TikTok video goes viral, boosts business for new Columbus restaurant
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- A new restaurant on Columbus' east side is making waves on social media. It's all because of an eight-second TikTok that went viral.
'Orale Guey' is located where Zorba's Diner and Block's Bagels once sat. The restaurant went from being empty to being slammed in a matter of days because of one video.
Irandi Rodriguez's father and his best friend just opened a Mexican breakfast food establishment. They have a food truck, but owning a restaurant together was always a lifelong dream of theirs.
"I came in here one day and saw no one was here," Rodriguez said. "There was maybe one person who was our friend, and I was like, this is sad."
Things were off to a slow start until Rodriguez took matters into her own hands.
"I was like, okay, I'm going to post a TikTok," Rodriguez said. "It will either grow or maybe get some views. Maybe we'll get a few more people in here, or I'll embarrass myself, and it'll have two views."
Boy, did it grow.
"I thought nothing of it," Rodriguez said. "I put my phone away. It wasn't until maybe at the end of the day that I realized, wait, this has I think almost 500,000 views at the end of that day, the same day I posted it. I showed them, and they were like what the heck."
The video has since garnered over 1.3 million views and 115,000 likes. Customers have visited the restaurant from all over, some as far as New York. They were so busy that they even had to close down for a day to restock.
"I'm running back and forth," Rodriguez said. "We're trying. We're learning. We went from one cook to five. We had our grandparents in here, the kids, everybody's helping out. We are all hands on."
'Orale Guey' has been a labor of love for Jose Rodriguez and Salvador Martinez and a dream years in the making.
"If you really believe in something, you have something great, authentic, pray hard," Rodriguez said. "I think it's possible because this was just years of this. They never gave up. They said if it's not now, maybe someday in the future. Five, six years later, they did it."
While the restaurant's staff may be running on little sleep right now, the love and support from the community is enough to get them through.
"Columbus is loyal," Rodriguez said. "Columbus is so amazing. I can't believe it. Every day I come, I'm shook."
Rodriguez said they hope to add a bar to the restaurant by this summer, along with dinner options. Orale Guey is located at 3415 E Broad St, Columbus, OH 43213. It's open every day from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.
"I could cry about it because you see your parents try so hard for years to try to open a restaurant, something they're passionate about," Rodriguez said. "His best friend has been cooking his whole entire life, is passionate, always wanted a restaurant. They started as a food truck as well, and this was their dream."