The Real Markiss Stone, Indy’s own “Traveling Foodie Guyde”

Markiss Stone interviewed by Jillian Boyington, Edible Indy-AGM Managing Director \ Written by Kelly Redlin

If you’re wondering if Markiss Stone is anything like his Instagram persona, “Traveling Foodie Guyde” I am here to set the story straight. He is every bit the dynamo of charisma and joy you think he is, and he’s on a mission to take his status at the top of the Indy influencer food-chain a step further to revolutionize the foodie game. 

We sat down with Markiss to talk about where he comes from, how he consistently levels up year after year, and what’s next for his brand.

Edible Indy: What can you tell us about Markiss Stone that we don’t already know?

Markiss Stone: I’m a very humble person and I come from humble beginnings. I was born and raised on the south side of Chicago and I just knew that there was more to life than what I experienced at a young age. Determined to get away from the negativity, I joined the military. After the military, I went to Champaign Urbana to pursue a college degree and then ended up having a kid while I was in college. I got into the automobile industry and hit the ground running because I had a two-month-old child to take care of. I hustled my butt off and did really good at it, was promoted to management very quickly, and that’s where I spent 17 years. 

Somewhere about three years ago, with the love that I had for traveling, I decided to build a brand and expose people to my life of traveling and food with Traveling Foodie Guyde.

Edible Indy: When you first started, you were traveling around to different locations around the country. It wasn’t until you started really focusing on Indy that you took off,  Right? 

Markiss Stone: I moved to Indiana in 2017 and I was a workaholic.  

I was already doing a great amount of traveling when I started to focus on fulfillment, not just what makes me happy but what fulfills me. So when the Traveling Foodie Guyde idea came together I started off in New York, Chicago, Columbus, and Louisville.  I just didn’t think about food when I thought about Indy. 

Then it got to the point where I spent a lot of money on traveling and food. I thought maybe I can knock out some local stuff here, in the meantime. But I didn’t know where to start so I looked up places on Google and Yelp.

I started noticing a trend. A lot of people were in the comment section saying, “Hey, I’ve been living in Indy my whole life, and I’ve never heard of this place”.  So I thought, there may be something to this. Let me keep trying to find some of these hidden gems.

The combination of those comments, trying to perfect my craft, and letting people know who Traveling Foodie Guyde is, that’s when it started to explode.

When I first decided that I wanted to do Indy I looked at what other food influencers were doing in Indy. It wasn’t “let me get on this train”. I don’t want to fit in with everybody else. I want to stand out.

So I saw an open lane. When I saw people creating content three years ago, they didn’t have cinematic movements. I didn’t hear anybody doing a voiceover. I have a radio TV background so that allowed me to kind of play with that. I didn’t see many people on camera eating and I thought people need to see the reactions to tell if something is good. I’m the one that jumped out the window. I’m crazy. I have a big personality. Give me the big stupid cheese pull and the big drips. Let me take the biggest bite of the burger and let it drip all over my face. I was willing, because that’s something that’s easy and natural to me, because it’s my personality. 

Edible Indy: So has Indy proved you wrong in terms of what we have to offer?

Markiss Stone: I’m on a culinary journey that’s different from a lot of people because I was in my comfort zone with chain food restaurants for so long. Keep in mind, it took me until I was 38 years old to start exploring different tastes. So my taste buds are different from so many others. If I say something’s good or amazing, it may not be good or amazing to somebody else, and I’m completely okay with that. This is my journey and my experience. I have found a lot of great restaurants in Indiana that do have good food and great food, but understand there are levels to this. 

Edible Indy: What do you think makes the Indy food scene unique?

Markiss Stone: Indy has a lot of steakhouses and I think we do steaks really good. But I think what makes Indy great is the diversity. There are a lot of mom-and-pop shops that stand out individually because they’ve created their own type of style. But also, we can’t forget there’s a ton of authentic Mexican and Thai places too. We’re like our own little melting pot of diversity when it comes to food here.

Indianapolis isn’t considered a food destination. Chicago, New York, New Orleans are considered food destinations. 

