Regardless of the kind of notoriety you gain online, there’s always a price to pay for having a viral video or moment. In one such scenario, a TikTok food influencer reviewed a place in Georgia, helping it build up even more business than ever before. Unfortunately, the fame and popularity got to the heads of the restaurant owners, and things have only gone downhill with reports of more expensive meals and smaller portions. Now, the place is an empty graveyard of what used to be one person’s favorite place to eat.
TikTok restaurant and food critic Keith Lee has been famous for both destroying businesses and lifting them up higher than I’m sure they ever thought possible. In fact, he’s so popular that his online persona was used in one of Saturday Night Live’s TikTok influencer skits posted to their profiles last year. Despite being well-loved in various food circles, he is also hated by others in the same social spaces.
A TikTok user mentioned that one of his favorite restaurants, Tacos y Mariscos in Bonaire, Georgia, experienced a significant increase in orders and visits after one of Keith Lee’s videos went viral. However, shortly after this surge, the restaurant faced a drastic decline in orders, and now, according to the video, customers rarely visit. Commenters were quick to correct the original poster of the above video, noting that the restaurant’s significant decline in customers is very much their fault, saying, “Keith Lee brought people in, they lost the customers on their own when they raised prices and made portions smaller.”
After doing a little bit of digging, that’s exactly what had happened. Other commenters defend this, with another saying, “Yea, cause the food was bomb FOR THE PRICE. But then they saw they were getting customers and decided to get greedy and hike prices up. THEY fumbled their bag, nobody else. Hope that helps.” Unfortunately, that truly is the power of social media: it can cause people to be their own worst enemy. Hopefully, Tacos y Mariscos will be able to drum up more business as a result of this new viral video, though I’m worried that it will cause another backlash.
