Meet Abbie Mueller | Marketing Specialist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Abbie Mueller and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Abbie, is your business focused on helping the community? If so, how?
It’s been incredibly rewarding to witness the direct social impact of @HotinHou on our community, particularly on our local restaurants and the entrepreneurs who run them.

My favorite aspect has been the opportunity to build relationships with restaurant owners and chefs, sharing their unique talents, stories, and missions. More often than not, these individuals pour every minute and dollar they have into their restaurants because they’re so passionate about them, and I find it incredibly rewarding to witness their dedication, and have the opportunity to capture their work and share it with the world. It’s the best feeling to visit the restaurants after I post them and hear from the owners how many new people visited after seeing my videos! By driving more guests to their establishments, @HotinHou not only contributes to boosting the local economy, but also to the success of their businesses and the fulfillment of their personal and professional paths.

@HotinHou also empowers individuals to confidently explore new restaurants and try new cuisines, especially when they might feel intimidated or uninterested at first glance. By providing an insider’s view of the restaurant and a detailed look at menu items, the blog helps break down barriers to culinary discovery. It’s also been fun to see the interactive comments section foster a sense of community as our neighbors connect, share their personal recommendations and enthusiasm for food, further enriching the dining experience.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Having worked at national PR and marketing agencies for years before launching @HotinHou, I had firsthand experience witnessing the impactful role that food blogs and influencer pages played in the success of restaurant clients all across the country.

Living in The Heights for a few years, where there’s a ton of food bloggers covering Houston, I found it relatively easy to explore culinary offerings by scrolling through their pages. However, once Max and I moved up to The Woodlands, I found it was harder to find good restaurants in the area other than by word of mouth. There weren’t many prominent food pages dedicated solely to our community.

Recognizing an opportunity to fill this void and provide a valuable resource for other foodies like me, I founded @HotinHou with a focus on The Woodlands area (at first). My aim was to replicate the positive impact I’d seen other blogs have in different cities and create a platform that catered specifically to our community, offering the guidance and recommendations I myself had sought when discovering new dining experiences in our area.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
This is the hardest question ever and people ask me this all the time! I would genuinely tell them to check out @HotinHou and scroll through until something piques their interest – because I only feature places I truly love!

My favorite spots rotate, but right now I’d recommend these in The Woodlands: Tris for an upscale happy hour, The Olive Oil for a relaxed lunch or dinner with some belly dancing and pita bread, and grabbing breakfast tacos from the food truck Tacos La Abuela in the morning! For some outdoor fun, paddleboarding or kayaking on the Waterway is a must, followed by some shopping and drinks in Market Street.

Outside of The Woodlands, you can’t go wrong with omakase at Uchiko, brunch at Squable, a walk around the beautiful Memorial Park, or catching an Astros game—always indulging in guac & queso at the original Ninfa’s on Navigation before heading to the game (did you know they offer a free shuttle to the games!?).

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?

With @HotinHou in particular, he always encourages me to take out my video camera at restaurants without feeling embarrassed, patiently sits through hours of video editing without saying a word, and (most of the time) he waits to eat a bite until I’ve captured the perfect shot. He’s my biggest fan, insisting that each new video is my best yet, and it means the world to me. Plus, he never hesitates to brag about my food blog to everyone we meet – even back when I only had 200 followers!

Website: https://www.HotinHou.com