Not just Chuck-A-Rama and Jell-O: This influencer is exposing the variety of food options in southern Utah

Note to readers: Lexy Borgogno, editor-in-chief of the Sun News Daily, wrote this story for The Southern Utah Tribune. You can read more stories about southern Utah for free at southernutahtribune.org.

Ryanne Day has cooked up an unusual path to her career as a foodie and real estate agent.

She’s sold AR-15s across the country, coached CrossFit, and worked as a flight attendant. Day is now selling Washington County — its homes as a Realtor with Century 21 Everest and its food scene as the face of STG Eats.

STG Eats has over 31,000 followers on Instagram and over its 10-year reign has highlighted over 1,500 restaurants in southern Utah. Yet, the word “influencer” makes Day, 48, squirm.

“I hate the word influencer, but I didn’t realize how much that is a correct definition of what I do,” Day said in a recent interview at Utah Tech University. “It’s crazy to see the people later that are like, ‘Oh my gosh, we saw your video. We totally went and tried that restaurant. It’s amazing.’ And I’m like, ‘Whoa, you actually, like, take my advice?’”

It’s a strange place to be for a child who was so shy that her parents put her in speech therapy — just to hear her talk.

Michele Deceuster created the account in 2015 after seeing foodie accounts based in northern Utah, and realized southern Utah didn’t have one. Day took over two years ago when Deceuster moved to Boise.

“I’m the largest foodie page that is organically grown,” Day said. “I have not paid for a follower, so you might see others that are bigger… But I know the people following me are real, and they’re here for the food.”

Day spends about three hours creating one video — communicating with restaurants, traveling, filming and editing. She brings along a friend to try out food because she is gluten intolerant.

She recently started charging for her posts, and the money she makes covers the cost of running the account, she said. This year she hopes to make a profit.

We sat down with Day because she’s lived in St. George for 22 years and has experienced its rapid growth. During our conversation, we talked about her mission to support local businesses, the impact of newcomers on local food, and why housing affordability is a challenge for younger generations.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

STG Eats has more than 31,000 followers on Instagram. What are your future goals and what’s the mission?

I think it’s just going to keep growing. I get a lot of tourists that come here and they want to know what to eat. Part of our economy is tourism. I love to support the locals. It’s like I say, when you go to Europe, you don’t go to McDonald’s. Go to somewhere the locals eat. Find the good stuff.

I love supporting the local grassroots restaurants, artists, events, cool things that are going on. I think St. George has got it going on and we’re still a baby compared to Salt Lake.

From 2020 till now, we have had such an influx of people that have moved from the East Coast, [from] Seattle, from California, from foreign countries. There is a restaurant, American [Grinders] where they’re bringing in [Argentinian] food because they lived in Florida. I think it’s really been fun since then to see the dynamics change in the city.

We have seen that you’re expanding into highlighting events and venues. Is that something that you’re hoping to continue?

People complain all the time that there’s not anything to do in St. George. We didn’t used to have bars. There was the One & Only and that was it.

Now we’ve got the Hive [435 Tap House], we’ve got Silver Reef [Brewing Co.], we’ve got Spiritual [Speakeasy], we’ve got Strap Tank [Restaurant & Brewery.] There’s so many places that now they’re bringing in bands to play. They’re bringing in karaoke.

I know people get upset if I venture too far off food, but it’s still a service to show these events and things happening and things you can do to support local people that are artists in our community. I think it’s important to show people there’s a whole range of fun stuff to do here. We just have to find it. And so if I can help them find it, I will.

What’s the biggest challenge you’ve had expanding outside of restaurants? Have you had pushback?

Yeah. But somebody [told me], ‘Ryanne, if you’ve got haters, you made it.’

I mean I do wineries, I do bars. Michele, the previous owner, she did not. And that’s cool. And I think we have such a different demographic that [has] moved in, we need to show both sides.

At one point I did [post about] the [Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints] temple open house because I was raised LDS and if you’re from Kentucky and you moved to St. George, you’re like, ‘What’s this building?’

