In the Wake of Covid, Could Tiktok Save New York's Restaurant Industry?
NEW YORK CITY - Stephane Lemagnen reopened the doors to his restaurant, 375 Chicken ‘n Fries in May of 2020. Staffing shortages, inflation of food prices, and Covid regulations have created new obstacles for restaurants. Lemagnen had dissolved his relationship with a local public relations firm shortly before the pandemic hit. Without a formal PR strategist guiding him, Lemagnen struggled to regain traction. He knew that to keep his business alive he needed to make some noise. With nothing to lose, he turned to TikTok creators, offering free food in exchange for promotional videos.
Across the city, restaurants struggle to maintain customer volume, as tourism has yet to recover and office buildings are yet to run at full capacity. Lemagnen is one of many restaurant owners who turned to unorthodox marketing strategies to keep revenue alive.
Shortly after reaching out to Tiktok creators, 375 Chicken ‘n Fries started going viral and Lemagnen was met with an instant turnaround, doubling sales every week.
“That worked better than any PR, marketing agency I've ever worked with,” Lemagnen said. “Every time we would have a post that would do well, within hours, we would see people lining up at the door.”
In June, 375 Chicken ‘n Fires was featured on three Tiktok platforms, accumulating roughly 5.8 million views.
Ian Martin, the face behind the account, “imma_eat_this,” is one of the creators that scored Lemagnen a viral Tiktok. Martin’s video racked up 281 thousand likes and 1.8 million views. Tiktokers typically don’t get paid when they review a restaurant, but their high numbers of viewership have opened a door to freelance photography and social media strategy. Restaurants pay Martin a fraction of the cost they would typically pay a mainstream PR company.
“Gone are the days that new chef-driven Brooklyn restaurants are going to pay four to five thousand dollars a month to a PR agency,” Nicole Biscardi, the Restaurant and Hospitality Industry Specialist for the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce said.
According to Biscardi, PR companies charge anywhere between $3,000 to $10,000 a month, a price tag that restaurants struggling to pay rent aren’t willing to pay.
Shari Bayer, founder of Bayer Public Relations warns against the risk of using a platform that could be just another social trend.
“I think people should just be cautious,” Bayer said. “Don’t completely rely the success of your business on a platform that you don’t have control over.”
In August, Tiktok, which has 100 million monthly users in the US, surpassed Facebook, becoming the most popular app in the world.
For owners like Lemagnen Tiktok has played
a pivotal role in getting customers in the door. Eleven days ago 375 Chicken ‘n Fries opened its third location in Midtown West. The restaurant can already be seen with a line out the door. The grand opening of the new location was solely promoted through social media.
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