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Influencer snaps photos of the trendy and aesthetic foods in front of her as she dines with friends, in a representation by models.
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Even if your food isn’t baiting people into coming to your restaurant, a quippy sound bite could draw people in. How often have you watched videos that start like, “Come with me to try this viral $5 burger,” or “I had to try the viral coffee at this brunch spot”?
With a single video, your restaurant can suddenly explode in popularity. Then what?
Recently, some restaurateurs are sharing what has happened after their own establishments went viral. It turns out that there are many unexpected side effects to virality.
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Now, if customers aren’t wowed by your viral dish, that unhappiness is much more publicized. The drastic shifts in attention have real-world consequences. If you only have two people on staff usually, they aren’t going to be able to handle it when your coffee shop suddenly has a three-hour line stretching down the block. Stressed out by the massive crowd, employees now won’t be able to give customers any special treatment when they’re stretched thin themselves..
And, as is the case with viral moments, they are just a moment. Who knows how long that video will stay popular for? A day? A month? Will it reappear on the “For You page” every now and then, causing massive spikes followed by drastic reductions in customers?
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Customers in a long line waiting for a viral food product, as depicted by models.
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Speaking of customers… Some eateries have noticed that the newfound clientele, the food influencers, think “exposure” can pay for their food. However, even if they do pay, they disrupt the atmosphere of the spot by bringing in their bright ringlights, filming every bite, and providing commentary throughout the meal. It can quickly go wrong when influencers maintain an attitude of entitlement, expecting free food just because they have a following.
That’s exactly what happened with one Chinese food restaurant. A food reviewer approached them and requested $100 worth of food for free in order to create a video about their establishment. When the restaurant turned him down, the food reviewer instead bashed their restaurant on his Instagram story, declaring that it was the “Worst dumpling ever!” The restaurant was forced to reply to him on social media with their own post documenting their messages back and forth. But this sudden influx of attention, both negative and positive, is the kind of thing that makes owners think twice about ever working with influencers in the first place.
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Restaurants and their employees aren’t the only ones who suffer from virality. People are constantly finding their communities overrun by tourists, which is such in many popular New York neighborhoods. The tourists attract food trucks, which generate constant food smells and fumes, and the hungry tourists leave their trash all over the streets.
One burger spot experienced the highs and lows of virality after a food critic boasting 16+ million TikTok followers called their burger “the best burger he ever had.” Overnight, the restaurant’s atmosphere changed. As they opened that morning at 8 AM, employees discovered that at least 50 people were waiting in line already, excited to try their favorite influencer’s favorite burger. The restaurant soon realized that the crowds were willing to wait two hours or more in line, with one even offering a whopping $2,000 to skip the line. That burger restaurant quickly had to hire seven additional staffers, all of whom had to start by the next day. Though the restaurant benefited from the swift influx of attention, there’s no denying that the logistical hurdles can be tricky to solve.
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2 influencers set up a tripod to film while waiting to try a trendy food, in model's depiction.
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So long as social media remains popular, we can expect eateries of all types to go viral. It can be a huge benefit to any coffee shop, ice cream spot, or even food truck to discover the power of the internet. If anything, perhaps restaurants will have to steel themselves for the realities of having incredible food. If they get discovered, it’ll be a double-edged sword. Owners will have to decide for themselves how they’ll welcome the hype, should it arrive. Or if they might instead keep their aesthetics plain and their food unphotogenic in order to ward off the influencer crowd.
One “food snob” wrote about the experience of lining up for viral food, finding the whole experience vapid. After waiting for food for 90+ minutes, they finally got into a restaurant to buy a viral baked potato. Worst of all, they described the potato as just “mediocre” and added that since their baked potato was loaded up with sauces and cheese, it wasn’t particularly tasty at all. It would photograph well, but that clearly came at the expense of the dish’s actual taste.
At the end of the day, only you can decide if you want to try a restaurant that’s been hyped on TikTok. You might decide that you’re the kind of person who never waits in lines for food, no matter how appealing it might look.
You’ll find that if you just wait a few months, or go at an odd time of day, you can still try that food without all the hoopla. Instead, you could try another eaterie, which might have excellent food that’s still photogenic enough for a TikTok video.
Who knows? Maybe by exploring food options off the beaten path, you could create the next big viral moment for a restaurant all by yourself.
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Customers queue up to try a viral beverage, as demonstrated by models.
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