What’s the one thing that comes to mind when you say Indy? I don’t think we’ve honed in on that yet, but I don’t think that that’s necessarily a bad thing, because we do have a diverse food scene.

Edible Indy: How do you determine a threshold of what’s good and what’s not good beyond just your own personal preference?

Markiss Stone: Just my taste buds tell me. The chefs ask me what I think and before I answer them, I make sure they are okay with constructive criticism. So I give them honest feedback. I’m trying to promote places in the most positive fashion. There are things that don’t make the list. 

It’s tough because food is subjective. What’s good to me may not be good to somebody else. Traveling Foodie Guyde is not the end all be all to determine whether you should go eat at a restaurant or not. My job is to expose you and provide my experience to you.  My mama says, “If you ain’t got nothing nice to say, don’t say nothing at all.” So I just won’t include it. If there’s 10 dishes on this table and I only really like seven, I’m only going to show those seven. Those three are just going to stay off-camera. I’m not going to put it out into the world. 

Edible Indy: You seem to have the business acumen down. Are you still learning a lot about food?

Markiss Stone: That’s the best part about it. I’m to the point where I’m about to actually start cooking in the kitchen myself. I like it and that’s going to be a whole new journey that I’m super excited to market.  It’s different from just trying other people’s food. I’m the judge and the jury. And even though I’m in my early 40s, I’m cooking for, like legit, the first time. I’m just gonna have fun with it.

Edible Indy: What do you think people are most interested to see on your page? 

Markiss Stone: So I think most people are excited to see anything that is behind the scenes. I’ve started opening up a little bit more on my stories and letting them know Markiss and my engagement is starting to rise from that. I’m doing more Instagram live reels and people engage with me. They’re getting to know me on a deeper level and I want people to get the authentic, spontaneous reaction right there. 

Another thing that’s getting me a lot of engagement recently is sharing healthier options for people. I take people on a grocery store journey with me, because people are trying to figure out how I can go to all these restaurants and don’t weigh 700 pounds. And I’m like, well, I don’t eat like this all the time. I’ve never shown that so now I invite them to come to the grocery store with me. Let’s educate ourselves about all these ingredients together.  So people are really starting to enjoy that kind of content. It’s all about relatability. 

Edible Indy:  When you go to a restaurant, are you a guy who reads the menu before you go? 

Markiss Stone: I have transitioned from when I first started. I’m a research nerd. I looked at the reviews. I looked at all the pictures to determine what I wanted. But what I realized is I’m a big kid and that spoiled the element of surprise for me. So I actually stopped looking at the menus and I just started going in blind. But now it’s more of a collaboration. Let’s talk to the executive chef, the owner, the server, and the bartender. Hey, what do you guys recommend? What are a lot of people ordering? What if I was only going to come here one time? What’s the absolute must have dish that I gotta try? 

Edible Indy: What do you say to people when they say you are paid to like the food? 

Markiss Stone: Oh, I love that statement. I tell them this. I’m not paid to like the food. I’m paid to give my creativity to the world behind it. That’s what I’m paid to do. 

Edible Indy: What’s the weirdest thing you’ve tried? 

Markiss Stone:  So that is funny that you bring that up because that was my first viral story moment. So, yeah, I adopted the “try everything once mentality” and raw oysters was something that I never tried. I went to a restaurant in town and tried them. I did it on my stories, and  immediately spit it out. And let me tell you, the Traveling Foodie Guyde gained 5000 followers instantly. My stories blew up with people dying laughing. But weird is relative, you know. What might be weird to me is normal to someone else. 

Edible Indy: You’re Traveling Foodie Guyde 24/7 now. What does a day or a week in your life look like?

Markiss Stone: I may go to seven restaurants in a week, and some weeks I may only go to one. It’s different week to week. There’s a lot of behind-the-scenes; strategizing, spreadsheets, maps, DMs, conversations, contracts, in-person meetings, Zoom meetings, and a lot of consultations. 

But the cool thing about it is that it has allowed me to have a little bit more free time and flexibility. I do have a little one, you know, a six-and-a-half-month-old, but I’m also venturing into new businesses for 2025 too.

At the end of the day I wake up with a smile on my face. I get to do what I love, and that’s what means the world to me.