MMA fighter-turned-Tiktok food critic Keith Lee can make or break local restaurants. And he just announced an upcoming Bay Area food tour on TikTok this week.
Lee posts reviews of mostly small, Black-owned restaurants on TikTok, where he has a following of more than 15.6 million people. His videos garner tens of millions of views and often lead to new customers and success for the eateries, in what has been called the “Keith Lee effect.”
“The first stop of the Keith Lee family food tour of 2024? The Bay Area,” Lee said in his latest video on January 4, which already has more than 230,000 likes.
Now, he’s taking recommendations, per SFGATE. “If you or anybody you know has a great mom-and-pop shop that has great food and great customer service, but could use the marketing...DM me," he added.
Thousands of people flooded his comments with suggestions from every corner of the Bay Area, from San Francisco and Oakland to Fremont, Vallejo, and San Jose. Commenters especially highlighted local businesses owned by Black entrepreneurs and those affected by crime.
Among those named? Oakland’s Lucky Three Seven cafe and Taco Sinaloa food truck, Concord's Papi Clary’s, San Francisco's Little Luca sandwich shop, among hundreds of others.
So we heard Keith Lee is coming to the Bay Area for a food tour!
— Cupcakin' Bake Shop (@CupcakinBakes) January 6, 2024
We are:
✅Black Woman Owned
✅Owner is an HBCU Grad
✅Homegrown in Oakland
✅In need of more visibility
Head to our IG @CupcakinBakeShop and Tag #KeithLee to come to #Cupcakin. pic.twitter.com/ONaMDf9Uvu
We’ll see what he picks, even if we probably won’t see him. Lee says he won’t accept any free food, preferring to call in for takeout to avoid causing a stir. He always films his reviews while eating in his car, using front-facing video to talk about what he likes and doesn’t like.
Predictably, commenters also warned him to keep his car safe and prevent bipping, too.
Feature image of Keith Lee via Ethan Miller/Getty Images.
