Megainfluencer Keith Lee is shaking up the Atlanta restaurant scene – by refusing to be handled as an influencer.
Taking a web page out of old-school restaurant critic playbooks, Lee insists on paying for meals out of pocket. He doesn’t even enter the restaurant to select up the meals, as an alternative opting to ship in members of the family whose faces are by no means proven on his social channels. It’s as a result of he simply desires to be handled as a “regular individual,” he says, and get the identical service anybody would get.
That code of ethics has made Lee a sensation with greater than 14 million followers on TikTok. But it surely additionally means his presence can roil the restaurant trade in a whole metropolis, as he’s accomplished in Atlanta.
Throughout a tour via the town, Lee’s members of the family had been instructed there could be lengthy waits or they couldn’t be served in any respect, just for a desk to miraculously open up when Lee stepped via the doorways.
@keith_lee125 Outdated Girl Gang style check 💕 would you strive it 💕 #foodcritic ♬ unique sound – Keith Lee
As NBC Information experiences, two of the eating places on the heart of the controversy have responded with completely different disaster comms methods.
The Actual Milk and Honey posted and subsequently deleted a video asking “who’s Keith Lee?” The proprietor of Outdated Girl Gang, in the meantime, posted an upbeat, well mannered response that defined among the insurance policies that had confused Lee and the neighborhood.
@kandi Thanks for stopping by #OldLadyGang @Keith Lee ♬ unique sound – kandi
Why it issues:
Many influencers are in it for the freebies. They’ll even take over eating places with their tripods and ring lights, to the detriment of different diners. However Lee goes a distinct route, choosing anonymity till he’s tried the meals.
He additionally stated that in each instances, the eating places had requested him to go to whereas he was in Atlanta. So whereas his presence wasn’t anticipated, it was needed.
These eating places might have some operational points to work via, however hey, we’re PR Each day. We’ll depart that evaluation to Restaurant Each day. As an alternative, the story of two responses performs out right here.
One group was defensive, questioning if they need to even find out about one of the vital influential individuals in meals as we speak. Dismissing anybody’s opinion on the premise they aren’t well-known sufficient relatively proves Lee’s level: everybody deserves equal therapy. Whether or not he has one follower or 14 million, his opinion issues and ought to be heard, even when it isn’t heeded.
Outdated Girl Gang, in the meantime, responded with out defensiveness. They had been cheerful, sincere, defined insurance policies and welcomed Lee again.
We all know which restaurant we’d give a second likelihood to.
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Allison Carter is editor in chief of PR Each day. Comply with her on Twitter or LinkedIn.
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