When I [posted about] coffee and when I [posted about] alcohol, when I started posting about stuff like that, I lost a lot of followers.

But it’s just food. We can all tolerate each other. I just want to represent everybody and try and, you know, show what we can.

I won’t do religious [posts] anymore and I definitely won’t do political.

Describe the Washington County restaurant scene. What do people like here?

Before 2020, you had your ice cream, soda, your Chuck-A-Rama, your good, mama home cooking. You got to get your Jell-O. You got your mashed potatoes, your funeral potatoes.

Now, I think people are really starting to venture out. Maybe because of this account, people are starting to find new things, but also people that are coming from out of state are missing their culture and missing the things that they had back home. So they’re bringing it here. I think people are definitely getting more adventurous with their food.

You’ve lived in St. George for 22 years. What’s changed and what’s stayed the same?

I remember coming in here, I had a newborn, and I remember sitting in the back of the seat with my newborn, driving around St. George, trying to find rentals. This town was a 55-plus community. The whole town.

So to today and seeing how they’re trying to pull tech [companies] in and they’re trying to expand things. The city council is doing a good job of bringing those opportunities here. And I hope they continue to do that. And I hope the state, you know, supports it so that we can build an economy there.

Because there’s so many people that work remote, they can afford to live here, but the economy here cannot sustain locals.

There’s been a lot of great developments. Just watching the last 20 years, the parks and the trails and all the stuff that the city is doing to make this a ‘Leave it to Beaver’city.

I’m so grateful for where we live. You know, it’s not crime free. But we do a really good job here of making it a safe community, making it feel like home. And I just want more so that our kids can stay here.

Sometimes I tell my kids, ‘I can’t believe we live here.’ You go to these national parks and you hear all these foreign languages, people paid thousands of dollars to get here. And we live here. How cool is that?

How do you view the changes and growth that’s happening here?

I’m curious, if 2020 didn’t happen, if COVID didn’t happen, [and] we didn’t get this huge rush of people, how we would be today.

[People] wanted a place where they didn’t have to wear a mask, where they could go outside. And so I think people [were] like, ‘Oh, we’ll go to national parks.’ And then they discover[ed] St. George. I mean, you talk to anybody that’s moved, they’re like, ‘Well, we came on vacation and we just loved it here.’

You can’t stop growth. So you might as well figure out how to maneuver where it needs to go. The word is out. St. George is a hot place to live. Literally and figuratively.

I know there’s a lot of people that want it to be back to the way it was, and to those people, I say, I love that, but go anywhere and everybody is moving forward. So you have to embrace it. And then if you don’t like it, let’s figure out a better way to do it.

Do you see any negative impact of growth?

I know people worry about water. And I do, too.

So people are like, ‘We can’t keep building because we don’t have water.’ But you also can’t stop building because if you do, it’ll make the pricing of the houses that much higher, because now you have a limited supply and everybody’s fighting for it.

What are the price ranges of homes here?

On average, the home price is around $500,000, which, you know, back in the day we were like, ‘That’s half a million!’ So it’s still shocking. If you drive down around Crimson High School, you will see monstrous mansions. They’re like, you know, $3 million to $4 million. And, there’s even upwards of $7 million.

We’ve heard fears that St. George could become like Park City or Jackson Hole, a playground for the rich and unaffordable for locals. What’s your take?

Yeah, I could see that happening. I think with Black Desert coming here, you’re seeing that. But my opinion is it’s also allowing economic growth.

They’re still hiring people and they’re still bringing people in. So if we can use those opportunities to support local people here and to pay them a competitive wage, so they can continue to stay here, I think it’s great.

You raised your kids in this area, can they afford to buy a house here?

No, they cannot, which makes me a little sad. And I’ve even talked to them, like, what if we go together, buy a property, and you get roommates, you know, we hack the system. Not everybody’s going to be able to do that.

I think Salt Lake is just as expensive as St. George. But I could see St. George bypassing Salt Lake just like Park City does, because it’s a hot spot and more and more people want to live down here.