Daughter saves her father's Vietnamese restaurant by reaching out to customers through viral video

Social media may have gained popularity as a tool to connect with friends, family, and like-minded people or to share pictures and videos, but it has evolved into a potent marketing platform. It also came to the rescue of a California-based Vietnamese restaurant called Lee's Noodle House, which was not getting the footfall that it needed to survive as a business. That's when Jennifer, who goes by @jennif3rle on TikTok, shared a video seeking help from fellow users. 

She wrote, "TikTok do your thing and help support my parents' Vietnamese restaurant." Jennifer added, "My parents haven’t been having that many customers and have been feeling stressed dealing with financial issues. If you want to check it out, they make delicious Vietnamese food. 1010 Hopper Avenue, Santa Rosa, CA 95403." The video featured her father patiently waiting for customers to arrive in the empty restaurant with a tinge of disappointment on his face.

Jennifer's parents Vuong and Ha Tran own and operate the store, while her sister used to work there before she left to become a nurse. After the COVID-19 pandemic, the usual crowd in the restaurant started decreasing. But after Jennifer's video went viral, the restaurant started witnessing an influx of new customers. The comment section was soon flooded with supportive words as the video gained more than 1.5 million.

@mrsredsauce707 wrote, "Oh no but it's time to change that! I live in Santa Rosa and didn’t know about this place but I know now where I’m going for lunch with my family today." @luci4g commented, "I have a doctor's appointment in Santa Rosa on Friday. Usually, after my appointment, I go to Panera's for Lunch. Lee's Noodle House will be my Lunch." @sophihannah quipped, "I ate here 3 days a week when I was in Santa Rosa for a wine harvest season, the food is so special and your parents are so nice!" @this_is_molly_maven added, "I’m so glad you did this. Been living down the street for two years and just missed y’all somehow! Thrilled to call you a new favorite."

In a follow-up video, Jennifer shared glimpses of the restaurant's traditional Vietnamese decor along with images of food. In a third video, Jennifer recommended the best dishes from the restaurant that first-time visitors should try out. She recommended the banh mi which is a popular barbeque pork sandwich, the steak brisket and meatball soup, as well as the barbecue egg and pork vermicelli. People in the comment section of this video also inquired if they could send money to support the restaurant. 

"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. 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." Jennifer told Good Morning America. The restaurant has turned a new leaf after its rise to popularity through Jennifer's viral TikTok. This isn't the first time the family has bounced back, since Lee's Noodle House was previously relocated after devastating wildfires tore through the town in 2017.

Follow @jennif3rle on TikTok for more videos on lifestyle.