to work with knowledgeable writers to update our existing maps and conceive of new maps and seasonal guides. These are collaborative projects and require a deep knowledge of the neighborhood or cuisine you are writing about. Examples include our pizza map, our wing map, and our Chinatown-International District map.

Send pitches to harry.cheadle@eater.com and/or seattle@eater.com. In your email, please clearly explain the topic you want to write about and what new insight or reporting you are adding to the topic, and explain who you are and what you’ve written before.

If you don’t consider yourself a writer but have a lead on a great story, feel free to send tips to harry.cheadle@eater.com or the Eater Seattle tipline.

For especially sensitive information, reach out to us on Signal: 1 929 400 2927.