One California college student posted a plea online to help her family’s struggling restaurant, and got far more than she expected. Jennifer Le went to TikTok with a candid video of her dad in their family’s restaurant, surrounded by empty tables and waiting for customers. The family’s restaurant, Lee’s Noodle House, in Santa Rosa, California, has faced all kinds of difficulties since its opening in 2003, including natural disasters and the COVID-19 pandemic.
The video was posted to TikTok with the caption: “Tiktok do your thing & help support my parents' Vietnamese restaurant:( my parents haven't been having that many customers & been feeling stressed dealing with financial issues. if you want to check it out, they make delicious vietnamese food:).”
The phrase 'TikTok do your thing' has become a phrase that pays.
Le told Good Morning America of the decision to share her family’s story on TikTok saying, "At that moment, I just kind of recorded the video to reach out to people and see if I could make a change. And for people to know about the restaurant so if they're ever in the area, they know to come check it out."
Le’s efforts paid off, with the video post amassing over 1.4 million views and hundreds of thousands of likes, and attracting new customers to stop in to order the family's homemade Vietnamese cuisine.
According to Good Morning America, Le recalled that "once it hit 300,000 [likes], that's when all the comments started flooding in. I was just in shock because it just kept consistently going up. I posted it when I woke up and then I left it alone, and when I checked back three days later, it was blowing up."
Running Lee’s Noodle House is a family affair.
Le’s mom, Ha Tran, takes control of the kitchen. Her dad, Vuong Le, serves as sous chef, manages orders, and will run out to get groceries. Le’s younger sister, a high school senior, also helps out after school. Le went home to Santa Rosa during breaks from college to help her family keep up with serving all the new customers.
Lee’s Noodle House specialties look delicious.
New customers reached out to Le on TikTok, asking for menu suggestions and she delivered with a video of her favorite dishes. She posted in response to the requests saying, “Replying to @tiffanywoods462 I've been getting so many comments about what I recommend at Lee's Noodle House! These are my top favorite items, but there are many more on the menu! If you ever come check us out, I hope you can help take photos and leave a review on yelp! Thank you all for your love and support again!”
She shared a personal favorite in the video, the Bánh Mì pork sandwich, a personal favorite that she said only costs $6.95.
The viral TikTok came at the perfect time.
Le’s TikTok came at the perfect time for her family’s restaurant, which is just blocks from the site of devastating wildfires that tore through the area in 2017.
"Once the fires hit, that's when we started to lose a lot of customers," Le, 21, told GMA. There are many other hard-hit local businesses and neighborhoods in the area.
Like many independent restaurants fighting to stay open during the pandemic, Le’s family restaurant has had to overcome other adversities as well. The family business did not get any grants from the federal relief package, and has been struggling to stay open for years.
