When Chef Kristen Ashley, the founder of Chicago’s Cleo’s Southern Cuisine, received a text from her cousin on a Monday morning, she didn’t realize her business would never be the same. A link. Keith Lee had posted his review. She had heard that he had come by, but there was no way that she could have expected what was to come.
“I was out of town when he came by. I didn’t even know he was in Chicago…I got a text message from my cousin…the thumbnail image was Keith holding up our white bag with our receipt. I would know that bag anywhere.”
Within hours, the dining room was full of customers with a line that stretched all the way down the block. She posted a response video of her own, which has since garnered over 5.5 million views—more views than any other video on her page. It introduced her and her restaurant to an audience who had never even heard of her.
Across the country, restaurant owners and viewers alike have come to call moments like this “the Keith Lee Effect.”
@cleos_southerncuisine Part 2: My @Keith Lee reaction video! I filmed this the morning I saw it! Im loterally still in shock!! I hopw you guys screamed as much as i did 😂. Im so glad I am on mute 😂 #keithleeeffect #keithlee ♬ original sound – Cleos Chicago
Over the past five years, Keith Lee has become one of the internet’s most trusted food reviewers. This is not because of elaborate production or celebrity access; he got his start sitting in his daughter’s now iconic Paw Patrol chair, looking straight to camera and reviewing food that he purchased with his own money.
Cleo’s Southern Cuisine, opened in 2019 and named after Harper’s grandmother, was a family-owned establishment with a steady customer base before Lee even stepped through their doors. This stable growth prepared them for their blessings when their moment came. They weren’t lucky; they were ready.
“Since we opened, we were kind of on a slow climb. We started being able to handle the volume. Once Keith Lee posted, because we had those slow increases for a year and a half we were able to handle it. We were able to hit the ground running. We were able to still give a great customer experience. Our wait times did get up to about 2 hours, but…people standing in line would ask the people that were walking out the door ‘Is it good? Is it good?’ and everybody was like ‘Yes, it’s so worth the wait.’”
Conversely, Buldogi’s Gourmet Hot Dogs’ first restaurant had been open for over a decade prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, but when lockdown struck, they were met with the question all restaurant owners were faced with: will we make it through this? They watched other establishments close down one by one through 2020 and its aftermath while they scraped by, trying to figure out how to keep their doors open another day.
Immediately after a staff meeting with the owners (who happen to be her father and stepmother), Operations Manager Jasmine Milner shared with EBONY that she wondered to herself what they could do to stay in business. She had been working with her parents on and off for years, supporting their dreams of sharing their food while trying to make ends meet working jobs she knew that she wasn’t passionate about. The restaurant called to her, but it just wasn’t feasible to give everything up and go full-time—especially amidst a global pandemic.
She got a call from the restaurant’s Assistant Manager notifying her that Keith Lee had just come in. At the time, Lee’s platform was on the rise, but was nowhere near where it is today. After the video, however, one thing was made clear: The Keith Lee Effect was real.
They, too, had lines out the door and past the neighboring establishments; they were constantly running out of product and going back to order more from distributors; they even ran out of containers to serve food in. Their struggling family business had become a social media phenomenon overnight.
If you are thinking that the Keith Lee Effect was nothing other than fifteen minutes of fame, you are wrong. It is more than just a cosign; it is a transformation of how a restaurant is viewed in an industry that many do not survive. Since the review, Buldogi’s has not only remained successful at its original location, but has also been able to open a second location.
Both Milner and Harper’s families were tested after Keith Lee made his appearances. They had to dig deep and transform their mindsets from running a family business to starting a family enterprise. A Keith Lee cosign is a green light into success—Harper shared that his approval of their food “completely changed the trajectory of my business, without a doubt.”
Customer counts are not the only effect that Lee can have on a business, even if he can raise a restaurant’s customers from six to two hundred. From moving to co-packed ingredients to opening new locations to partnerships with national sports teams, Harper and Milner have proven that they were ready for the Keith Lee Effect to take place in their lives. They did not merely let the attention be for attention’s sake; they met the moment to make their dreams stop being hypothetical and come true.
Any restaurateur or employee reaching out to Keith Lee should be prepared for things to get real, instantaneously. Not only can one video save a business from closing its doors, but it can turn a business owner into a titan of industry if they meet two criteria: have delicious food to back up their claims and a growth mindset ready to take on the opportunities to come.
Both Milner and Harper spoke to his authenticity, with Harper specifying that “he’s been the same since the Paw Patrol chair. He’s not going to sugarcoat everything.” He has stayed rooted in being a real person as opposed to an elitist food reviewer, garnering trust with those who are most important in the food space—the customers.
Everyone online begs Keith to visit, but those who have had the experience say to realize the opportunity you’re asking for when you’re asking Keith Lee to come through. A Keith Lee review can fill a dining room overnight. Whether it changes the future of a business depends on what happens after the line forms.