‘Keith Lee Effect’ brings business boom to DMV restaurants

WASHINGTON ( DC News Now ) — Some local businesses in the DMV are getting a big boost thanks to a TikTok star.

Food reviewer Keith Lee is in town and he’s already posted videos from three restaurants in Virginia and D.C.

One person hoping Lee would come to their restaurant is Lydia Tefera, whose mother owns Dukem Ethiopian Restaurant on U Street in Northwest D.C. Last week, a video she made about the struggling restaurant went viral.

It was a packed Friday night at Dukem Ethiopian Restaurant but it hasn’t been that way lately.

“Nearly 30 years in it’s gotten to the point where we don’t know how much longer this business is gonna last,” Lydia Tefera said in a TikTok video posted Aug. 14.

Declining business prompted Tefera, the daughter of Dukem’s owner, to post the video, which now has 1 million views as of Friday.

“We are already doing great. It was a big response the last four days, five days,” said Hiwot Gebru, owner of Dukem Ethiopian Restaurant.

Coincidentally, days later Lee announced he was coming to the DMV. And Thursday night he made a surprise appearance at Dukem.

“Shock and kind of like what? What? Come again?” Tefera said.

His Dukem review hasn’t been posted yet but others have been. And the so-called “Keith Lee effect” is happening.

“Anywhere he goes is absolutely blessed right after it, which is so cool,” said Darinda Winston, who drove down from Baltimore.

In Alexandria, the already popular Flavor Hive Food Truck is getting a boost after Lee reviewed its walking tacos.

Some customers came because of Lee.

“I like his reviews. He makes the food look good and this definitely didn’t disappoint,” one customer said.

Flavor Hive owner, Shihan Chowdhury, said he’s only been open for six months but has garnered a following from his brand chilipeppercooks , with close to four million followers across social media platforms.

“In his video, as he explained, we’re already popular. We have long lines to begin with. And he just added additional lines for us,” Chowdhury said.

Flavor Hive’s owner said while Lee reviewed the walking tacos, they’re best known for their quesadillas and Dal Puri tacos.

“With this extra boost of visibility also comes a lot of logistical nightmare and right now, we’re smooth sailing,” Chowdhury said. “We have to increase the inventory that we have increasing even the employees who are coming in.”

Back in D.C., Cane Carribean Street Food on H Street in Northeast D.C. was also reviewed.

“It’s kind of mixed emotion with that, but, seven out of 10 is a good thing, what I’m saying? Regardless of what you’re doing anyway,” said Nico Roach, front-of-house manager.

Roach said it’s been a slow year and this will help.

“We actually just started to pick up before he came so now that he has come we’ll be looking to pick up a little bit more,” Roach said.

“What Keith does is he uses this platform to really bring awareness and attention to these smaller businesses and really does good so the fact that he even came here and came to all of these other places in the DMV is a big win,” Tefera said.

Dukem is eagerly waiting for Lee to post his review of the food.

He just posted a poll on his Instagram asking for feedback on Baltimore restaurants, so it’s yet to be seen how many more restaurants in the DMV he’ll post about.

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